Briefly tell us about Naked Ambition.
Naked Ambition is a novel about art, politics, religion and family, and the role vanity plays in all of them. In the year of a very tight election when every seat counts, a member of parliament named Gregory Buchanan agrees to be painted by a leading artist for the Archibald Prize. Unfortunately he agrees to be painted nude.
What inspired the idea behind Naked Ambition?
Like so many people, I enjoy the annual bun fight that is the Archibald Prize, and I’m always disappointed by the paucity of nude portraits. Portraits are interesting, but nude portraits are very interesting. The decision to pose nude is doubtless a risky one, but I wondered what would happen if a sitting politician were painted nude. Would it make or break his/her/their career, and if so why? I liked the idea of writing a comedy about the jeopardy associated with such a decision. Is it courage or folly?
Does the creative process get easier for you with each book?
I love writing, so the process isn’t torture. It can be frustrating certainly. Each book is like starting all over again, although you do gain the confidence to trust the process that suits you. I’m not a plotter. I open a notebook, pick up a fountain pen, and start writing. Not knowing what will unfold is part of the pleasure of writing.
What was the most challenging part of writing Naked Ambition?
The novel takes place mostly in a single room, so the most challenging part was keeping everything moving so that reader doesn’t feel constrained by the space. This is a dialogue-heavy book so another challenge was delineating characters through their own words; and I suppose the main challenge actually was to make it funny.
What is something that has influenced you as a writer?
I think the strongest influence on me as a writer has been the nineteenth century novel. I love Dickens, Austen, Eliot, James, Collins and the rest of that crew. I like the assuredness of their prose. I’m a sucker for an elegantly turned sentence.
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