The phenomenally successful author, who died last week, believed “intensity” was the key to writing for teenage readers.
I once spent a day with John Marsden at his alternative school, the Candlebark School in the Macedon Ranges. He showed me around, we talked privately, and I sat in on a couple of his classes. I was impressed by this tall broad man who didn’t want to come across as an authority figure, yet still had a natural authority.
During one class, he gave everyone a creative writing exercise: write about a beautiful view of a lake from the point of view of someone who’s miserable and angry. I hope I’ve remembered that correctly. I tried the exercise too, and it was really hard. You have to go back into Marsden’s own childhood and adolescence to see where this comes from. A bad school experience and an alienating time at university led to a breakdown, and he needed years of therapy to recover.
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