Australian author Markus Zusak grew up hearing stories about Germany during WWII, about the bombing of Munich and about Jews being marched through his mother's small, German town. He always knew it was a story he wanted to tell.
"We have these images of the straight-marching lines of boys and the 'Heil Hitlers' and this idea that everyone in Germany was in it together. But there still were rebellious children and people who didn't follow the rules and people who hid Jews and other people in their houses. So there's another side to Germany," said Zusak in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald.
At the age of 30, Zusak has already asserted himself as one of today's most innovative and poetic novelists. With the publication of The Book Thief, he is now being dubbed a "literary phenomenon" by Australian and U.S. critics. Zusak is the award-winning author of four previous books for young adults: The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting the Girl, and I Am the Messenger, recipient of a 2006 Printz Honor for excellence in young adult literature. He lives in Sydney.
Q&A with the author:
*How did you become a writer?
When I was growing up, I wanted to be a house painter like my father, but I was always screwing up when I went to work with him. I had a talent for knocking over paint and painting myself into corners. I also realized fairly quickly that painting bored me. When I was a teenager, I read some books that brought me totally into their worlds. One was The Old Man and the Sea and another was What's Eating Gilbert Grape. When I read those books, I thought, "That's what I want to do." It took seven years to get published and there were countless daily failures, but I'm glad those failures and rejections happened. They made me realise that what I was writing just wasn't good enough, so I made myself improve.
*Do you follow a set routine when you write?
I basically have two routines. The first one is the non-lazy routine, where I get up and work from about 7am and aim to finish by 11:30. That usually sees me through till noon or twelve-thirty (with some time-wasting in between). Then I'll take a long break and do a few more hours in the afternoon. The lazy routine usually starts at 10am and I'll write longer into the afternoon.
The only time these routines really change is at the start or end of a book, when I'm more likely to work at night. I can't face starting a book early in the morning purely because self-belief levels are at their lowest for me when I wake up. When I'm finishing a book, I will stay up longer and work through the night, mainly out of desperation to finally get it done.
*How did you come to write I Am The Messenger?
I was sitting in a park one night eating fish and chips and saw a bank with a fifteen minute parking zone out the front, and I thought, "Fifteen minutes, that's not very long, every time I go the bank it takes a lot longer than that." I then thought, "What if you were in that bank when it was being robbed and your car was out in the fifteen minute parking zone? How would you get out to move your car to avoid getting a fine?" That gave me the bungled bank robbery scene that led to everything else in the book.
*What do you do to get away from writing?
Living in Sydney, I've taken the chance to start surfing again. One of my best memories of growing up is catching my first proper wave and surfing across it and my brother cheering at me from the shore. Many years later, I've started up again and I'm really loving it, as long as the waves are small enough! I also watch a lot of movies, especially when I'm struggling with a story I'm working on. I like watching the same ones over and over again, so I half watch and half think about the story.
*Lastly, where do you get your ideas from?
I used to lie about this, but now I actually know:
I started writing when I was sixteen. I'm thirty now. I get my ideas from fourteen years of thinking about it.
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
13 Facts (+ a few more) about Markus Zusak
1.He has severe troubles writing biographies about himself because he doesn't find himself particularly inspiring.
2.He lives in Sydney near the Royal National Park, where he has lunch with the local deer, the kookaburras (a very tough brand of laughing birds) and other creatures.
3.He is a dog person, but he has two cats, Bijoux and Brutus. He named the second one.
4.His middle name is Frank. (When he hated the name Markus, his brother and one of his sisters suggested he use his middle name: Clearly, Frank was not really a step in the right direction.)
5.His three favorite books are:
1. What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges
2. The Half Brother by Lars Saabye Christensen
3. My Brother Jack by George Johnston
6.The last book he read was Werewolves in their Youth by Michael Chabon, and the book he is currently reading is Ulysses by James Joyce.
7.In 2005, he attempted to read 52 books. He is writing a book about this ridiculous reading challenge and calling it 53 Killers. People ask him, "Why fifty-three and not fifty-two?"
8.His three favorite movies are:
1. Amelie by John Pierre Juenet
2. The Big Lebowski by the Cohen Brothers
3. Run Lola Run by Tom Tykwer
(And although it's not a favorite, he also has a soft spot for The Goonies.)
9.The last movies he's seen are A Very Long Engagement and The Motorcycle Diaries.
10.If he could meet anyone who ever lived, he would choose Michelangelo.
11.He got the idea for I am the Messenger when he was sitting in a park one night eating fish and chips and saw a bank with a fifteen minute parking zone out front. He thought, "Fifteen minutes, that's not very long. every time I go the bank it takes a lot longer than that." He then thought, "What if you were in that bank when it was being robbed and your car was out in the fifteen minute parking zone? How the hell would you get out to move your car to avoid a fine?" (That's exactly what happens at the start of the book.)
12.He is riddled with self-doubt about I am the Messenger but is glad he wrote it because he loves The Doorman.
13.His favorite number is thirteen.
