This week, we were lucky to have work experience student James Waters helping us out. We asked him a few questions about books, authors and writing.

Describe your taste in books. For example, do you have an ideal book in mind when you’re looking for what to read next? Or, do you get a lot of recommendations? Or, are you drawn to great-looking covers?

My taste in books is fairly broad, I think. There’s no one genre I gravitate towards necessarily, as I think it’s crucial to read as wide a range of books as possible. Having said that, my ideal book would be something unclassifiable. An amorphous mystery that defies pigeonholing or easy understanding. Some philosophy in the phenomenological school of thought – a form of subjectivity – attain this level of mystery. Authors like Wittgenstein, Heidegger and Ricoeur specifically.

In terms of more standard fiction, Borges appeals to this sensibility of mystery, extrapolating his ideas through a combination bizarre stories, literary criticism, poetry, philosophy and faux historical accounts all through the lens of self acknowledged analysis. These books express the seemingly infinite possibilities within literature.

You’re a fan of Clarice Lispector’s writing, particularly her book Near to the Wild Heart. Tell us how you came across her work, and what makes it special to you.

I came across Clarice Lispector by chance. It had an interesting cover and I’d also heard from some friends that she was an interesting author. This was when I began reading Borges, another South American writer from around the same time, so it seemed like the next logical step in exploring a literary movement. Her writing is almost a kind of long-form poetry, Near to the Wild Heart specifically being a book made up of feelings and images painted with words. It’s very much a stream-of-consciousness way of writing that she took on, very visceral and instinctual and, along with Borges, opened me up to the possibilities within literature.

You’re also a fan of Charles Burn’s Black Hole. This graphic novel looks at the aftermath of a sexually transmitted disease which has caused strange mutations in teenagers, and how this impacts on social structures within a high school. Do you think it’s important for teenagers to read books like this that explore real-life issues in interesting ways? Why or why not?

Charles Burns’ Black Hole is an interesting beast. I didn’t come to it through the thought that it was about anything in particular. I was reading a lot of independent comics, the likes of R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman and Chris Ware. Burns’ art made me want to read Black Hole and the story about STD’s was secondary. I would recommend it to anyone because it’s good, first and foremost. I wouldn’t want to push it onto a specific specific demographic based on aspects of it’s narrative (or lack thereof) that may wring true for some people. The book isn’t didactic and I don’t think it’s the author’s intention to teach youngins about the dangers of unprotected sex. So take what you will from it and if anyone does find it an important lesson on STD’s and social norms in high school, then that’s great, but that’s not what I gleaned from it and I wouldn’t want to force anything on anyone.

Can you tell us about a book a friend of yours like, but you didn’t.

A friend of mine likes Frank Herbert’s Dune a lot. I know it’s a classic and everything, but I struggle to get into it. Same with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Tolkien’s other books. I acknowledge it’s probably me who’s at fault in this regard. Maybe in due course I’ll come around to them, but currently my interests lie elsewhere.

What do you think is the worst mistake an author can make when writing a book for teenagers?

The worst mistake to make as an author writing for a teenage audience is exactly that; writing for a specific audience and not for oneself. An author, like anyone, can only base their experiences and ideas on themselves and they’d be fooling themselves if they thought otherwise. That may sound a bit didactic, but sometimes reading fiction aimed towards teenagers is like watching a substitute teacher sit backwards on their chair talking about how awesome Papa Roach and Limp Bizkit are, making failed attempts to converse with ‘youth culture’, or rather, their perception of it. Any audience that the author is writing for is probably non-existent. Perhaps in figures and sales, yes, but in terms of the book itself, this way of writing only comes off as disingenuous.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

The best writing advice I’ve ever received is to write what you want to see written. Write for yourself and what you make will have meaning and purpose.