Rhyll McMaster has written six prize-winning poetry books. Her first novel, Feather Man, published in Australia in 2007, has won two major literary prizes and is short-listed for two more. It is published in the UK by Marion Boyars.

Mark Thwaite: What gave you the initial idea for Feather Man?

Rhyll McMaster: First, I’ve always wanted to write a novel in the first person voice – it’s such a strong stylistic method. Second, I’ve always wanted to write a book divided into sections like Monica Dickens’ Flowers On The Grass. Third, I have friends who are artists, so I wanted to write about the process of making art, and so I put it all together to try to write a dark romantic novel about relationships that would take the best from every wonderful novel I’ve ever read.

MT: How long did it take you to write your book?

RM: I wrote the first draft in three months, working from 8am to 2am most days. I wrote poetry before this, so keeping in place the long, looping line of the narrative that wavers around like a piece of Walt Disney animated music was all new to me. Then I showed it round to get comments, and finally sent it out to agents and publishers. That was in 2000 and it was published in 2007. It went through at least 13 drafts in that time, with one major structural change to the second half of the novel. A harrowing, but exciting period in my life.

MT: How do you write? Longhand or directly onto a computer, straight off or with lots and lots of editing?

RM: I’ve had the idea of writing this novel since I was 20, so I suppose you could say that my poetry has been the workshop for the novel. And in fact I’ve re-used about twenty or so poem fragments in the novel. In essence there’s no difference between poetry and prose except for line length and, of course, dialogue and that narrative tone. I make lots of scrappy notes on bits of paper – things I read in the newspapers or see on TV often act as catalysts. So do plays and films. But once I get going I use the computer. I tend to edit as I go, chapter by chapter. I always read it out loud to hear what it sounds like, and I write it as if I am a movie camera watching the scene unfold.

MT: Your main character Sooky tries to establish who she really is via her art. Are you as a writer doing the same when you write?

RM: I’ve been writing and getting published since I was 16, so writing is unquestionably a huge part of my identity. But so is being a mother of three now adult children, and relationships with friends and partner. My ‘day jobs’ have included being a nurse in a burns unit, and a sheep farmer – on consideration, I may very well have multiple personalities, or, a bit like Sooky, my idea of myself might change on the spur of the moment.

MT: You are also a poet – what do you like best about each form?

RM: Poetry at its best is a snapshot of a moment through sharp imagery. The moment might be a physical or an emotional one. To use another analogy, a poem is also like a small painting, a still life... something caught and crystallized. But I have fallen in love with the narrative power of prose, the ability to take the journey cross country and double back on one’s tracks, or to make a myriad of stylistic marks, not just one.

MT: What was the most difficult aspect of writing your novel? How did you overcome it?

RM: At about draft 12 I had been rejected many times, so I reasoned something was wrong. I called in the help of a long-time friend, the novelist Rodney Hall, who has been published internationally. He told me that I had to make a structural adjustment – the second half of the novel didn’t gell. It was too surreal and had to be grounded in reality. He also told me to make Redmond, Sooky’s self-centred lover, more sympathetic. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it was worth it, and saved the novel.

MT: You are a winner of the Barbara Jefferis award. What did that mean to you personally? And what do you think of literary prizes in general?

RM: I was short-listed for the Victorian State Premier’s Awards, and then I won the inaugural Barbara Jefferis Award, given for a novel by either a man or a woman that spoke about the status of women and girls in society and showed them in a positive light. I was delighted and honored to win this one, particularly as there were 53 entries. I’ve now gone on to win another award, the UTS Glenda Adams Prize for New Writing, also prestigious, and I’ve just been short-listed for the Australian Literary Society’s Gold Medal for an outstanding literary work, a prize that’s been running since 1928, and which once was won by the Nobel Prizewinner, Patrick White.

I think awards are very important. Writers work in isolation for long periods, and often receive very little remuneration for their efforts. To be recognized by their peers and by government is a wonderful reward for hard work. Books keep our cultures rich and our empathy on high beam – surely a good thing for the planet.

MT: Do you read the critics? Have you been pleased with the responses to your book? Have you learned anything from them?

RM: I’ve received very favourable reviews for Feather Man. I eagerly await the reviews. It gives me very good general feedback. And I have learnt a tremendous amount from them, because like a lot of writers, I suspect, I don’t really know what I’ve written about or what my themes might be. It takes the astute eye of the reviewer to draw back and show the overall picture. I’m still down there in the close stitching.

MT: What do you do when you are not writing?

RM: I muddle about in my life.

MT: Did you have an idea in your mind of your “ideal” reader? Did you write specifically for them?

RM: My ideal reader is someone a little bit like me; someone who wants to be transported to that magical, exaggerated world of the perfect novel, the one that never gets to The End; the one that takes you out of real life with all its exigencies.

MT: What are you working on now?

RM: I think I’ll try my hand at a film script. A producer friend told me that a film script is 98 pages of dialogue. Simple.

MT: Who is your favourite writer? What is/are your favourite book(s)?

RM: Some of my favourite writers are English or Anglo-Irish like Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Taylor, Molly Keane, Iris Murdoch and Barbara Comyns. Australian novelists of enduring value are D’Arcy Niland and Ruth Park. I also admire Helen Garner. American novels I love are John Updike’s Couples and more recently, Donna Tartt’s The Secret History. But the top of my list would have to be Edith Wharton and Anne Tyler.

MT: Do you have any tips for the aspiring writer?

RM: Read books.

MT: Anything else you would like to say?

RM: This has been fun and a great opportunity to connect with readers. I love talking about books and writing.