An Author for All Seasons Series 12, 9th April 2022 with Lyn Duclos

Lyn Duclos

An Author for All Seasons Series 12, 9^th April 2022 

Philippa Davies’ blog post

On the 9^th of April, local literacy lovers and long-time friends of Mentone Public Library came together at the Mentone Activity Hub to hear local author Lyn Duclos speak enthusiastically about her four books. Library President Graeme Johnstone first spoke to the audience about the library’s plans to become a writers’ centre, and explained the concept behind the ‘writer meets the reader’ program he plans to run. We also got updated on the progress of the library’s renovations.  

Graeme Johnstone introducing Lyn Duclos

Lyn had known for a while that she wanted to write but had been waiting for technology to make it much easier than just pencil and paper. She wasted no time in getting started when she got a computer, and completed a diploma course in Professional Writing and Editing. On ideas, she often has so many running through her head that she doesn’t know where to go, but she will let them run free and see which one sticks. If she has a passion for it, that’s where she will go. She likes to authenticate her stories and weave in real events, so she will do many hours of research for each book to get a historically accurate setting.

Lyn Duclos talking about the writing of her books

 

Lyn showed her sense of humour at many points throughout her presentation. When she introduced the title of her second book, While I can Still Remember, she joked that it was indeed the title, and that she wasn’t making a statement. As she was describing the process of writing this book, she recalled how when she went up to the Lone Pine tree on Norfolk Island and hugged it, the busload of tourists behind her were amused at the sight. Referring to a photo she had taken of a young woman, she wondered out loud how some women can “cry beautifully” and just have tears streaming down their faces without scrunching up like most of us. After defining what fugue meant, she cheekily suggested we read her book, Fugue, to get a better understanding of the term. While describing that she likes to have images of her characters in front of her as she writes, she showed us a picture of two fish, named Merv and Melba, who were flatmates of her character in Beneath my Skin.

 

Thanks, Lyn, for an engaging presentation. I am sure you piqued many people’s interest in reading your books!

Nathaniel Davies’ blog post

Lyn Duclos continued to engross the crowd during question time. The first question was about her road to publishing. Her four novels were self-published, so it was interesting to hear that commercial Australian publisher Penguin had considered her first book, Shattered Reflections. In the end, they did not run it, as Lyn would be an unknown author taking up a lot of space on bookstore shelves. She described how staying true to her story was important to her, and after being convinced to self-publish, there were so many people at the book launch at Robinson’s bookstore, Frankston, that they had to lock the door. It was on the bestseller list that month. 

 

Lyn Duclos continues talking and answering questions about her four books.

It was nice to hear a range of questions about the writing processes and novels. Lyn shared how she has varied in her approaches across the years. Recently, she had times where she would drink two glasses of wine in the evening, then write, because she finds it gets the creative juices going. Graeme, the library President, joked lightly, “…until you read it the next morning…”.

 

With Beneath my Skin, Lyn said she was stuck and procrastinating, so eventually she downloaded a time management app onto her phone and finished writing the book in 26 hours. This led to several fun jokes amongst the audience where everyone wanted the app. “Have you licensed this app?” Graeme said.

One thing that became apparent was that Lyn loves trees. Every book has a tree on its cover. So, Graeme quoted Sidney Sheldon, who wrote a lot of thrillers and TV shows, and was the brains behind I Dream of Jeannie: “You are only as good as your research. If you don’t do that and do it well, you’re wasting your time” Graeme added: “What we’ve heard today is a remarkable ability to get out and do the research, to the point that that you [Lyn] are known in the neighbourhood as that crazy writer who talks to trees. I think once you reach that you know that you are at the top of your game. J”

 

Lyn’s stories about writing had a great pace and humour to them. I was left with a desire to read her books. It was a fun event with many take home ideas, and yes, we bought a book!

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