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Over the years The Spite Game has had many titles: Ava, Greyfields, Lakeside Estate, Tough. It has also taken many forms: a short film, a short story, a feature screenplay, a novella. This story was my white whale. It surfaced on long dark bus rides, in early morning showers, in the restless hours of sleeplessness. Finally, I can release it out into the world.
Ten years ago, it was a short story. I was twenty and had worked a casual job at a half-built gated community constructed in the middle of Australian bushland. At the time I was infatuated with Australian Gothic and Bluebeard, and this seemed like the perfect setting for my own interpretation. The story was my final assignment at University and the first piece of writing that I was actually proud of.
Then, it was a short film about a teenage girl toying with the idea of psychopathy. I made it with my friends in the share house we lived in. The film was eight minutes long and took us about eight months.
Next it was a feature screenplay. I was twenty-five by then and sure the Australian film industry would be an easy nut to crack. I was very wrong. So, what do you do when you write a screenplay and have absolutely no idea what to do with it? I used my screenplay as a template and re-wrote the story in prose.
Turns out, thirty thousand words is not technically a novel, but writing the novella of this story cut my teeth as an author. It gave me the passion to start fresh and begin a new project about a missing girl and her replacement. This book became Only Daughter, my first published novel.
Although I had written this story many times, I knew the only approach to facing my white whale was to face the blank page. I had to start all over again, from scratch. Thanks to a Varuna fellowship I was able to finally get this story out of my head right. Amidst misty mountain walks and quiet time curled up next to the heater, The Spite Game found its final form.
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