WELCOME TO GIRLFRIEND FICTION

Scot Gardner

Wasn't born reading and writing; in fact he left school in year eleven to undertake an apprenticeship in gardening with the local council. He has worked as a waiter, masseur, delivery truck driver, home dad, counsellor and musician. These days he spends half the year writing and half the year on the road talking to people about his books and the craft of writing.

Embarassing high school moment?

'Oh, man. It hurts to think back to that stuff. I kept spiders as pets and was bitten by a huntsman trying to be a hero in grade five. I smacked my head on the monkey bars trying to show off for Christina who I was in love with in grade six. In year eight I was in the back of my very first girlfriend’s car and her dad was driving us out for our very first date. I said "It’s like a little oven in the back here". Her dad—a bit rugby player—pulled the car over and looked at me strangely. He’d thought I’d said "Nothing like a little loving in the back here". Whoops.'

What's the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you?

'My dad constantly and quietly encouraged us to try everything. "Give it a bash", he'd say. It has made us flexible and courageous, accepting and, in turn, encouraging to the people we meet.'

What did you like reading as a teenager?

'I didn’t read much as a teenager, I was too busy scavenging old lawn mowers from the local tip and camping with my friends. We were allowed to go bush by ourselves when we were twelve or so. I read Asterix and Tintin (graphic novels) in the library when I had to. I read the books about catching wild animals for zoos by Gerald Durrell and one little novel that turned my life around called My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. It was a story about a boy who ran away from home and lived in a hollow tree and I saw my camping self on the page. I haven’t stopped reading novels since. I was seventeen.'