5 minutes with... MEGAN GOLDIN
The former ABC reporter reveals how chocolate and a set of headphones helped her write her new thriller
Stay Awake is one of the most gripping stories we’ve read this year! Tell us what inspired this book…
I wanted to challenge myself writing a story from the perspective of a character with amnesia, which by its nature would be difficult to do since the character doesn’t remember anything! Stay Awake has noir influences, plenty of suspense and a New York setting. The film Memento was a big influence. I wanted Stay Awake to capture on the written page the confusion and disorientation that I experienced watching Memento. It turned out to be more challenging than I could ever anticipate.
You wrote this book during Melbourne’s lockdowns – how did you ensure your creativity kept flowing during those bleak months?
It was incredibly difficult as I had the entire family underfoot the whole time as well as three kids being
home-schooled. My youngest son, who was in Grade 3, would often interrupt my writing to ask for help with spelling or maths. In addition, I was constantly distracted by the news. Eventually, the only place I could find quiet was in my car in the driveway. Even that wasn’t enough as my neighbours started taking their work calls on the other side of the fence, since like us they weren’t allowed to leave their home. Eventually, I bought a pair of heavy-duty construction worker headphones and wrote most of Stay Awake in the car with headphones on my ears.
Why did you choose to base this novel in New York City instead of your home of Melbourne?
I visited New York before writing Stay Awake for the launch of my earlier novel, The Escape Room, and to do a book tour. When I started writing Stay Awake, the story grounded itself quite firmly in New York. I’m glad that
I set it in New York because during the lockdowns it was an opportunity to travel overseas via my imagination, which was liberating. It’s an amazing place for writers. There’s inspiration everywhere – from peoplewatching, which is an essential pastime for writers, to accidentally overhearing the craziest telephone conversations. That happened to me several times on the streets of Manhattan and in Central Park.
If the book were to be turned into a film or TV series, who would be your dream cast?
Margot Robbie would be amazing as Liv or otherwise I could definitely see Emma Stone as well. As for others, well, if we’re dreaming then let’s put Ryan Gosling in there and Bradley Cooper as well.
Do you have any writing rituals?
Let’s just say that during the lockdowns, chocolate was an important part of my writing ritual. In fact, I was practically inhaling Caramilk. Thank goodness for long walks and Pilates, which are some of the things that I enjoy doing when I’m not writing.
How do you switch off after writing about such dark subject matter in your novels?
I have a busy household with three boys with voracious appetites and piles of laundry, so I don’t have much time to delve into the darkness. My books are thrillers but they tend to be more psychological than horror. Having said that, there are times when I sometimes scare myself! STAY AWAKE Out Tuesday (Penguin Australia, $32.99)