DIG INSPIRATION

Mike describes his DIG inspiration.
‘I have noted the scarcity of really engaging adolescent novels. There’s plenty of fantasy, of course, and everyone is familiar with Harry Potter, but for young readers who don’t find fantasy very appetizing there’s a lack of variety on the menu. I think there’s plenty of recent material to capture female readers, but I believe teenage boys have been short-changed and they can be enticed away from their screens by a spirited depiction of the natural world set against a realistic historical world. It’s no accident that adult males love to consume history, but if adolescent literature is given a rich moral and emotional context all the better. I have long admired the sea prose of Tim Winton, particularly his vivid descriptions of life in and around the Margaret River area of Western Australia. I drew upon my memories of growing up in a beachside town during the 1960 with the social and historical background of the Vietnam War. My characters test themselves playing war games on the beach. I also wanted to include a subtext for adult readers, so they could reflect upon the characters growing pains against the social and political naivete of 1960s Australia.

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