Author details debut novel

STUDENTS from Buninyong Primary School’s Scotsburn campus were visited by a special recently as part of Book Week celebrations.

Local author Deb Goldie met with grade 5 and 6 students to speak about her debut novel, Test of Wills, and said it was “amazing” to discuss her process with them.

“There was a whole list of questions they had for me about the book and my writing journey and it was just great to see them so interested,” she said.

“These kids are lifelong learners and you can already see that process is already starting and they’re already starting to think ahead.

“I probably learned as much about my novel and what to do in preparing my next one as what they learned from reading my story.”

Goldie’s book released in May after 10 years of research, and tells the story of a boy named Will as he’s transported from the present day to World War Two-era Germany.

The students studied the book in the leadup to Goldie’s visit, and presented artworks they’d created for each chapter to her.

Maggie Eustice asked Goldie about her inspirations in writing the book, and said it was great to go into detail about the work with its creator.

“I really loved the storyline. It was great to be able to infer the character’s feelings, and to have Deb come in and being able to answers to all the questions we had,” she said.

“She told us the story came from her father, who had been through the things that were in the book and that’s how she was able to write a detailed novel about it.

“Deb gave us a few tips on how to create a story like that and it was amazing to hear that process.”