Robert Engwerda's long road to publishing success
In Victorian author Robert Engwerda’s case, it took 24 years.
“I wrote my first draft of this book when I was 29. I am 53 now. So, it's been a long time coming,” he says of his new historic fiction novel Mosquito Creek.
Although he didn’t work on the book continuously over those years, it was his passion for the story and dedication to refine his writing that kept him coming back to the manuscript for more than two decades.
“I had this really clear picture in my mind. The genesis for Mosquito Creek really came when I was a school teacher and I read - just a snippet - about these goldminers who had been stranded and marooned in the floodwaters in the 1800s, and that image... really stuck with me,” he says.
“I just write for the love of doing it and I write what I would like to read myself. As a consequence, I would just write reams of the stuff and it would go off onto different tangents.
“While I think that my writing was okay, there was often a lack of structure, a lack of pace and a lack of development of characters.”
A winning break
Robert got the chance to finesse these skills in 2007 when he was selected for the Australian Society of Authors mentorship program for his novel Backwaters, which was published in 2004 and long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award the following year.
A few months later, with his newly polished Mosquito Creek manuscript in hand, Robert sought out literary agents to represent him.
“None of them were interested. Some said no-one was interested in historical fiction anymore. It was pretty demoralising,” he admits.
Convinced it was harder to find an agent than a publisher in Australia, Robert sent a copy of the manuscript straight to an editor at Penguin.
For months he heard nothing, so one Friday afternoon he emailed a reminder to the editor.
“(The editor) took it home over the weekend and called me back on Monday morning at 9am... and said, ‘Let’s talk,’” says Robert.
When the unexpected happens
"It was unexpected. You always hope someone will pick up your manuscript and think there is merit in it, but after a lot of years of never having anything published you are not expecting someone will leap at your work either.”
That was 18 months ago. Four weeks ago, Mosquito Creek went on sale in book stores around Australia.
A passionate writer, Robert has not been discouraged by the hard work that is required at every step of authorship – from creating a story from a seedling to getting someone to notice your book.
He already has two new books in draft: one on WWI set in France, and the other a contemporary human drama set in Melbourne.
Eager to try a new genre and to stretch his skills, Robert is planning on putting most of his energies – and his ever-present tenacity - into the contemporary story first.
“I think you need to challenge yourself and stretch yourself.”
* Mosquito Creek is a historical fiction with a number of plot threads that are woven against the backdrop of the Victorian goldfields. There are the stranded goldminers, the police commissioner who was reluctantly sent to Australia and the police sergeant who had originally earned his passage to Australia as a convict. Robert’s writing is understated and descriptive, allowing the reader the freedom to wonder at times while being able to visualise a world from times past.
Mosquito Creek
By Robert Engwerda
Published by Penguin Australia
31 May 2010
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