1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.
I like to espalier fruit trees.
2. What is your nickname?
2. What is your nickname?
Spratt
3. What is your greatest fear
3. What is your greatest fear
Permanently psychologically scarring my children.
4. Describe your writing style in 10 words.
Stunningly brilliant comedic insight into human behaviour with hilarious dialogue.
5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
5. Tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer.
Elizabeth Bennet, from Pride and Prejudice. She mocks everyone and says lots of very funny, sarcastic things, but still gets to marry a handsome, rich man and live in a beautiful house in the country.
6. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
6. If you could time travel, what year would you go to and why?
2017. I’m enjoying life right now. The past looks nice in costume drama television shows but, in reality, in the olden days, everyone had terrible internal parasite due to primitive plumbing and poor hygiene. I don’t want internal parasites.
8. What would your 10-year-old self say to you now?
8. What would your 10-year-old self say to you now?
How did you get so fat?
9. Who is your greatest influence?
9. Who is your greatest influence?
Anthony Trollope is the author who had the greatest influence on my writing style, if that is what you are asking. Really, the trick with having influences is to have thousands and thousands, so you have a diversity of ideas informing your own ideas.
10. What/who made you start writing?
10. What/who made you start writing?
The head writer at Good News Week, who offered me a job as a writer. I was quite surprised at the time.
11. What is your favourite word and why?
11. What is your favourite word and why?
‘Awesome’, because outrageous almost sarcastic positivity does have an uplifting effect on others. Plus it annoys my husband.
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
12. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Persuasion, by Jane Austen. There are a lot of subtleties you can miss the first 15 times you read it. Plus, it is a story of a woman who made a terrible decision that marred her life for a decade, but was finally able to undo her mistake. So it makes you feel better about yourself, and have hope that one day you will be able to rectify even the biggest stuff-ups (like how you came to be in a position where you only had access to one book).
RA Spratt is an award-winning author and television writer. She lives in Bowral with her husband and two daughters. Like Friday Barnes, she enjoys wearing a silly hat. Spratt has two chickens and five goldfish, and her next-door-neighbour’s cat thinks it lives in her house. For more information, visit raspratt.com.
