Meet Jennifer Smart, ex-Home & Away assistant director and scriptwriter. Jennifer’s first novel The Wardrobe Girl is out now and she dropped by to share her thoughts on writing that first book…
” ‘Write what you know, is the very sound advice offered to aspiring writers on the subject of their first novel. I guess I couldve written a novel about a single mother juggling teenage daughters, long hours in the TV industry, school lunches and Internet dating, but that all felt too real. Or I could have written about rediscovering love in my early 40s and choosing to have my third child at the age of 44, 17 years after the birth of my second daughter, but that might just confirm a sneaking suspicion that Im more than just a little brave. Instead, I chose to write about my inside knowledge of the Australian Film and TV industry, specifically, the five years I spent working on the iconic Australian TV soap opera, Home and Away.
Ive always been aware of the fascination that audiences have with the behind-the-scenes, all the gossip that must happen on a film or TV set, that they believe theyre missing out on. And of course there is! But I didnt want my story to be a kiss and tell, bitchy piece, I wanted it to be entertaining and fun so I decided to create a love story and attempt to write a rom/com. Or chick lit, if you prefer.
My mum likes to say I was born with a pencil in my hand, a silver spoon wouldve had some advantages too, but a pencil it was. For a long time, I was a closet scribbler, a letter and short story writer. By necessity it stayed on the back burner after my divorce. My energy and focus were channelled into supporting my two older daughters. But the call of the paper and pen couldnt be ignored forever.
It wasnt until after the birth of my third daughter and a brief career as a scriptwriter for Home and Away, that I turned my attention back to writing as more than a hobby. Furtive scribbling led me to take up courses in the hope of finding some direction. I took lots of courses. Screenwriting, creative writing, character development, plotting your narrative, novel workshops you name it I did it. Always attending hoping for that magic formula, the secret all published writers knew – how to write a book and have it published. Surely there must be a template? Id think. One key word or phrase I needed to hear that would gel and allow me to sit down and power through to the end of my manuscript.
It took a while, a slow reveal rather than one light bulb moment. How does one write a book? By writing. Yes the truth is that brutal! Sure, I picked up some handy tips along the way, but I finally realised that I would have to put one word down on a blank page, and then follow it with another and another, until the final full stop. But not even that is enough. Michael Crichton is famously quoted as saying, books arent written, theyre re-written. And so begins the next stage, the rewriting/editing.
Why do writers write? Why do we cosset ourselves away in a solitary silence to tell our stories? Why do we keep going when theres no guarantee of success or financial compensation? I cant speak for all writers, but for me its a compulsion, its in me and without it Im only a part of myself. To paraphrase Jerry McGuire, writing completes me. “
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