Author Interview – Danny Fahey

Who or what influenced your writing once you began? Seamus Heaney, August Strindburg, Patrick White, T.H.White, C.S.Lewis, students I have studied with, but two people in particular. Firstly, Colin Wilson (especially his book The Outsider) and my friend Michael Keaney. We’ve spent an awful lot of time over many years discussing writing, sharing our writing etc.

What made you want to be a writer? As a young teenager I found an audience for my stories when reading them out in class. It surprised me that others might like my stories. That began a love of writing for an audience.

What do you consider the most challenging about writing a novel, or about writing in general? For me the most challenging aspect is the editing process. It demands patience, and patience is not my strongest point. My father used to call me ‘Bull’ because of my habit of charging into things (like a bull at a gate). I still identify with that ‘Bullish’ child. Editing demands I slow down, I reread and go back over and try several things etc. editing is a pain in the butt, but it is the most important thing for me so I do a lot of editing – though never enough.

Did writing this book teach you anything and what was it? Catalina forced me to concentrate on my intended audience. This is my first children’s novel. I think it was far harder than I imagined. It taught me to always watch the ‘voice’ of my characters and to be prepared to cut – even the bits I really liked.

Do you intend to make writing a career? I love teaching Drama too much to ever stop it completely, but I would like to earn enough from writing to allow me to work equally between the two professions.

One day the orphan Catalina is taken home by her lone surviving relative, Aunt Griselda. Unfortunately for Catalina, all does not quite go as expected. Her aunt hates her and makes her life miserable. She learns she is to be sold to Stefano the Knife-thrower and used as a human target. To escape a certain death, Catalina leaps through a mysterious crossover point and ends up in a new land called Arboroth.

There, she is encounters a wolf-boy and a talking rat. She is beset by a cruel and inhospitable landscape, and all the while hunted by a pack of relentless hounds. Then Catalina discovers her aunt is also in Arboroth. And Griselda isn’t happy.

This is a fantasy tale of magic, of an evil witch and a little girl who just wants to know who she is.

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Genre – Fantasy

Rating – PG

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Blog http://dannybfahey.blogspot.com.au/