I’m quite an obsessive collector of stories, to put it mildly. In the early 1980’s I travelled around Ireland soaking up traditional tales. At that time young Irish people weren’t generally very interested in their culture so the storytellers I met were very happy to share their gifts with someone like me.
I must have heard hundreds of stories. Some of them twice. A few of them four or five times. Every storyteller had a personal touch and a unique perspective. I collected a lot of stories. Some I wrote down, but most I committed to memory because I ran out of space in my journal fairly early on.
Ten years later I was back in Australia studying at university. I was exhausted from the long hours the degree programme demanded of me. I started experiencing vivid dreams. These dreams were not always random. They often incorporated elements of the stories I’d heard in Ireland and elsewhere.
I’d wake up in the middle of the night and start jotting them down. When I graduated these special dreams tapered off again and became more random and disjointed.
Then I met a literary agent who challenged me to write eight chapters of a novel. Soon after that the dreams started happening all over again. I’d stop typing before I went to bed and sure enough the next part of the story usually started playing in my imagination as I drifted off.
In the middle of the night I’d wake up, make notes, then go back to sleep. In the morning I’d also have a lot more details of the story and characters. That day I’d be busy writing the tale that had been given to me.
So, that’s how The Wanderers Series came to me. I didn’t have to struggle at all. I’ve never experienced any form of creative block at all. The stories just flowed out and I’m very grateful they continue to do so.