Nick Earls, the author of such novels as Zig Zag Street and 48 Shades of Brown, was invited recently to visit Wavell State High School, on Brisbane's northside, to address a group of talented students.
His basic advice to aspiring young writers is good advice for all: "To be a successful novelist you need to have the freedom to let yourself play with ideas, the discipline to sit down and turn them into something, and the persistence to stick with them during the years when publishers and the world at large reject what you are doing."
It would be a good thing if more writers were able to do this sort of thing. The funding for this was provided by the school's P&C Association.
