Emerging Writers Series: Claire Van Ryn
Like many in the writing community, my life is filled with little moments of serendipity! A friend asked me if I’d like to contribute towards relaunching a street mag celebrating the creative culture of the North of my beautiful state, which led me to the magazine editor - Claire Van Ryn.
When I found out Claire had just published a book, it was a small leap to getting my hands on a copy (I loved it – read my review here) and knowing I needed her as our next interview guest.
Sometimes books find you just at the right time, and this was definitely the case with Claire’s book, which handles some vital topics with so much warmth and hope it left me a proverbial puddle of warm gooeyness.
Claire chats with me about her publishing journey, creative influences, writing advice and what she’s working on next.
Can you tell us a bit about what set you on the path of becoming a writer?
My writing journey began with books like Anne of Green Gables and The Black Stallion. I remember wanting to find quiet corners to read while my siblings were riding motorbikes across the paddocks on the farm. Although, the second of those books resulted in me owning my black stallion. Cough. Okay, pony.
After dipping my toe into studies in dance, law and teaching, I landed an arts degree majoring in English, and I had no idea what to do with it. I got married, travelled, worked in advertising and finally landed a job that excited me. I worked as a newspaper journalist for nearly ten years, discovering what most people around me seemed to know already: that I’m a good writer and using this skill made me feel somehow more alive. I honed my craft and found my voice.
Becoming a mum launched me into a different writing space. I wasn’t prepared to prioritise my career over my kids’ precious early years, so I started my copywriting business, Inkling Media. I took on different roles, such as editor for Tasmanian street magazine Lume.
I don’t think I decided I wanted to write a book so much as I gave in and made space for the desire that was always there within me. It happened to collide with COVID, which was serendipitous for me. I lost work and gained the time to explore an idea that had been percolating for two years by that point.
Much like your character, Allira, you have an incredible journalism and magazine editing background. How has this experience helped (or perhaps hindered!) your foray into fiction writing?
It has given me lots of practice! I’ve been writing in some kind of professional capacity since 2006, so I’ve learnt to embrace constructive feedback, that research is where the gold is (building depth and authority into your writing) and that it takes a lot of grit, determination and prayer to see a massive project (like publishing a book) through to completion. Also, the magazine Allira works for is one I’d secretly like to see in print!
My journalistic writing also provided a counterbalance to this first work of fiction, The Secrets of the Huon Wren. Aside from a few short stories during my university days, I hadn’t done anything like it before. It felt incredibly freeing to sit down and write for myself with no agenda, no hard and fast message to convey, and not even a word limit to stick to. After years of structured, goals-based writing, writing fiction felt like freefall. Exhilarating and frightening and addictive!
Both Allira and Nora are such vibrant, authentic characters. I often hear writers say that their characters ‘speak’ to them long before they start formulating their narrative. I’m curious about this process for you. Did your characters come first or your plot?
The character of Nora is where this novel began. While sitting around a campfire in Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland back in 2018, I had a conversation with a fellow traveller who once worked at a nursing home. She told me of a woman with advanced dementia who had been written off by most and who cared for a plastic doll with the same tenderness as a mother with a newborn baby. She shared snippets of her past that revealed a possible trauma. Chilling one-liners, like: ‘Daddy took my baby behind the shed.’ That was the genesis of The Secrets of the Huon Wren, and the story grew from there as I explored who Nora was.
The Secrets of the Huon Wren also has a fantastic sense of place that I know will delight many readers unfamiliar with these areas. Was it important to you to set your first novel in your hometown, and how do you think this supported your writing?
My current hometown is Launceston, and that’s also the present-day setting in the novel. But my childhood home and my maternal family’s roots are in the countryside beneath Mother Cummings Peak and the Great Western Tiers, the Caveside, Chudleigh and Western Creek townships. This is the setting of the 1953 chapters, where Nora lives with her parents, helping her undertaker-cum-carpenter father stitch the linings into his handcrafted coffins.
I have an indelible connection to that place and wanted to tap into what is a naturally rich source of inspiration for me.
What was your journey to publication like? Are there any key lessons you learned along the way?
I wrote Huon Wren in about nine months and then spent the same amount of time again editing and responding to feedback from a handful of trusted friends, as well as a professional edit by author and all-round amazing human Robyn Mundy.
I still remember the thrill that tingled down my spine when I read her notes where she stated; this manuscript is publishable! That shot of confidence carried me to the next phase: finding an agent.
I signed with Fiona Smith from Beyond Words Literary Agency in late 2021, and by May 2022, she was calling me to say that multiple publishing houses were interested in the manuscript. I signed with Penguin Random House, and it was published in June this year.
The plot twist is that all of last year, my family and I called a caravan home as we lapped Australia. It was an incredible year of adventure, and the editing process took place all over Australia. I remember driving from a remote beach camp on the Ningaloo Coast in WA to find reception so I could have a conversation with my publisher, Ali Watts, about the cover design.
I tried not to be overwhelmed by the 6,000 mark-ups on my manuscript (my editor Amanda Martin insisted it was normal) and we were camping in Port Douglas when I actioned those edits. I found little outback libraries to snatch the time I needed to polish the manuscript ahead of publication.
One key lesson from the publication journey was to trust the process. Knock-backs had their reasons. You don’t want to sign with an agent or publisher who doesn’t have a vision for your book, so while it stings initially, I can see that Huon Wren found its perfect place. Traditional publishing supplies an army of talent to carry your story to the world. It’s a village-raising-a-child scenario. And that was a lesson for me to trust their expertise and skills.
I’m always interested in learning about others' creative philosophies - either ones you’ve learned and utilised or your own ideas around creativity. Do you have any that you lean into?
I’m a Christian, and my faith plays a big part in my creative practice. I don’t consider myself alone in the pursuit of ideas and expression, so much as a vessel for carrying them and exploring them as the Creator himself brings them to my attention.
The common thread in craft books like Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, and The Luminous Solution by Charlotte Wood is that something transcendent happens when a writer writes. When we apply ourselves to making something that didn’t exist before, we become part of something larger. I attribute that to God creating us in his image and giving us joy in the creative process.
I love exploring this premise and experiencing its wonder.
Many of our readers are emerging writers themselves. As a debut author, what are three key pieces of advice you’d offer to others embarking on their writing path?
First, write what you know. Someone said this to me so long ago that I’ve forgotten the person and context entirely, but it’s a bit of an adage anyway. We are each so unique, with a smorgasbord of life experiences, all of it delicious fodder for writing. We may as well use it! At least for the first work. The follow-on to this is to write what you want to know.
Establish a writing habit. There’s no better way to improve your writing than to write and write and write. And then write some more. When I’ve had times of poor motivation, I’ve set a daily reminder on my phone at a time of day when I’m at my best to write for five minutes. Five minutes is ludicrously achievable. It means the pressure is off, and I can literally scribble for the timeslot or catch the flow and wonder where two hours just went.
Celebrate all the milestones. Writing a book, particularly the first one, is a long and undulating path. It’s really hard! My approach has been to set myself goals and celebrate when I achieve them. Usually, it’s connected to word count. I pop the bubbly at 10k, 50k, 80k. First draft completed, first edit, second edit, 14th edit! Every step, however small, is pressing you closer to achieving your goal. What’s important is maintaining that forward momentum.
And lastly, what’s next for you? Are you working on anything new you can tell us a bit about?
I’ve just finished the first draft of my next novel. Yes, I popped a bottle of prosecco and relished knowing that the words are on the page and I can graduate to edits now!
Like The Secrets of the Huon Wren, this novel has an alternating timeline between present-day and 1968. I don’t want to give too much away at this early stage, but I can tell you that it has been influenced by research into my family history and, in particular, my great-grandfather, who was a prolific collector of insect and animal specimens and worked as a taxidermist at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
It also includes a pilgrimage… by caravan, of course.
Claire van Ryn is an awarded writer and author whose career was initially a toss-up between lawyer, principal ballerina and classroom teacher. She started studying all those things before settling on newspaper journalism. Claire only gave up the news scene ten years later when she became a mum and priorities shifted. She has since undertaken roles in creative direction, communications, and as editor for Tasmanian street magazine Lume. In June 2023, Claire’s debut novel, The Secrets of the Huon Wren, was published by Penguin Random House, quickly going to second and third print runs.
Launceston is Claire’s birthplace and home, but she has travelled extensively and enjoys the sense of spontaneity and discovery with each new destination. She recently spent a year lapping Australia with her husband and two children in a caravan. And enjoyed it. Creating is Claire’s favourite thing: whether with words, watercolours or whatever else is close at hand.
Find Claire at:
Instagram: @clairevanryn
Facebook: @clairevanryn.author
Elaine Chennatt is a writer, educator and psychology student currently residing in nipaluna. She has a special interest in bibliotherapy (how we use literature to make sense of our lives) and is endlessly curious about the creative philosophies of others. She lives with her husband and two bossy dachshunds on the not-so-sunny side of the river (IYKYK). Find her online at wordswithelaine.com.
