Better known as a short story writer, Australian author Cate Kennedy has ventured into longer territory with her debut novel, The World Beneath. She is interviewed by Susan Wyndham for "The Sydney Morning Herald".
"I heard someone once say, 'You must feel different now that you've moved to the big pool from the toddler pool,' " she says of her change of form. "I quite bridled at this because I don't think the short story is a toddler pool. In a way it is more like the beautiful diving pool - it's not the shallow pool, it's the smaller pool that takes a lot of practice to do the one entry perfectly."
The novel required new techniques - more complex structuring, multiple viewpoints and more introspection from the characters. "I did feel I had all this space to swim around in," she says, "and I wanted to make sure I was as careful with each of the scenes or fragments as I am with a short story, because the amazing thing with a short story is you have nowhere to hide."
Kerryn Goldsworthy has further things to say about this book, and this quote, on her weblog "Australian Literature Diary".
