Best-selling author of adult and young adult fiction Nick Earls is Arts Nexus' guest at the upcoming Tropical Writers Festival. He talks to Denise Carter about his stellar career

Nick Earls has just re-entered the real world having finished a draft of his 13th book.

After months of writing The True Story of Butterfish in the shed office in his Brisbane back yard, he will travel to Cairns for the Tropical Writers festival at the end of this month.

His new book will be published next year on Random House’s Vintage label, a prestige list of books Random’s website says have "changed the world".

"The central character is a guy in his 30s who is in a band that has done very well, but the band has broken up and he is coming home," Nick says.

Nick is a born storyteller and comes from a family of storytellers.

His great uncle, Raymond Calvert, from Belfast in Northern Ireland, penned The Ballad of William Bloat, a tale of murder and suicide with a twist, which was mentioned in the movie, Dead Poet’s Society.

And Nick’s mother brought him into the world of storytelling early where he says her stories always followed a similar pattern.

"There were two central characters and they would walk into the woods," Nick says, where they would find a clearing and a block of flats inhabited by witches.

"But they were nice (witches), and they were colour-coded, so they (the brother and sister) would go with a witch on a colour-themed adventure, and get imaginary presents as the adventure unfolded," he says.

It took precious little for the young Nick then to use his imagination and create his own stories.

At pre-school when asked to present his daily news to class, Nick would regale his fellow tots with invented tales, which inevitably involved poo.

As he grew older, Nick’s love of creating characters and stories evolved into a desire to be a full-time writer.

But it wasn’t easy for him to grasp his dream.

Nick emigrated with his family when he was nine years old from Northern Ireland to Brisbane, where he first worked in medicine as a general practitioner, and as an editor of a medical journal.

It took 15 years before he became a published novelist.

But Nick never gave up.

"I’m glad I didn’t know how long it was going to take," he says.

"Often it made sense to give up rationally, but by the time I’d sent out a manuscript and months would go by before the publisher rejected it, I would have some other idea, and I’d just say, give this one a go."

He had published a collection of short stories, which most people, he says, found alienating.

"At the time I also had a half pile of ideas for novels I thought I wanted to write," Nick says.

"So instead of picking the smartest that few people would want to read, I picked the two most people might like to read," he says.

They became After January and Zigzag Street.

Both were bestsellers, were adapted by La Boite Theatre Company in Brisbane, and Zigzag Street is currently being made into a movie.

When Nick sees his work adapted for stage or screen, he enjoys watching how actors and directors have interpreted his work.

But there are elements of the surreal.

"It is odd," Nick says.

"There are moments (particularly on opening nights) that you think, that should have only ever been in your head, for example, it might be something you have thought when you were 17," he says.

"You do get jolting reminders."

Nick may like a laugh but he is serious about his writing and controlling his work.

Not the type of author who whips off a couple of chapters to a publisher to get an advance, he waits until he’s at least completed a first draft.

"Then they are less likely to weigh in early," he says.

His current novel, Joel and Cat set the story straight, co-written with Rebecca Sparrow, is his only collaboration so far.

The authors wrote alternating chapters, (Nick taking the male voice and Rebecca the female).

When one had finished a chapter they would email it to the other, and could only continue writing when they received the next chapter back completed.

Nick enjoyed the experience but probably not for the right reasons.

"I would turn it around quickly and Rebecca would take quite a long time, he says.

"I couldn’t help thinking of the next chapter and I’d make notes, and some mean and slightly less likeable part of me enjoyed flicking it back again in a couple of days," he says, laughing.

Nick loves the part of his job that brings him opportunities to meet new people, such as that presented by being part of the Tropical Writers Festival.

There he will recommend budding writers to "read a lot, write a lot, and connect with the industry when they can".

Nick reads everything from short stories to literary novels – he’s currently reading Douglas Coupland.

He is keen to impart his tips on avoiding writer’s block, what he calls "the curse of the blinking cursor".

"I used to think for novelists, big ideas fell from the sky," Nick says.

"But I found it’s not that way," he says.

"There are lots of steps."

Nick’s process works because not only is he successful but he still loves what he does.

"Each time I write, it’s like unravelling a puzzle," he says.

"And on my thirteenth book, it’s still as compelling as it ever was."

• The Tropical Writers Festival runs from August 30 to 31. Nick will speak at the opening, give a master class and talk at the literary dinner. Ph: Arts Nexus 4051 4433.

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