LISA FULLER’s novel Washpool is a magical middle-grade adventure about two sisters who need to rely on their own wits and each other when they’re pulled into a new world. We caught up with the author to find out everything from what inspired her fantasy world to the black&write! fellowship.
Washpool takes Bella and Cienna into a completely new world. What inspired you to create Muse?
I live in Canberra but my family are in Queensland. I was missing my niblings badly, and I wanted to help the eldest two with their literacy journey. One day I sat down and wrote them a letter with a first chapter of their story and sent it. In the letter I explained the deal – that they had to reply with letters and maybe some artwork if they wanted the next chapter. Eventually they bargained me up to two chapters, savvy girls. Much of what is in the story was created to surprise and delight them, with little things I always hope they know. Muse got its name from the inspiration they gift to me, then and now.
Bella and Cienna have very different personalities. In what ways do you think their differences help them during their quest?
When I wrote the first draft, there was less of their characters in there as it was written for my family and we all know the girls. When it came time to finish it, I asked permission from the girls to turn them into characters and flesh things out so people outside our family could understand it. In some ways, the two characters are very much still my nieces, but in others, they are very different because it had to be that way to make the story work but also to protect the girls. More than anything, I wanted the real girls to see their differences as strengths. I hope that the story reflect that desire for them to celebrate who they are, and that difference is what makes the world work.
The bond between sisters plays a big role in this book. In your own life, are there any experiences or inspirations that shaped how you wrote the sisters’ relationship in Washpool?
I was raised by a single mother in a house usually filled with women. I’m the middle sister of three girls, in a culture and community where my aunties, women cousins, community members and friends were a big part of my life. That’s not to say that my grandfather, uncles and male cousins aren’t as important, but they very rarely lived with us. Sisterhood, whether by blood or by choice, is hugely important in my family and culture. These relationships are never simple and rarely easy, but in writing Washpool in the way I have, I wanted the girls to always remember to stick together. That having each other’s backs means there’s nothing they can’t do.
Can you explain the significance of the egg in the story and why it’s so important for Bella and Cienna to find it?
This is kind of hard without spoilers. Children are always precious, but in Muse the birth rate has been dropping for a while. To harm a child is the greatest crime of all. The dragon’s egg is a symbol of hope for things improving, so when it is stolen, all these things are betrayed. The hunt for the egg is a quest for the life of a child, a core value and the future of Muse, as well as Cienna and Bella’s way home. The egg thief sees things very differently, and they have a plan all their own.
How did the black&write! fellowship influence your work on Washpool? Did it change your approach to writing in any way?
Working with Jas and Grace on what was such a personal work was amazing. It was a culturally safe space where we shared a similar worldview, so I didn’t have to explain or educate the way I often do in a lot of my working and even personal life. So it was just easier. Their regular check-ins really held me accountable, and they helped me through a few freakouts when I panicked on if I was appropriating story or doing the wrong things. I don’t know if it has changed my writing process, but it gave me a glimpse of how things could be in the publishing industry, and made me crave more of it. It also gave me connections with these two amazing editors and through them, a wider community.
As a Wuilli Wuilli woman, and a descendent of the Wakka Wakka and Gooreng Gooreng nations, how does your cultural heritage influence your writing?
A writer can’t help but write their reality into their work and often borrows from their life. That’s no different for me, but especially because I’m so focussed with Washpool on telling this story to my niblings. That process necessarily means that there is something of me and my mob in everything I write. After tackling the seriousness of Ghost Bird, I saw Washpool as a chance to just have fun with my babies. And it turned into something the whole family enjoyed during lock-down, which I am eternally grateful for. As my partner once said to me when he read the manuscript – ‘it’s middle grade fantasy with Blak flavour’, which I loved.
How does Washpool challenge the idea of what makes someone brave?
There is this idea in our society sometimes that being brave can only be done in one way: standing out, raising your voice, making a splash, being fearless. Don’t get me wrong, that is incredibly brave and should be celebrated. But it’s the quieter bravery that often gets overlooked. The small moments of resistance or in just being who you are, that so many people do every day. But because of how our world works, that quieter bravery doesn’t get celebrated. This is me celebrating that, but also hopefully showing my niblings that even when they don’t feel brave, they are. I forget who said it, but it’s true – bravery isn’t the absence of fear, but being afraid and doing it anyway.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Fuller is a Wuilli Wuilli woman from Queensland, also descended from Wakka Wakka and Gooreng Gooreng peoples. She’s lived on Ngunnawal and Ngambri lands (Canberra) since 2006, where she is a lecturer at the University of Canberra. Lisa is an award-winning writer, editor and literary agent. She loves to play and finds herself working and publishing in varied spaces. Her work often grows from love, for her daughter, niblings, Country and community.
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