WELCOME TO GIRLFRIEND FICTION
Mo Johnson
was born in Glasgow, Scotland. She met her Australian husband while teaching in Japan and moved to Sydney with him in 1991. She is lucky to live by the beach in spectacular Illawarra (NSW) with her husband Pete and son Paddy and their two dogs, Merlin and Scruffy. She couldn’t live without her Apple computers, her iPod, her crime-fiction collection and her friendship with fellow authors Di Bates, Sandy Fussell and Bill Condon, who give her great advice about her writing.
Mo loves staying in touch with her best friend, Auds, in Scotland, making short films, taking photographs, elephants, and people who throw back their heads to belly laugh, especially at themselves. Her phobias are flying, swimming pools, cockroaches and people dressed in animal costumes. When she doodles, Mo draws snails and triangles and people on bicycles.
How did real life influence the characters in Something More?
'Initially I wanted to write a story about a family who, like me, came from Scotland to live in Australia. The two sisters in the story are much younger than I was when I arrived here but I have drawn on some of my experiences and observations of the two cultures and the nature of homesickness.
'The focus of the book changed in the redrafting process and it is now a story about the relationship between two sisters. I must state for my own sister’s sake that it is not autobiographical! In the book I attempt to explore the point in life where two young women finally get some inkling that this might also be the case for them. So thanks, Agnes for shaping this book. It’s dedicated to you.
'My friend, Audrey Beveridge, also influenced the story. Our friendship has stood the test of time and while we live as far apart as any two people can, we still manage to pick up where we left off whenever we contact each other. I hope Isla, the main character in Something More will also come to realise that long distance friendships are possible.'
Embarassing high school moment?
This is a really long story but let’s see if I can give you the gist.
Think: me playing 3rd trumpet in the school’s very accomplished band because I was rubbish and too lazy to practise.
Think: me with those old fashioned teeth braces; the ones with the single wire that went around the entire teeth but were on a plate so you could pop them in and out.
Think: my parents in a hall full of people listening to us play the James Bond theme.
All I had to do was play the ‘do – do – do- do’ part before the 1st and 2nd trumpets came in with all the fancy notes. I was bored, waiting to play my own special bit again and tapping the mouthpiece of my trumpet on my braces. AND IT GOT STUCK. I pulled like mad but couldn't release it. I couldn't even get the mouthpiece out of the trumpet. I missed my cue. Clever first trumpet played my part and hers. Finally, I realised I had to get help. As I slipped behind the curtain I heard my dad's voice booming out: ‘Hey, Where’s our Maureen going?’
I was leaving the school band … for good.
What did you like reading as a teenager?
'As a kid, I read all of Enid Blyton's mystery stories and loved Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Then I used to use my parents’ library cards to borrow "grown up" mysteries and embarked on Agatha Christie. (So tame by today’s standards.)
'By the time I was in my teens I’d read all the Agatha Christies, so I moved on to the crime/ thriller section and went to town.
'Obviously being at school in the UK we read the classics, many of which I loved, although I hated Dickens. I absolutely loved Rebecca and everything Au sten wrote.
'When I was 15 I read The Go Between by LP Hartley and it stayed with me for years.'
What's the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?
'I grew up in the East End of Glasgow. By 1984 not a single member of my family had been to university. The people I knew were happy but they were content to stay in the same place in every sense.
'My dad said, "Education is your passport out of here."
'I left Glasgow at 17 to go to uni and I then lived in various parts of Scotland. I worked in Japan for a year and have been in Australia for 18 years come May. As a teacher I’ve always been able to find work. It seems Dad was right. I still love Glasgow and Scotland but it’s been wonderful to experience other places too.'
