CLAIRE VAN RYN “Set yourself ludicrously achievable goals. Like writing for five minutes a day. You can do that!”
Welcome to Kelly’s Writerly Q&A! Today I am over the moon to feature the lovely, Claire van Ryn - an award-winning Tasmanian writer with a background in journalism. Claire currently runs her own content creation company, Inkling Media while raising her two children and immersing herself in a world full of beautiful descriptive words!
On the publication day of her first book baby, The Secrets of the Huon Wren, I feel blessed to share this interview - it’s full of grounded tips on respecting the process and is a success story you won’t want to miss!
Hi Claire, thanks for taking the time to answer some writerly questions. First of all, congratulations on the publication of your debut novel! What is The Secrets of the Huon Wren about?
Thanks so much, Kelly, it’s such a pleasure to be ‘here’ on your blog in the company of so many other incredible writers you have interviewed.
The Secrets of the Huon Wren is my debut novel, launching on June 27, and my publisher has described it as a lyrical story about two lives separated by the years but connected by a shared tragedy, ideal for fans of Kate Morton.
2019… The book opens with Allira, a journalist who visits a nursing home looking for stories and meets Nora, a resident with advanced dementia and a doll cradled lovingly in her arms. The two form an unlikely friendship, and Allira is compelled to dig into Nora’s past as she reveals snippets of her childhood living beneath the Great Western Tiers in Tasmania’s heartland.
1953… Nora is a spirited fifteen-year-old, the daughter of a carpenter/undertaker and she helps stitch linings into coffins for spending money. She meets a charming Polish-German migrant before her carefree lifestyle starts to fall apart.
As Nora’s story is unravelled, Allira realises that they are connected by their heartbreak. There is a thread that explores what it is to be known, especially where communication is so unreliable, as in the case of people with dementia. I was also interested in exploring a relationship between a young woman and an old woman, and how motherhood had left them with scars that needed tender attention before healing could finally take place.
I’m so glad to feature you! Your novel sounds like the most beautiful story! I just love generational tales, especially anything with themes of motherhood. What prompted you to write this story?
I was travelling with my family in our caravan in 2018. We were in Mareeba, on the Atherton Tablelands at the time. The kids were tucked up in bed and we were sitting around a campfire with another couple, sharing a few drinks. This lady was telling us all sorts of stories about her life as a policewoman and then a nurse. But it was her recollection of a woman with dementia in her care that lodged in my mind and would not give up. She said the woman had a doll that she cared for like a newborn baby, and that she said chilling things that made her think something terrible happened in her past: ‘Daddy took my baby behind the shed…’ That conversation was the starting point, although it wasn’t until two years later that I started writing.
I can see why you were inspired by that story, you can’t hear something like that and not want to know more. How long did it take you to write The Secrets of the Huon Wren?
The writing process took nine months, which is rather fitting, given the novel’s content and the fact that writing a book is so often likened to giving birth. But I could also say that it took all my life because this novel has so much of me in its pages, it wouldn’t have been the same if I had written it ten or twenty years ago. I’m also conscious that this novel draws on many years working as a journalist first before I entertained thoughts of finally getting on with my dream of writing a work of fiction. My writing craft was honed over that time, giving me lots of practice ahead of this opportunity.
The editing process was about another year before I felt confident enough with the manuscript to send it out to agents.
This resonates with me so much! I love how books are likened to giving birth and I also love how you acknowledge that the story couldn’t have come out of you at any other time. Fate. How do you approach writing?
Writing, for me, has an important spiritual component. At the beginning of each writing session, I like to surrender it to God. I guess it’s an acknowledgement that there is a greater entity at play in the universe and that I am a small part of that, clacking away at my keyboard. I don’t want to work in opposition to The Creator, but in alignment with Him, acknowledging that He is my source of creativity. Sorry, that got deep fast, but that’s my starting point.
Then, I simply write. I have a word limit every weekday. I don’t do much planning. For me, it’s a matter of letting ideas percolate for long enough, and then giving them space to do what they need to do. Plotter or pantser? I’m a pantser all the way! I love the way characters and places emerge in surprising detail. I’ve heard it said that, if the author doesn’t know what the ending is going to be as they are writing, the reader won’t either. It’s a good theory!
This is the best panster explanation I’ve ever heard! When the words appear on their own, it is such a beautiful thing. Where do you write?
I write from home in complete silence, at my desk in a corner of our sunken lounge, my trusty writer’s assistant Aslan forever at my feet (he’s a Spoodle). Alas, no writer’s studio as yet. Hubby has promised it jokingly, ‘when you’re making six digits from your books’. But I do love my corner which is mostly washed in sun and its walls and shelves heave with writing triggers: a piece of Huon Pine from Tasmania’s west; various artworks and carvings of superb fairy-wrens; encouraging verses; writing craft books; hand cream, and an old mandolin for good measure!
Lol! I would love to see your husband building that studio for you one day. My dream is to retire my husband - like Sally Hepworth. You gotta love big dreams!
Let’s go back to where it all began, how did you connect with our wonderful agent, Fiona from Beyond Words Literary Agency?
Fiona was the eighth agent I submitted to. It was really a case of working through the list of Australian agents and not letting the knockbacks get me down. The hardest thing I found in this part of the process was the agents who didn’t respond at all. My already-very-healthy self-doubt was met with questions: did they even see it? Did my submission somehow get lost?
When Fiona contacted me, she was immediately on board. I could tell that she really understood my book and where it would sit in the market, and she was confident she would be able to find a publisher for it. I loved her energy and how approachable she was.
Oh those knockbacks, they can get you. I’m so glad you found someone who believes in you and your story. We have struck gold with Fiona! Can you tell me about what it was like going on submission and how you landed a publishing contract with Penguin?
I signed with Fiona late in 2021. I found it hard to step back and let Fiona get on with what she does best after working on it for so long. But the timing couldn’t have been better. In January 2022, I set off on a year-long caravanning lap of Australia with my family, so it was an epic and very welcome distraction from the nerve-wracking wait. I was over the moon when, in May of that year, Fiona called to let me know that Ali Watts from Penguin Random House was interested in my manuscript. We were on a cattle station in remote WA at the time, and shared a bottle of champagne in an artesian spa with people we’d only recently met! By the end of the month, I’d signed a contract with PRH for my first novel. And yes, I’m still pinching myself!
Oh yes, it is so hard to let go. Penguin is such an amazing achievement and champagne is always the best way to celebrate a win like that! Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Set yourself ludicrously achievable goals. Like writing for five minutes a day. You can do that! And if it turns into twenty minutes or two hours, go you! But if it’s just five minutes, then you still achieved your goal, you progressed, and you don’t have to walk around with the heaviness of guilt that we author types tend to tie around our necks.
LOVE this advice! What are you currently reading and loving?
I just finished Horse by Geraldine Brooks and absolutely loved it. I am enamoured of the poise of her writing, and her impeccable research. And The Redgum River Retreat which is a wonderful, feel-good read by my fellow penguin Sandie Docker.
Both sound like wonderful reads - a Pulitzer prize-winning author; and I’ve seen The Redgum River Retreat around Bookstagram quite a bit! So, what can we expect from you next?
The next few months will be full of launches and publicity-related commitments for The Secrets of the Huon Wren. I’m excited about that, particularly connecting with readers and learning how the book spoke to them in different ways.
I’m also working on book two, slowly but surely. And I can reveal that it includes a road trip, a female taxidermist with a particular interest in Tasmanian waterbirds, and a secret in a family’s past that is so shocking that the character who makes its discovery may decide to bury it even deeper.
Busy in a good way! I’m sure you’re going to love all the festivities of your first book launch! And your next book sounds great, I hope you enjoy writing it! Thank you so very much for your time, it’s been a real treat getting to know you in the lead up to the publication of your debut novel and I look forward to continuing our relationship as agent buddies.
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