Emerging Writers Series: Helen Meany
“I think one of the really fun things about writing fiction is having the freedom to take an idea, even if it’s absurd, see where you can take it, and then try and make it as believable as you can.”
You might have seen Helen Meany’s genre-defying debut, Every Day is Gertie Day (2021), a few times across Aniko Press. We included it in our 2021 wrap up of great books you shouldn’t miss, and I wrote a full review just recently.
After reading such an engrossing and vividly imagined story, I knew I had to chat with the creative brain behind it. Helen was kind enough to let us in on where she draws her inspiration from, her biggest lessons as a writer and what’s next for her after winning the Viva La Novella Competition 2021.
Let’s start with a bit about your writing background. Every Day is Gertie Day is your debut novel, but how long have you been writing for, and where would we find other work by you?
When I was a kid, it never occurred to me that being a writer was something you could do. I never wondered where books came from; they were just there, fully formed, sitting on shelves, perhaps having just willed themselves into existence. I did write, though, I know because when my pet mouse died when I was 10, I wrote a poem that was published in the kids’ section of the Canberra Times, and I won five bucks (five bucks!)
However, I had, and still have, a big problem with handwriting and spelling (and telling the time and knowing left from right), which made any sort of writing, pre-word processing times, torturous. I avoided it as much as possible.
I decided to study art at university under the tragically misguided belief there wouldn’t be any essays. I only really started writing properly when I finally got a computer - I suppose MS Word saved me. After university, I was working as a digital cel painter for an animation production company. I got a lucky break writing screenplays for a few episodes of a show they were making. This led to some more writing for TV and video games, which was great, but I didn’t know what I was doing. I was crap at being a freelancer and hopeless at hustling for work.
Finally, knowing I wanted to get back into writing again and find other writers, in 2017, I started my MA in Creative Writing at UTS. For the novel-writing subject, I began working on a story called Elf Ears, which eventually became Every Day is Gertie Day. It’s worth pointing out I had previously attempted two other novels - both bad, bad, bad - but worthwhile because I don’t think I would have finished Every Day is Gertie Day if I hadn’t already had a bash at it.
I’ve also written some short fiction that can be found in the 2017–2019 editions of the UTS Writers’ Anthology.
Every Day is Gertie Day is such a richly imagined story with so many layers. Where do you draw your inspiration and ideas from?
I think one of the really fun things about writing fiction is having the freedom to take an idea, even if it’s absurd, see where you can take it, and then try and make it as believable as you can.
Every Day is Gertie Day started off as fairly straightforward historical fiction about the secrets of a mysterious woman who had died, and somewhere along the way, the idea she might have had body modification got chucked into the mix.
From that, the fun and creative part was, how would that have come about? Then, how is this a story? What’s a good way to tell it? and, how do I make it believable?
From there the other characters and layers developed organically around it. I like stories that feel like ripples through time, showing how a seemingly small decision a character makes can turn out to have huge consequences decades later.
Here at Aniko Press, we’re always interested to learn about the different pathways to publication and you’re the first writer I’ve chatted with who’s found publication success through a competition. How did it feel to win the Viva La Novella Prize and what was the journey like from winning to publication - was it quite a collaborative process?
It felt amazing to win. I used submitting to Viva la Novella as motivation to finish Every Day is Gertie Day as a novella felt doable and it gave me a deadline. Just by finishing and entering, I felt like I’d achieved something.
I told myself it was a practice novel - an exercise in completing something - mainly to trick my brain into believing that no one would ever read it, which turns out to be a good way to ward off writers’ block.
To then win, and have it published, felt like an amazing bonus. Alice Grundy worked with me as editor and her insight and input, I think, made it a much better book than it would have been otherwise. I love working with editors. Fresh eyes are so important, especially on a long-form work where you very quickly start to lose all perspective. I was also lucky to have a fabulous and eagle-eyed copy editor in Elena Gomez.
What have been some of the key things that have helped to shape you as a writer?
Reading, obviously. I’m a slow reader and it takes me ages to finish a book. I wish I was one of those people who can read one or more a week, but alas I have a TBR list that’s embarrassingly huge.
When I’ve read a book that does something completely unexpected with the form, is impossible to put down and moves or changes me in some way, and I’m left wondering how on earth it was accomplished, I think it helps my writer's brain. The question of how the writer went from a blank page to that? How must it feel to take those creative risks with no guarantee they’ll pay off and somehow keep going for, in many cases, years, to finish it? Somehow just contemplating that makes anything seem possible, even if it’s just finishing something that’s okay. To me that’s encouraging.
I’m always recommending Julia Cameron’s book on creativity, The Artist’s Way to everybody. It’s seriously life-changing.
I also have a fabulous writers’ group that emerged out of Short Story class at UTS. As a writer, I would be utterly shapeless and unmoored without the camaraderie, feedback and support of these excellent humans.
What would you say have been three of your biggest lessons or takeaways throughout the full process of writing a complete book and getting published?
Firstly, I now have proof that I can do it. There it is on the shelf! This feels weirdly important to me. That I managed to achieve it while working and parenting, by (with the exception of two weeks at Varuna House in 2019, mostly spent procrastinating) snatching whatever moments of time I could. Carving out pre-dawn writing time and brainstorming in on the bus to work or in the car waiting for soccer practice to finish.
Secondly, done is better than perfect - I feel like I need this tattooed somewhere!
And thirdly, write first for yourself. Being published always felt like a long shot to me. I wrote Every Day is Gertie Day with no expectations except to finish something and to entertain myself while doing it. I think if I had had an audience in mind, or felt like I had to be aiming for a particular genre, I wouldn’t have completed it or at least written the book it became. So, it’s especially thrilling and gratifying and validating that my book is out in the world now and finding readers who appreciate it in all its genre-defying weirdness.
And finally, what’s next for you on your writing journey? Are you working on anything new at the moment?
More genre-defying weirdness perhaps!
I grew up in the suburbs of 1980s Canberra but have now lived in Sydney for more than half my life. Knowing Canberra well, visiting it often, but seeing it from a distance reminds me how profoundly strange a place it still is. I have a story set there, it might become a novel, but who knows, right?
Helen Meany was born and raised in Canberra and now lives in Sydney. She has worked as a screenwriter, music reviewer and film archivist. In 2019 she was awarded a Varuna Residential Fellowship and in 2021, won Viva la Novella with her first book, Every Day is Gertie Day.
Elaine Mead is a freelance writer and book reviewer, currently residing in nipaluna (Hobart), Tasmania. She is passionate about the ways we can use literature to learn from our experiences to become more authentic versions of ourselves and obsessed with showing you photos of her Dachshund puppy. You can find her online under www.wordswithelaine.com.
