Sophie Harding asked Dave Reardon:

what would you find the hardest part of conceptualising a story to be?

Dave Reardon Hi Sophie, I find the hardest part is being disciplined enough to plan a story in detail before launching into it. I have a tendency to leap first into the writing and then, only later on, realise that my 'brilliant' idea needs some work. Even so, I find this can be quite a fun way to write as the author & the reader tend to 'discover' the story as it goes along. In terms of the big picture of the story, I usually find something that fascinates, frustrates or motivates me, then set about researching & talking to people for background. In my first book, The Deep Enders, I was frustrated by a couple of things ... namely that very few people seemed to know or care about Australia's WWII history and also, I was frustrated that so many Indigenous stories were tragic when all of our young Indigenous friends were anything but tragic. I wanted to write a series that entertained (a lot), educated (just enough) & left readers wanting more. Thanks for your question :)

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