CWD Member Interview - Ester de Boer

Most Thursdays this year we will be interviewing one of the members of Christian Writers Downunder – to find out a little bit more about them and their writing/editing goals.

Today’s interview: Ester de Boer, Author and illustrator

Question 1: Tells us three things about who you are and where you come from.

I have always been creative and imaginative- I was drawing on every available surface from the moment I would grasp a crayon. And have always been a story teller. My parents were amazing story tellers, just able to make up stories on the spot. My siblings and I used to rewrite our favourite stories into plays or “radio” plays with sound effects, so stories were a big part of my childhood. 

One of my favourite pages in Raymund and the Fear Monster by Megan Higginson, which I illustrated.

I didn’t take my creative side seriously until later in life, so have spent most of my life squeezing myself into uncomfortable and ill-suited roles. (I think there should be a way you can have a doctorate in unfinished courses of study- kind of a PHD of ADHD??? I’d be a well-lettered person by now!)

Question 2: Tell us about your writing (or editing/illustrating etc).  What do you write and why?

I have three types of writing – my fantasy novel, which is a long-term project; my “no way I am going to show you this unless you’re my therapist” stuff (admit it- we all have some hidden somewhere!) and (I really don’t know how to categorise it) stuff I’ve written in response to a revelation by the holy spirit. 

The fantasy novel is eccentric and darkly comical, while the Christian-based writing is (and I am surprised, as the thought of “inspirational writing” makes me want to poke my fingers down my throat) um… inspiring, uplifting, without a trace of my usually sardonic tone. I kind of wrangled with that for a while, but I realise that they’re simply two parts of myself- not my “Christian” self vs my “dark side”. I’d feel untrue if I only did one and not the other. 

Question 3: Who has read your work? 

I have had many hapless victims, cornered in my home or at a coffee shop, forced to listen as I read my work to them. I do this as shamelessly as any grandma with gigantic albums full of grandkid photos- it’s the best way to proof read (and yes, they have to sit through that as well). 

In a more formal context, I have had three stories published so far in Stories of Life: “When Andy Met God”, “Three Dummies in a Dinghy” and “Under the Frangipani Tree”. 

Available at Koorong

Who would you like to read it?

Anyone who would be encouraged or inspired by it, I suppose. I don’t try to write these. They’re responses to, sometimes, really painful or difficult situations or struggles, and the writing is the product of coming through them. 

Question 4: Tell us something about your process. What challenges do you face? What helps you the most?

No matter what type of writing it is (and I mean this literally, whether it’s a fantasy novel or university essay) I always read it out loud. I do this over and over, to myself, to others… and sometimes I get others to read it back to me. I’m musical, and I put this in my writing. You can’t ignore rhythm, tempo, texture. I keep pruning and reshaping sentences to try to get the right flow. 

If I am writing from God-given inspiration, I feel a sense of responsibility to communicate it truthfully and also to critique it theologically as well. I may be feeling sparkly rainbow fuzzies from a wonderful experience, but I may also be way off mark theologically. I won’t put pen to paper without prayer and the Bible to refer to, so it ends up being part of my worship “process” which is really beautiful- I revisit the memories, the revelation, the breakthrough, that first brought me to the experience- and the final writing becomes a solidifying of this in myself. 

Question 5: What is your favourite Writing Craft Book and why? 

Gosh, I don’t have one! I do, however, constantly read, and I’m not passive in that process. I have writers whose style I admire, like Salman Rushdie, who uses amazing alliteration or Paul Theroux (I took so long to read the Mosquito Coast because I kept rereading paragraphs just to hear them again). I think the best writing lesson is being a reader of good writing.

Question 7: What are your writing goals for this year? How will you achieve them?

I have drafted out another autobiographical short story which I now need to edit. I also plan to complete the current section of my novel (a tough process of helping my protagonist escape capture by rabbit crime gangs, ride a pirate rocketship through a gushing ringbridge, and battle two-headed parasitic birds that nest in the shells of aged, retired planets- phew!) 

How will I achieve this? I think I need a few long plane or train trips! There’s nothing like the long, boring hours awaiting your destination surrounded by odd human specimens as wonderful character inspiration… I cannot write at home. 

Question 8: How does your faith impact and shape your writing?

When I was a new Christian, I went into a creative void, as I found myself going from being a little free-spirited bohemian chick to trying to fit in in a subculture that was so restrictive and suspicious in regard to imagination and creativity (I am first a visual artist). I was constantly told that God would probably require me to give up my art, though I never received any logical explanation why. As I’ve grown more in my relationship with God, I have gained a healthier understanding of my giftings as God-given. It’s actually a big story in itself, but it’s affected how much I have come to sit comfortably in my own skin as an artist, writer and creative person, through the eyes of the creator, not church culture. If I didn’t have that understanding, I think I wouldn’t have sense of peace or freedom behind my work. 

Ester de Boer grew up in Townsville, North Queensland and has gradually allowed gravity to pull her further down into the icy climes of Gippsland, Victoria. She is a creative writer, artist, children’s book illustrator, musician and all-round arty person. To support her art habit, Ester works as a special education teacher and on Sundays plays violin and sings in her church music team.  You can view some of her illustration work at www.esterdeboerillustration.com 

Meet Our Members – May-Kuan Lim

Most Thursdays in 2019 we will be interviewing one of the members of Christian Writers Downunder – to find out a little bit more about them and their writing/editing goals.

Today interview May-Kuan Lim

Question 1: Tells us three things about who you are and where you come from. 

1. I grew up in Malaysia, but travelled to Melbourne as an international student when I was 17.
2. Working as a newsroom engineer for a short stint in the 1990s made me realise that I would rather write stories than broadcast them. In 2007, a journalist friend offered me a parenting column with the Borneo Post and I eagerly took up this opportunity.
3. I now live in Adelaide where I teach English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), run writing workshops and record oral history.

Question 2: Tell us about your writing (or editing/illustrating etc).  What do you write and why?

For my column, I used to interview all sorts of people such from teachers to speech therapists and psychologists. My nine-year column was really an excuse to ask questions that might answer my private parenting dilemmas. Through this, I developed a habit of trying to understand the world through interviewing people and writing. I mostly write other people’s stories, in the form of narrative non-fiction. 

Question 3: Who has read your work? Who would you like to read it?

My early articles in the Borneo Post were for the general public – parents, educators, people interested in Australia. (I moved to Adelaide in 2005). In 2013, I self published my dad’s memoirs, Fish in the Well, set in Malaya, which was sold at his church and given to family members.

My latest book, Refuge, is a collection of refugee stories since the Vietnam War. My hope is that anyone touched by migration, displacement or war will read it. For this reason, I am publishing it serially online for free. The book is now at Chapter 5 Iraq, which is the story of a playwright who fell in love with his leading lady. I publish a new instalment every Friday and anyone can subscribe.

I am also adapting the stories so that they can be used as an English teaching resource. As my Port Adelaide TAFE students inspired the book, I like to think that the stories are coming full circle. 

Question 4: Tell us something about your process. What challenges do you face? What helps you the most?

My Facebook page is The Curious Scribbler. My process starts curiosity: something piques my interest or puzzles me.

I try to find out everything on the topic, whether through the library or by talking to people. Then I ask myself – what jumps out? Where is the energy? In other words, I listen to my heart. Finally, I put on my writer’s hat and try to find the voice to tell the story and the structure to contain it.

I love this quote by poet and writing teacher Mark Tredinnick: ‘How a piece of writing becomes a work of art – a plain but unforgettable thing –has everything to do with the integrity and humanity of its voice and the elegance of the work’s composition.’

Question 5: What is your favourite Writing Craft Book and why? 

The Little Red Writing Book by Mark Tredinnick because it is a pleasure to read. It is also organised into sensible chapters such as Lore (On voice, music, care and thrift), Grace (On style, economy and poise), and Shapely thoughts (On thought, planning, structure and paragraphs). I also love the memorable one-liners, for example: ‘Write to please yourself; make yourself hard to please.’

Question 6: If you were to give a shout-out to a CWD author, writer, editor or illustrator – who would they be?

Megan Higginson. I first came across Megan’s work via her contribution to the 2018 Stories of Life anthology, Three Dummies in a Dinghy. I then heard about her work organising teen street libraries in her area. What a brilliant idea – generous and practical. Wouldn’t I have loved such a library when I was a teen? Megan has a lovely engaging reading voice and went on to read several stories for the Stories of Life. Megan and Ester de Boer are also about to launch their picture book Raymund the Fear Monster. I hope that it will help me stare down my own Fear Monsters. 

Question 7: What are your writing goals for 2018? How will you achieve them?

I have just finished reading Rosanne Hawke’s book, Riding the Wind, on how to write for children and young adults. In line with her advice, I have started keeping two notebooks: one for story ideas and another for my response to other books. Instead of gobbling up words like a glutton, I am trying to read more slowly, to savour the way the words go down, to pay attention to technique and even to copy down exceptional sentences.

I am also experimenting with other genres. To my mind, the challenge to diversify was best put by vet and budgerigar expert Bob Donely: A real doctor treats more than one species.

Question 8: How does your faith impact and shape your writing?

Rebecca Solnit’s words made a deep impression on me: ‘We are our stories, stories that can be both prison and the crowbar to break open the door of that prison; we make stories to save ourselves or to trap ourselves or others, stories that lift us up or smash us against the stone wall of our own limits and fears. Liberation is always in part a storytelling process: breaking stories, breaking silences, making new stories.’

While I don’t think that we can save ourselves, I think she makes a good point about breaking silences, and about storytelling being bound up in the process of liberation. It was for freedom that Jesus set us free. Let us talk and write then about how he set us free. Thinking along these lines motivated me to become part of the Stories of Life team, a team that encourages Christians to write their true stories of faith and testimony.

Jesus is not only liberator of those in chains. He is also light in a dark world. As his follower, I therefore try not to shut my eyes to block out dark and frightening things. Cover-ups and silences don’t please or glorify the God of truth. If I can bear to look at a thing honestly and dig deep, my faith assures me that there is no darkness beyond his redeeming power.

Having said that, I often find myself wrestling with how my ancient and invisible faith is to be lived out in this visible and contemporary world. For me, reading and writing seem to be part of this wrestling. Words seem to be the medium through which I sense God’s heart, and the way I offer back something to him.

May-Kuan Lim is a member of Writers SA and Oral History Australia SA/NT. She is also the administrator for the Stories of Life writing competition. Her website is maykuanlim.com.