My favourite song ever is Another Girl, Another Planet by the Only Ones. It’s a thrilling and perfect work of art and it was a really key song for me in getting me more interested in punk rock, new wave and 70s music.
2. What is your nickname?
‘Jack’. So old I can’t even remember where it came from.
3. What is your greatest fear?
Kale. This thing is taking over society and it needs to be stopped.
4. Describe your writing style in ten words.
Trying to recreate the breathless rush of great pop songs
5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
I don’t really go round talking about how great I am as a writer, but qualities I aspire to are: Empathetic, funny, rhythmic, stylish, warm.
6. What book character would you be, and why?
Most of my favourite characters are people who are striving for something more, like Holly Golightly and Rabbit Angstrom. They make for interesting studies in the human condition, but I don’t read those books aspiring to be those people. I think I’d probably be someone more carefree, like one of those people who come to Jay Gatsby’s parties.
7. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
Assuming that assassinating Hitler and that kind of thing is off the table, I would probably go back to 1977 and watch the Ramones at CBGB.
8. What would your ten-year-old self say to you now?
So you became a writer and never got to play halfback for the Cronulla Sharks? Lame!
9. Who is your greatest influence?
In terms of writing, Jonathan Coe, Carson McCullers, Truman Capote and Bill Waterson. I also think my writing is influenced by a lot of people who aren’t novelists, like Richard Linklater and Stephin Merritt.
10. What/who made you start writing?
Probably wanting to do something creative and figuring out that I was really bad at music.
11. What is your favourite word and why?
‘Swell’. It’s one of those great old-fashioned words we should bring back.
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
That sounds like a dire prospect, but I think I would go with something epic and multi-layered. I’m tossing up between Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Jonathan Coe’s What a Carve Up!.
Daniel Herborn is a Sydney-based writer and copywriter. You're The Kind of Girl I Write Songs About is his first book, a YA fiction novel published by HarperCollins and available from the end of April 2015. Visit Daniel's website and for more information about his writing and other interests.
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