Q&A: Karen Viggers, Author of Sidelines

Briefly tell us about your new novel, Sidelines.

Sidelines is a fictional story about excessive competitiveness, and the far-reaching impacts of society’s obsession with success. It delves into modern life to see what makes winning and success so important to us. Told through the eyes of adults and teens from two families, it shines a light on the impacts of parental pressure on teen confidence, mental health and self-esteem. The narrative is centred around junior sport (soccer), but has relevance to any activity from study or singing, to swimming, basketball or ballet. Like THE SLAP by Christos Tsiolkas and Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, it turns a mirror on society and shows us more about who we are.

What inspired the idea behind Sidelines?

Sidelines was inspired by my 15 years as a soccer mum, watching my kids play and referee sport. During that time, I witnessed some interesting behaviour, including my own. When a brawl broke out at an U12s game in my home town, I was shocked. How could something like that happen? What sort of parents would get so overinvested in seeing their kids win that it could end up in a fight? Were they bad parents? Or ordinary parents like me who had become carried away? I started to think what was underlying it all, what the motivations of those parents might be, and this became the trigger for SIDELINES. I hope you find it as thought-provoking to read as I did in my own deep self-reflection in writing it.

In Sidelines we see how some parents drive for success can be detrimental to their child’s happiness. Is competitiveness ever a good thing?

Competitiveness is embedded in our society and is inherent in human nature. But life has many pressures for young people these days –school, peers, social media. Sport is one thing they often do for fun. But research shows that parents are often ruining that experience by being outspoken and overly competitive. This is contributing significantly to teens dropping out of sport. That said, if it doesn’t undermine self-esteem, there are many positives to participation in sport and other activities. Competition can drive us to be better. But how much pressure is too much? And when should parents back off and leave it to the kids to push themselves and make their own decisions?

What are you hoping the reader will take away from reading your book?

My hope is that, in reading this book, people will reflect on the behaviour and motivations of the characters, and perhaps see elements of this in themselves or others. I was a shouter at my kids’ sport until a friend tapped me on the shoulder in a quiet moment and pointed out what I was doing. I was shocked and I changed my behaviour immediately. I’m hoping this book will stimulate lots of discussion about the issues and themes it raises, especially competitiveness, parental pressure, parents living vicariously through their children, bullying, teen mental health, and empowerment of young people. Above all, I hope to promote more positive attitudes from parents in relation to their children’s activities, and a greater level of respect at home, in sport and in all levels of society.

What’s some great advice you’ve received that has helped you as a writer?

1. Finish one project before starting another, because the new idea always seems more exciting than the one you are working on. Whatever the project, there is the work that must be done to finish it.
2. Writing a book is 10% inspiration, 90% hard work. Editing is where the book really starts to come together.
3. Get the words down, then get them right. Once you have words on paper, you have material to work with.
4. Go for a walk when you get stuck. It’s amazing how often things resolve themselves while you are walking.
5. Think about what you want your readers to feel at the end of the book.

Buy a copy of Sidelines here.