An Interview with Elle McFadzean

Elle McFadzean is a Melbourne/Naarm writer, architecture graduate and fictional worldbuilder. She writes fantasy and science fiction novels. Her desk is covered in books, literary magazines, and sketched plans of imaginary cities.

What inspired you to start writing this book?

A university class. It was more ‘mandatory assignment’ than ‘spark of inspiration’. This is my debut novel, but I have another in the works that I started first – a young adult. After finishing the first draft of my young adult, I decided to study fiction writing and took a class on writing for children, which was for middle-grade and younger. For an assignment, I needed to come up with a new story. I presented a few ideas, and my classmates and teacher liked this one, so I kept at it. After the semester finished, I wanted to keep writing about my protagonists, so I did.

Tell us the story of your book’s current title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

The Potion Experiment was very difficult to decide on, but I think it is the right blend of magic and science. For ages it was Mind Over Matter, but I decided to change it for a few reasons.

I like that the new title:

• Says exactly what the book is about

• Is simple yet clear

• Appeals more to the target audience

• Makes the fantasy genre more obvious

• Has keywords in it

Describe your dream book cover.

I already have my dream book cover. I worked with an artist to create it. As it’s a middle-grade, I wanted the cover to show full-body characters and some of the setting. This is something that would have drawn me in at that age. Although the story still reveals secrets and has plot twists, the cover gives an immediate idea of the genre. It’s not ambiguous. Yet it still poses questions as a blurb would: how did the potion vial break; what is the ghost; what happens in the castle in the background?

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I studied architecture before writing and I work full-time at an architecture practice. My architecture studies were very creative and conceptual, designing environments for all sorts of scenarios – from a safe haven for zombie apocalypse survivalists, to supporting infrastructure for an underground physics laboratory. What I learnt studying architecture definitely helped me in my fiction writing.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

Young adult fantasy books did. I didn’t enjoy reading school literature, but I enjoyed genre fiction. I both loved and hated reading such a good book that you stayed awake all night because you were filled with adrenaline, excitement and happiness. This is a feeling I would love to inspire in my readers. Although hopefully they still get enough sleep.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Somewhere I can hide from the world. I like having no distractions and being able to totally disappear into my book’s world. I particularly like writing at night, because I feel that time stands still, removing any pressures of day-to-day life that can interfere with writing.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

I hope my readers can start to see the magic in our scientific world a bit more clearly. And how things that appear very different at first are more alike than you think, if you just take the time to look.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.