Enthralled Magazine Vol 1 Issue 2 - Reflect

The rhyming is quite outstanding.
How long did it take to get the
rhythm and the meter right? Were
there lines that took a long time to
get right or did the whole poem just
flow? Which are your favourite lines?
Luckily the rhyming and meter came
quite easily. I have a love of words
and could remember a lot of them, in
those days. Also, I had been reading a
lot of the Australian ballad writers
like Banjo Patterson.
I do remember being quite pleased
with “turned his teeth to toast”
That is my fav too. Tell us Bad Brown
Bill. Was his physique modelled on
someone you knew or wished you
didn’t? Were you drawn to
bushrangers with beer guts?
Beer gut!? That’s solid muscle, beg
your pardon!
I think I just enjoyed drawing
ratbaggy figures. Pirates would have
done just as well, but I had spent
time in the bush where Captain
Thunderbolt used to ‘work’ and was
inspired by him, and the landscape of
the New England Tablelands.
All those lovely giant granite
boulders! I like ratbaggy types
because I’m not one, but would
secretly love to have a ratbaggy
fortnight or two, one day.
Was research important in this book
or did impede the creative flow?
Oh, research can never impede! It is
half the fun. Research enriches
pictures and stories, giving your ideas
more substance, and creating brand
new ideas.
Also, it is a wonderful way of
procrastinating without full blown
anxiety or guilt.
Why do you think The Oath of Bad
Brown Bill is still popular today?
Mostly because people remember it
fondly from their own childhoods, or
reading it to their children.
I hear from people now who are
reading it to their grand-children. It’s
an old, old book. (I wonder who that
could be ;)
What new projects are you working
on now?
I am working on a graphic novel set
in a medieval village in France. Also I
am sculpting figures - art dolls they
are called.
This involves sewing, or used to, until
I found hot glue guns. I have some
minor burns now, but no more
needle stab wounds.