Ask the Author: Stephen Crabbe
Answered Questions (6)
Stephen Crabbe
Hello Antonios,
I am so sorry to tell you I do not have the article. It seems to have been lost some years ago when my computer crashed. And Suite101 has apparently disappeared from the internet. This is a great pity for your thesis. Again, I'm very sorry I cannot help. I hope you can find another way to support your thesis.
Best wishes,
Stephen Crabbe
I am so sorry to tell you I do not have the article. It seems to have been lost some years ago when my computer crashed. And Suite101 has apparently disappeared from the internet. This is a great pity for your thesis. Again, I'm very sorry I cannot help. I hope you can find another way to support your thesis.
Best wishes,
Stephen Crabbe
Stephen Crabbe
Well, I'm looking into the mouth of winter right now! (I'm in Australia.) But, while pushing on with my next novel, most reading pertains to to it. History texts and old newspapers from the 1914-18 era are the main ones. When I can put that aside I go back to a very enjoyable novel, The Sea Between, by Margaret Sutherland. I love her writing and the mind that generates it: I think we must be kindred spirits. But there's a long "To Be Read" list waiting for me! I long to get into another book by C.W. Lovatt or Jess Steven Hughes--just to mention two of many.
Stephen Crabbe
Inspiration can come from many quarters--one's own experience, historical facts, the personality or behaviour of a person in the news, et cetera. But it really is a fleeting thing, however powerful it seems at first. To achieve anything worthwhile as an author, one must have an wide experience of language in all its forms, but especially the written. Equally essential are much learning by writing and pondering the responses of readers, perseverance beyond measure, and the willingness to adapt to the vagaries of the publishing world. We could probably list more factors, but I think I've made the point: inspiration's a nice feeling, but don't rely on it to take you far!
Stephen Crabbe
My work-in-progress is a novel, set in South Australia like the previous ones. Events in Conflict on Kangaroo Island, published in 2016, took place in 1913. The novel in hand deals with the time of the First World War and brings together characters from the previous two works. As always, my focus is on the home-front rather than the battle fields. This one is built on a huge amount of research and is structurally the most challenging fiction I've written. A long struggle! I hope it will be ready for publication by early 2018.
Stephen Crabbe
I never have to! If I can't write my work-in-progress, it may be because the story needs some unconscious 'gestation' time, or because some other matter is pressing and I'm consciously trying to avoid it. So I try to attend to what is most urgent at the moment, and if nothing is urgent I play with a different writing project, or perhaps read someone else's book. There are also times when my mind and body just ache for a hard run in the park or a session of singing and playing piano. Sorry, but I just don't have time for writer's block!
Stephen Crabbe
Conflict on Kangaroo Island began with one or two facts unknown to nearly all of mankind. I've always been fascinated with the history of South Australia, where I was born and raised; but when my research for a novel led to the discovery of biological and historical facts about the yakka (grasstree) species unique to the island, the premise for a compelling story came to mind. The idea was so compelling that I had to drop the novel already in progress and write Conflict on KI. It was published in 2016.
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