Author Favel Parrett on publicity and productivity

In episode 35 of our top-rating So you want to be a writer podcast, Australian author Favel Parrett spoke with Allison Tait about many things. Here are two:

On publicity:
“I’d love to be like Cormac McCarthy and never do anything, no public speaking, and just hide away and write books that would sell. But, unfortunately, I think that now marketing and touring and meeting people and all of that stuff is really part of it.

“Most writers are not great public speakers, they’re people that sort of sit on their own, and are introverted. It takes a lot out of you, the touring. It’s really hard to be creative when you’re on the road… But, you get to meet some great people and you get to speak to some great people, you get ideas. That’s one good thing.”

And on productivity:
“I used to be strict about, ‘I’ve got to do 2,000 words a day,’ or whatever, of a first draft. But, now I know that word count is meaningless. You’re going to have days when you write 300 words and that’s a key essence piece that means a lot; you’ve suddenly worked a lot of things out. And you can have a day when you write 10,000 words and they’re just nothing, they’ve got no feeling, they’re terrible.

“I think it’s just about sitting there — a lot of writing is thinking. That sounds like we’re just really lazy, but I mean thinking in a space where you’re alone. The phone is off, you’re not on Facebook, I don’t have the internet at my studio. So, just focused in a feeling in the book, trying to work things out.”

Favel’s debut novel, Past the Shallows, was shortlisted for the 2012 Miles Franklin Award. Her novel, When the Night Comes, was released in 2014.

You can read the full interview transcript or listen to the podcast episode here.