TRISTAN BANCKS is an awarding winning writer whose books for kids and teens include Two Wolves, The Fall, Detention, the ‘Tom Weekly’ series, Nit Boy and Ginger Meggs. He is currently working with producers to develop a number of his books for the screen. His latest novel, Scar Town, is a thrilling mystery novel which follows three friends as they attempt to uncover buried secrets. Good Reading for Young Adults caught up with the author to discuss his new book.
ABOUT THE BOOK
A missing father. A drowned town. A buried secret. Three friends on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth.
Seven years after Old Scarborough was drowned, a house is emerging from the water. Will and his friends Dar and Juno dare each other to explore it.
But when they find bones – and a stash of cash – they realise they’re not the only ones interested in its secrets.
Now they’re fighting for their lives against the men who want what they found. Will can’t leave the mystery alone, though. What if the bones belong to his missing dad?
A DANGEROUS JOURNEY TO UNCOVER THE TRUTH IN A TOWN THAT WANTS THE PAST TO STAY BURIED.
MEET TRISTAN BANCKS
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind Scar Town?
I used to go on holidays with my cousins to Jindabyne in the NSW Snowy Mountains when I was a kid. It’s one of those places where they drowned a town beneath a lake for a hydroelectric scheme. I always thought it was creepy, imagining the town buried beneath the lake. I also had memories of a kid who went missing from school grounds. These two things collided with my love of Stephen King’s novella The Body (Stand By Me) and a song by The Verve called ‘Appalachian Springs’ that I listened to over and over as I wrote the book. The finished story feels like a soup of these influences.
You first thought of Scar Town 13 years ago – how has the story evolved and changed since its inception?
I wrote a short story in 2009 for a collection and I started writing the novel in 2010. The short story was about two kids searching for their missing friend. There was a secret they held about his disappearance that unravelled as they set out along the lakeshore of their drowned town. It took me years to realise this structure didn’t have enough legs for a novel, so it came to be about the three kids, together, finding some bones and a whole lot of money in the walls of a half-submerged house that has started to reveal itself during the worst drought in history.
Can you talk about the challenges and joys of writing from the perspective of a teenage protagonist?
I don’t think consciously about it much. I’ve been writing books for kids and teens since 2005 and, before that, I wrote and presented and acted in TV for kids and wrote for teen magazines. Before that, I was a kid. I write the books for me as much as I write them for my readers. The journey is so long that I need to love the story myself and I think this approach has the effect that readers 10+ never feel like I’m speaking down to them or being didactic and adults enjoy the books, too.
Did you draw from your own life or relationships to capture the friendship between Will, Dar and Juno?
I had twin friends when I was a kid. We ran a lawnmowing business together and the story of Scar Town captures some of the mood of that time. I don’t remember us finding bones or money in an abandoned house, but it’s the kind of adventure we dreamt of having. There are certain similarities in the characters, but they very-much evolved into their own beings. I hope the relationships and dialogue feel real, though, because they felt second-nature to me when I was writing them.
What can you tell us about the challenges Will and his friends will face in your novel?
The book opens at a low ebb in the kids’ lives. It’s been the hottest summer and Autumn on record. Will’s father has been missing for seven years, ever since their town was drowned. His mum is totally preoccupied with a failing business that she has inherited from her father. Dar and J’s Mum has recently left them with their dad who has no money and was injured while working on the dam wall. And the town is full of secrets. But what they have is their friendship. And when they make this discovery, they have their own secret, which drives a wedge between them but also brings them closer than they’ve ever been.
Your other books are also crime/thriller reads – what draws you to this genre?
I love to be gripped when I’m reading. I’m very narrative-oriented and I love to be driven to turn pages. But I don’t want straight ‘crime’ or ‘thriller’ genre novels that feel like they’re ticking boxes. I want a story that feels as though it’s been excavated, discovered. It’s the same when I write. I want characters that I care about, big ideas being explored, but I need stakes, too. It takes me years, as a writer, to finish one of these novels, so I need to be compelled to wake up early, get out of bed and get started. Crime / thriller stories do that for me. They also keep readers turning pages.
Your book explores dark and serious issues. Why is it important for younger readers to be exposed to these topics?
I remember, from year five onwards, at school, being drawn away from younger, funnier books and towards scarier, more dangerous books. I had to jump from The BFG or Paul Jennings’ Unreal to Stephen King because there was no Middle-Grade or YA then. Now, I write books that feel like adult reads but they are appropriate for readers from 10 or 11 up. They have darker or more serious ideas that intrigue me as an adult, but they don’t have the romantic relationships and language that an adult book might have. Consequently, kids feel like they’re reading grown-up books, but the stories and ideas are relevant to their stage in life.
If you could describe this book in three words, what would they be?
Secrets. Truth. Danger.
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