The hardships of researching in Paris by Anita Heiss

It’s not easy being a writer. If you do in fact take the research seriously, there is much to consider… here are just five of the hardships of researching in Paris:

1. WEIGHT GAIN: I had to eat an embarrassing amount of bread and cheese, macaroons, croissants and chocolate – so I could actually write about it! This meant I had to put on weight for my job.

2. SORE FEET: Paris is a city for walking. Strolling down the Champs-Elysees eyeing all the designers stores and cafes is hard on the feet, trust me, I know, I did it quite a bit!

3. FLIRTING WITH STRANGERS: Now, let me preface this by saying, I was in character! Anita Heiss would never flirt with strangers, but for the purpose of ‘research’ I did what needed to be done for my craft. If you are serious about your writing, you will too!

4. PUBLIC TRANSPORT: I don’t live on a train line in Sydney, I wish I did, it would be cheaper than petrol and paying for parking. But in Paris I had no choice, cabs are expensive, and if you’ve seen how they drive around the Arc du Triomphe then you’ll understand why I will never drive in that city. The upside of getting Le Metro is that there are buskers who sing with a hint of oohlala in their voices. What an extraordinarily average way to start any working day… yawn!

5. LACK OF SLEEP: When the Moulin Rouge show doesn’t start till 9pm (only 30 minutes before my usual bed time) then it’s going to be a late night. Because of twilight, and late night picnics waiting for the lights on the Eiffel Tower to appear at 10.30pm, I did what needed to be done because Libby was a newly arrived local, and she wanted to fit in with the French. As you can imagine, all this work meant there was little time for sleep. Researching in Paris can be very, very tiring!

Why it’s hard to be on a man-fast in Paris by Anita Heiss

After three disastrous relationships, Libby is on a man-fast when she heads to Paris, but in no-time at all, the smorgasbord of lotharios tempt her like never before. Some of the characters she meets that momentarily distracts her from her work include:

1. Michel – the pastry chef tours her around the Père Lachaise Cemetery, walking through what seems like endless paths with the occasional canopy of trees overhead. Libby takes in the gravesites of Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde and local French heroes, before Michel’s own ‘baguette’ gets in the way!

2. Ames – the nude poet, who writes a lot of his own poetry: love poems, environmental poems, poems about social responsibility and disadvantage. And when he can’t find his own words adequate enough, Ames recites – stark naked – the words of revolutionary Maximilien de Robespierre. Ames is sexy and into social justice… how could any woman resist this man?

3. The Red Beret  a provincial artist who sidles up to Libby at the Musée d’Orsay and wants to whisk her away to Hôtel du Quai Voltaire and paint her nude. The hotel is the only one in Paris with a view of the Seine and the Louvre which is always going to be better than a view of Lake Burley Griffin. And Pissaro used to stay there…. Too tempting, even for Libby?

4. Jake Ross – the blackfella from Deniliquin who’s eyes are two close together, lips too thin, but apparently has a nice derrière. But we all know that Libby didn’t travel half way around the world to meet a fella she could meet back home. But even Jake, the First Secretary at the Australian Embassy in Paris, has picked up some flirtatious French charms that Libby can’t seem to resist, or can she?

Where would be a better city to send Libby if she truly wanted to stay away from good-looking, flirtatious, single, straight men? And don’t say Sydney, I live there and I already know that!

From Moree to Deni to Gay Paree by Anita Heiss

Some people have asked me why and how I included country towns like Deniliquin and Moree in a sexy novel largely about arts and mostly set in Paris. Well, I personally love both towns so it was easy to write about them and I wanted to put them in the hearts of those who may never get the chance to visit either or both.

Here’s a few things Libby also loves and learns about:

1. Moree has great artesian spas, known for their therapeutic benefits to aching bodies. I could use one as I write this.

2. For culture and entertainment there’s the Moree Plains Gallery and the Moree on a Plate Festival. Art and food are key to Libby’s life as experienced by her creator… I’m eating some chocolate right now too.

3. Deniliquin has the World Ute Muster, did you know that?  I didn’t know until I visited there to ‘research’. The town also has a ute up a pole – installation art is what Libby would call it! Such a dusty, noisy event is a must for any sexy Australian novel, don’t you think? But might the muster bring heartache to someone important in the book?

4. The red river gums in Deniliquin are what Jake Ross misses about his home-town, and having lay under them myself ‘researching’, I can say, there is something extraordinarily peaceful and magical about that experience.

5. Paul Dix, a morning radio broadcaster on 2QN in Deni is a local icon, having been with the station for over thirty years. Hell, he’s been there as long as Libby has been on earth. He deserves to be immortalised in Australian fiction. I loved meeting him. He likes commercial women’s fiction, and my character Jake Ross missies the sounds of community radio while he is in Paris, just as I missed Koori Radio while I was away creating this book.

Do you live in a country town with something that you miss when you hit the big city? What is it? I’d love to hear.

It’s true, Canberra can be exciting too! by Anita Heiss

As a method writer I get into character and travel to the places I write about, or have been to the places I write about. Canberra is a city I love, but I’m not thirty, like Libby, so I enlisted some young and funky ‘researchers’ on the ground to help me find some fabulous ‘settings’ for Libby and her tiddas – Lauren, Caro and Denise – to meet and talk about their work and their relationships.

Five ‘settings’ I found relevant to Libby and her friends:

1. The Julep Lounge in Manuka is a great place for the girls to meet even if they find the increasing number of hen’s nights a little alarming!

2. Griffith Vietnamese restaurant does a pot-luck dinner so that Libby and the girls can spend less time worrying about choosing dishes, and more time on discussing whether or not ‘The One’ actually exists, and if women can in fact, ‘have it all!’

3. The National Multicultural Festival held annually is the perfect setting for creative inspiration and a perv as Libby points out. She watches local Aboriginal performers as well as international acts from Brazil, Bosnia, Spain, India, and Japan. It’s here she gets the travel bug while enjoying the music and indulging in a savory French crêpe.

4. Acton Peninsula is a gem! When I was researching Manhattan Dreaming (the prequel to Paris Dreaming) I found this whole new precinct had been developed in Acton, where mostly ANU buildings used to stand. Now, there’s a great hotel and bars and restaurants, making the perfect settings for my characters to meet. They love The Parlour wine-bar and Flint Restaurant in particular. Both ‘settings’ provided all the smells and tastes and chemistry I needed to add something fabulous to Libby’s Canberra life.

5. Queanbeyan Races: okay, okay, so this ‘research’ didn’t appear in the novel, but it was worthy of mention here, because I did spend a sweltering day out there in my frock and hat. I received a carnation at the gate because it was ‘Ladies Day’ and I do believe I got the last plastic champagne glass to drink out of that day. Highlight of the day: the buck’s party which really encouraged Libby NOT to get married. The things we do in the name of research!

What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done in Canberra?

Why Libby chose the city of lights by Anita Heiss

Libby Cutmore was born in Moree, studied in Melbourne and now lives in Canberra. She wanted to take herself and her work to the international stage, and Paris was the most obvious option for the following reasons:

1. MUSEE DU QUAI BRANLY: It makes absolute sense to head to the Paris, home of the Musee du Quai Branly which houses the extraordinary Australian Indigenous Art Commission, co-curated by Hetti Perkins and Brenda L Croft. As an Aboriginal woman I was inspired by the work presented there, including the massive installation of the late Michael Riley and seven of the ten images from his ‘cloud’ series. If you never get to Paris, at least you can read about the art through Libby’s eyes (and mine) as we both experienced it.

2. THE SEINE : Let’s face it, both Libby and her creator know that no amount of rowing or paddling on Lake Burley Griffin is ever going to come close comparing with a romantic cruise down the Seine with someone special, or even alone. This is an experience that is memorable day or night, summer or winter.

3. FASHIONS: Libby is known to her friends as ‘Koori Bradshaw’ (the  Aboriginal Carrie Bradshaw), and she’s got a great shoe collection. What better city to visit to improve her wardrobe than the fashion capital of the world? Paris it had to be.

4. MEN: Libby is on a self-imposed man-fast, of course going to the city of love is not the best idea, but she wants to prove she can have a great life without a man. How successful that challenge is… well, it all depends on how tempted she is at the smorgasbord.

5. THE EIFFEL TOWER: The view from Telstra Tower / Black Mountain in Canberra is interesting as you take in the rather flat landscape of Canberra, but the local views are never going to compete with the stunning icon of Paris. Libby has no choice but to go to Paris to make the comparisons herself. While there she also learns an urban myth says when Hitler visited Paris in 1940, the lift to the tower wasn’t working so he had to walk 1792 steps to the top. Apparently the repairman determined what the fault was and fixed it as soon as Hitler reached the top. The saying in Paris is that Hitler conquered France but he didn’t conquer the Eiffel Tower. Don’t you love it?

French people. By Isabelle Merlin

I fill my journal and my notes and my computer files with new scenes and ideas and inspiration every day and enrich my novel with the glorious profusion of things that I’m living in every day, and the culture of words all around me. Because the French just love words, particularly witty—or poetic—words. It’s not only that this is a city of innumerable bookshops, a city where writers both living and dead are celebrated. You also hear this love of words in shops and supermarkets, in trains and in market queues, and lots of ordinary places. French people admire people who speak well and think fast, and they love elegance of expression and quick-fire repartee—and Parisians are particularly famous for it.

Occasionally the sharpness can turn to a vinegary sourness and the wit to cutting cruelty and the elegance of expression to a stony-hearted conventionality(being made to look ridiculous is a fate worse than death for Parisians!) But most often it’s not like that at all but a distinctive aspect of Parisian life that never loses its charm. And for my young characters, discovering all those things for the first time, it’s even more magical and amazing.