Five minutes with author Shelley Burr

Posted on 27 April, 2022

Fans of outback noir—do we have a treat for you…

Because the hottest read for winter 2022, WAKE, has arrived—and it’s written by none other than Canberra’s own Shelley Burr.

Lauded by the likes of Jane Harper (The Dry) and fellow local superstar of suspense Chris Hammer (Scrublands), WAKE is set in outback New South Wales in the town of Nannine, 19 years after the disappearance of young Evie McCreery, who vanished from the bedroom she shared with her twin sister, Mina, on their family’s sheep station.

19 years of no answers have created a true crime frenzy around Evie’s disappearance—and left Mina’s nerves in tatters. Now, cold case cracker Lane Holland wants to see if he can solve it—if he can win Mina’s trust, that is. But why does he want to solve it so badly? And what will it cost him—and Mina?

Having moved to Canberra 12 years ago to start a graduate position in the public service, Shelley now works in environmental policy and when not writing likes to work in her “chaotic” garden.

To celebrate WAKE’s release day, we sat down with Shelley to talk true crime chatrooms, the pull of the outback and what it’s like to write a novel in Canberra.

WAKE has been a few years in the making and there’s quite the story behind it getting on to bookshop shelves—tell us about your journey with this book.

I began writing WAKE as a new year’s resolution, on 1 January 2018. I wrote the first draft in a tearing hurry—35,000 words by the end of January. I think I was able to get it down so quickly because I felt haunted by the idea, and wanted it on the page and out of my brain.

That same year I attended the ACT Writer’s Centre’s HARDCOPY program, a year-long manuscript development program for unpublished authors. That was a huge turning point for me. I learned so much, and met some wonderful people who I’m still friends with today.

One of those friends invited me to see a talk at the ANU between Mark Brandi and Dervla McTiernan, moderated by Chris Hammer. At that talk, Mark mentioned winning the CWA Debut Dagger, an unpublished manuscript award for crime fiction. I looked it up, only to find that the 2019 competition was closing the next day. I entered but didn’t think much would come from it.

I entered another award that year, the Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award. As part of being shortlisted for that award, I spent a week at Varuna in the Blue Mountains with KYD editor Rebecca Starford and the other shortlistees, Sam van Zweden, Lisa Emanuel and Matt Millikan. That week, along with Rebecca’s expert feedback, had a huge impact on WAKE.

I was completely blown away to win the Debut Dagger in 2019. There was some interest from publishers after that win, but I didn’t think the manuscript was finished yet. I kept revising and rewriting it through 2020, and toward the end of the year, I met my agent Sarah McKenzie, who helped me find the perfect publisher for it in early 2021.

Where did the idea for WAKE come from? Is it as intriguing to piece together the plot of a mystery as it is to read it?

I went through one of those brief but intense obsessions that the internet pulls you into: reading online forums dedicated to unsolved murders. There are some lovely, compassionate people on those forums who have made a real difference– solving cold cases, raising money for DNA testing on Jane Does, highlighting forgotten victims.

But I noticed the way users would talk about the friends and families of victims, and it creeped me out. These people didn’t seek out public attention, but they had complete strangers digging into any information they could find about them. I imagined how angry I would be in their position, and that rage became Mina.

Why do you think ‘outback noir’ has such a hold on the world as a genre? What drew you to the setting of rural New South Wales?

When I was developing the story, I knew right away that the setting had to be remote. There is something inherently fascinating about the isolation of Australia’s rural areas. It adds a layer of complexity and danger to every aspect of the story. Help is far away, if it is available at all.

I was oblivious to the swell of interest in this subgenre until after I finished the first draft. I first heard it discussed at HARDCOPY. Benython Oldfield, the agent, mentioned it in a talk, referring to it as ‘drought noir’.

Crime fiction readers have always been drawn to intriguing locations, from snow-bound country manors to tropical beaches. Some heighten the tension and sense of foreboding, while others contrast the horrific events of the plot against a beautiful backdrop. I think outback noir appeals because it does both.

Ultimately though, location only takes you so far. The enduring popularity comes down to how accomplished Australian authors are—Jane Harper, Garry Disher and Chris Hammer are masters of the craft, and we have brilliant new voices popping up all the time, like Peter Papathanasiou and Hayley Scrivenor.

You penned WAKE while living and working in Canberra—what advice would you give to other local authors?

Canberra’s resources for writers are remarkable for a city its size.

• Join the ACT Writer’s Centre, and attend their programs when you can. That will connect you to other writers in the region.
• Depending on your genre, look into groups like the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild and Canberra Romance Writers.
• Subscribe to Secrets from the Green Room, a writing podcast by the fabulous local authors Craig Cormick and Irma Gold.
• Connect to the local writing community, you’ll be amazed at what comes from it.

What’s next for you after celebrating Wake’s release?

I’m hoping to make time to squeeze in a brief nap, then it’s full steam ahead on my second novel. My deal with Hachette is for two books, so I aim to have a second crime thriller on shelves in 2023.

What’s on your To Be Read pile?

I’ve accumulated a couple of books recently that I know are going to be incredible reads, but are going to be really emotionally challenging—Natasha Sholl’s grief memoir Found, Wanting, Al Campbell’s beautiful autofiction about her fierce love for her sons, The Keepers, and Veronica Gorrie’s police memoir Black and Blue.

As breathers, I’m going to read Allie Reynold’s The Bay (speaking of crime fiction with an intriguing location!) and the #LoveOzYA horror anthology Hometown Haunts.

Feature image: Yen Eriksen Media.