David Mills talks with Alasdair Duncan about his new book, Metro, released this month by UQ Press. On his website Alasdair describes himself as "a writer, journalist, charming drunk and freelance practitioner of dark humour, based in Brisbane on the East Coast of Australia."
DM: Liam, the main character of Metro, is a narcissistic rich-boy jock who uses people and is dishonest and unfaithful. He's not a practically easy character to like. What's your opinion of him? Do you feel some attachment to this character you've created?
AD: When it comes to books, I'm very much attracted to characters who are compelling, if not necessarily likable. I think that this is definitely the case with Liam - he's an absolute bastard, but the intriguing thing about him is that he's able to keep getting away with the terrible things he does. I can't say that I'm not attached to him in some way - a lot of people who've read the book have told me that, in spite of all his arrogance, they find themselves developing a sort of sympathy for him, and I think I feel the same way.
There was a similar character called Liam in your first book, Sushi Central. Is this where the idea for the book came from? How do you decide what to write about?
It's actually the same character from Sushi Central - good work picking that up. One thing I really like is authors who have characters crossing over from book to book. In the case of some of my favourite authors (Jay McInerney, Tom Wolfe, Bret Ellis), some have actually borrowed characters and locations from one-another. I was quite amused by the idea of having a minor character from the first book go on to narrate the second, but more than that, the Liam character really seemed to fit with the story I had in mind for Metro. The second novel isn't meant to be a continuation of the first, but at the same time, I think that setting it in the same world with some of the same characters adds a nice consistency to the whole thing.
Many of the characters in Metro live a life of getting off their face, partying and fucking. It sounds liberated, but isn't. Liam, it seems, is almost trapped by his own prejudices, expectorations to be a good boyfriend to his girlfriend, and aspirations to be successful like his brother. Do you try to make a social commentary in your books, or is that not a goal for you?
I don't necessarily write with the idea of social commentary in mind - I'm more interested in the individual, like Liam, who is a very confused and conflicted person - but I guess that all of my characters are products of the world they live in, and I like to try and make them as true as possible.
At 23 you've got two books published, including one released in the US. What advice would you give to any readers on Qnet hoping to get some of their own work published?
I'd say it's important to write every day in order to practice your craft, and beyond that, it's also important to get your name out there by entering as many competitions as you can, taking any opportunity to publish even if the medium is only something small, and getting to know other writers and people in publishing.
What's next for you? Are you working on more books?
I'm working on my Masters degree at the moment - looking at the ways that social networking sites like MySpace are used in the formation of identity in young people - and I'm writing a fictional piece to accompany that. I do have an idea for another novel, different from the first two, which is ticking over at the moment, and I'll hopefully get some time to get stuck into it over the summer.
Alasdair Duncan is a writer and journalist based in Brisbane. His first novel, Sushi Central, was released in 2003 and has been published in Australia and overseas. Metro is his second novel.