Alison Reynolds

How many of you find that your life creeps into everything you write?

When I first started writing, I always maintained that I would never write anything autobiographical. I wanted to make up new exciting things. However, I now realise that in every book I write there is a little bit of me.
Fridays are doomed featured the choking incident of my English teacher who twisted her beads when stressed and we were obviously a very stressful class. In Adventures at Camp Cheer, Ravi hid his teddy in the bottom of his sleeping bag so nobody would make fun of him, ditto my son. Every single book features something I’ve plundered from my family or friends.

In the Ranger in Danger series, I shared my irrational fear of snakes with one character, the tendency to gag at the whiff of vomit with another character and gave the characteristics of people that irritate me to the villains.
My beloved cat Charlotte was the model, albeit with a sex change, for Marmalade in A Year with Marmalade. When I was in Year 2 at school, a best friend moved away forever, but in this book I had her return and everybody lived happily ever after.
In my latest book, The Littlest Bushranger, Jack is left home when his sister starts school. Until I thought about what inspired this book, I had totally forgotten the year of my life when I was left behind while my three slightly older friends/neighbours started school. After kindergarten, I would play happily by myself until they could join me after school. I made being at home sound much more exciting than school, because I regularly rode a stage coach, fought dragons and made tomato soup from the rusty lid of the incinerator.
Currently, I’m writing a novel about a serial murderer, the Eastern suburbs, a nutty psychiatrist, and an overbearing mother who runs for President of Australia. It’s definitely not autobiographical, but then again …

Published in Booktopia Blog