For actor-turned-author Tasma Walton, penning her debut novel took six months of discipline and a strict ban on Sudoku.
Published by University of Queensland Press, Heartless – a project which had been more than 10 years in the making – follows the main character’s battles of the heart, meeting her at seven-year intervals.
“It’s a fable about believing in the worth of your heart and those desires it has, and believing that you’re worthy enough to have them,” Ms Walton said.
In a genre described by Ms Walton as “magic realism”, the novel is a result of the author’s long-time fascination with the powers of the human heart, in both a medical and emotional sense.
“I can’t remember how old I was, but I read a short novella, it was non-fiction, and it was describing the process of a heart transplant,” she said.
“It was a page turner, it was a really thrilling read and I got really involved with the way that the donor heart kind of became its own person. It had this mystical element about it.
“You’re waiting to see whether or not this would be a happy marriage, and that sewed the seed for me of looking at the heart as its own entity and having powers, not just over the body physically, but over it emotionally and spiritually as well.”
An avid reader as a child, Ms Walton had always entertained the idea of writing her own book, an ambition which was temporarily put on hold while she pursued an acting career.
Despite coming up with the idea for Heartless in 1998, it took 10 years for her to allocate the time to bring the story into existence.
While Ms Walton said writing was a passion, she found the structured process of producing a book somewhat challenging.
“I don’t feel like I’m a naturally disciplined person so it just had to be that thing of, ‘there’s no question to it, I just have to do it, so from 10 o’clock, I can play three games of Sudoku and then I have to start writing until four’,” she said.
After studying at the National Institute of Dramatic Art for two years, Ms Walton secured roles on several Australian TV series, including Blue Heelers, The Secret Life of Us and City Homicide.
She said while writing and acting were complementary talents, she craved the creative outlets offered by both.
“That process of creating a character and fleshing out a world is similar for both acting and writing for me,” she said.
“I’d do a couple of weeks worth of writing and just yearn for an acting job so I could talk to other people, be around other people, have a creative experience that was communal rather than solitary.
“I think that’s why they complement each other so well – when I’m getting tired of being alone in that creative experience, having an acting job takes me out of that, and then I go, ‘I just want to be working on something that’s purely my own idea and I don’t have to collaborate with anyone’, and then you go back to writing and it satisfies that need as well.”
Published in September, Heartless costs $24.95 and is available now.
Media: Penny Robinson at UQ Communications (07 3365 9723, penny.robinson@uq.edu.au)
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