Make way for Miranda

Becoming a career novelist has been a lifelong dream for Jan Juc’s Miranda Luby, but beating her fear of failure was the step she needed to take before attempting her first manuscript.

“I was so scared of starting because I thought, ‘If I fail, it’s the thing I care about most, what am I going to do then?’.

“It wasn’t until I got to the point where not trying was more of a failure than actually never having anything published.”

The award-winning writer has had feature stories printed in publications including National Geographic Traveller, BBC, Broadsheet, Travel Adventure Magazine, Nourish and Kidspot, and her columns have been syndicated by the Daily Mail and the New York Post.

Luby earned a place in the ACT Writers Centre’s professional development program “HARDCOPY” about two years ago and was recently one of 20 people to be awarded a mentorship with the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) for her manuscript in progress Therefore I Am.

“It’s a young adult, contemporary novel. It’s about a young girl with a passion for philosophy who struggles with perfectionism and the need to control everything in her life,” she said.

“Her family picks up and moves to London when she’s in Year 11 and she sees it as a chance to start a new life but soon realises you can’t outrun your problems, and they follow her overseas.

“She uses philosophy to try and attempt to solve some of the issues she’s created for herself.”

Luby said the protagonist, Sarah, was partly inspired by her own life.

“I’ve been writing for a while and was looking to teach myself more about what really truthful fiction writing looks like and sounds like.

“I thought the best way to do that is to write something I know to be true, so she’s based a lot on me, which made it both easier and harder to write.”

While most people would assume writing fiction to be solitary form of self-expression, Luby said the Surf Coast’s community of novelists were committed to encouraging and supporting rising talents.

She said the winter trilogy author Mark Smith (The Road to Winter, Wilder Country and Land of Fences) and Nina Kenwood (It Sounded Better in My Head) were two of her biggest idols.

“The Australian and particularly the Victorian literary community is so, so supportive, and not competitive at all.

“They’re really there for each other, championing each other’s work, and willing to help you out and read some work for free and give feedback.

“It’s a really amazing community, that’s been a real surprising pleasure.”

Luby said she’d like to offer some “cliché advice” to aspiring novelists who might be reluctant to make a start.

“The more you write and the more feedback you get, the less sensitive you become.

“Don’t give up – it’s the only way. There’s many times I wanted to stop, and probably will in the future, but people who publish books just don’t stop writing and then they eventually get there. Keep at it.”

For more information about Miranda Luby, head to mirandaluby.com.