This month Stella celebrates Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore, longlisted for the 2021 Stella Prize.
What inspired you to write Metal Fish, Falling Snow? Was it a long journey bringing this story from first thought to published book?
I’ve always been drawn to the child’s perspective, especially when it comes to reckoning with the world at large. Writing through Dylan gave me an opportunity to revisit my own childhood with critical distance, to reconcile events and emotions that were never spoken about at the time, such as racism and personal loss. Having started my career as a screenwriter, the story first took shape as a feature film screenplay- which never got made. Years later I returned to the story and found a completely different voice for Dylan and added a fourth act to the original narrative. The process of writing into another form fundamentally changed the story. It taught me the value in giving a story time and space to (re) emerge.
Dylan’s narration in Metal Fish, Falling Snow brings a softer perspective to heavy themes like death, grief, and family violence. Was it easy getting into Dylan’s head and create her voice to balance these complex emotions while still offering a sense of hope?
I think having a solid sense of the overall narrative structure gave me the confidence to focus on crafting Dylan’s voice, which was absent in the screenplay. I’d never written prose before and perhaps my naivety about form was a blessing in disguise. I didn’t overthink the process, I was just interested in discovering what she had to say. Dylan is anchored by my own experiences of isolation. Growing up as the only child of a single mother with complex mental illness, I was inside of myself most of the time, relying on my inner voice for company and reassurance. This coping heavily influenced Dylan’s way of seeing and speaking to the world.
This is a novel for both young and old; a brilliant and heartfelt work of Australian fiction.
Did you ever consider telling this story from a third-person perspective, or was it always intended to be from Dylan’s point of view?
Screenplays are always written in third person; the form demands it. Stepping into prose, I was keen to experience writing in 1st person, largely as an exercise in broadening my writing capacities. I found it so liberating, there’s a sense of expansiveness you find on the page that you’re not afforded when writing for the screen. It was also the right choice for complex subjectivities, such as dealing with grief, racism and reckoning with your own identity.
Dylan and Pat travel through vivid locations and listen to great music on their journey, making it so immersive for readers. Have you taken a road trip across Australia that influenced this writing?
I’ve taken many trips through different parts of rural Australia, which have always been marked by wariness and wonder. As a woman of colour, you often enter white spaces with trepidation. My Grandfather was a publican in regional NSW, so I have a longstanding fascination with this settler preoccupation. Dylan’s journey is based on a road trip I took when living in South Australia. I was travelling for work and stopped in at several outback pubs, all with their own set of distinctly eccentric patrons. I documented the trip in photos and used these for my mood board. Dylan is a sensorially driven character, and it was important to highlight the details she sees, feels, hears. A lot of that is based on my own memory bank of being in the outback. I was also trying to reconcile my own connection and responsibilities to the First Nations lands I have grown up on. These spaces have always held my neurodiversity in a way that is hard to articulate. I think that’s what I was also trying to express in the book.
Metal Fish, Falling Snow was published four years ago! Is it still a part of your life? I thought about Dylan and wondered how she was adjusting to her new life long after finishing the book?
I miss Dylan very much! She was such an important part of my life, especially because she taught me self-compassion. I still get to talk about her, especially with high school students who are studying the book- they always teach me new things about Dylan! I am also adapting the book into a screenplay (again)! Only in writing the prose narrative did I find the complete story; the one that was waiting to be told. I am excited to see Dylan come to life again on screen.
About the Author
Cath Moore is a freelance writer, award winning filmmaker and educator of Afro Caribbean and Anglo Irish heritage. She has written for The Age, Huffington Post Australia and SBS Life and has also worked as a story developer for screen content. Cath is a published academic with a PhD in Danish screenwriting practices. She was a contributor to the anthology Growing Up African in Australia and is currently working on her second novel. Cath teaches creative writing at The University of Melbourne.
About the Book
Dylan and her adored French mother dream of one day sailing across the ocean to France. Paris, Dylan imagines, is a place where her black skin won’t make her stand out, a place where she might feel she belongs.
But when she loses her mother in a freak accident, Dylan finds herself on a very different journey: a road trip across outback Australia in the care of her mother’s grieving boyfriend, Pat. As they travel through remote towns further and further from the water that Dylan longs for, she and Pat form an unlikely bond. One that will be broken when he leaves her with the family she has never known.
Metal Fish, Falling Snow is a warm, funny and highly original portrait of a young girl’s search for identity and her struggle to deal with grief. Through families lost and found, this own-voices story celebrates the resilience of the human heart and our need to know who we truly are.
Judges Report
Told in the captivating voice of fourteen-year-old Dylan, Metal Fish, Falling Snow is an outstanding young adult novel about family, grief and identity. While tackling many serious issues – Dylan is dealing with the death of her beloved mother and struggling to accept her Guyanese heritage – the novel is also full of spark and humour, and each page is imbued with striking and unforgettable imagery.
In Dylan, Cath Moore has created a spectacular protagonist who, for all her vulnerability and pain, is a force to be reckoned with. While Dylan’s perspective of the world may cause her to be misunderstood by those around her, she is an irrepressibly wonderful companion for readers. Her ability to see into other people’s memories – a motif that is seamlessly woven into the action of the narrative – allows Moore to shine light on the unspoken sadness of ordinary lives.
This is a novel for both young and old; a brilliant and heartfelt work of Australian fiction.
Further Reading
Reviews
“A brilliant debut…Metal Fish, Falling Snow carries the pain of loss, the nuances of race and the longing for family, and interprets the world anew with immense literary skill and just a little bit of magic.” The Saturday Paper
“[A] beautiful and tender novel exploring themes of familial legacies, finding a place to belong, grief, and what it means to be an Australian of mixed heritage.” Sam van Zweden, Kill Your Darlings
“A remarkable creation…Metal Fish, Falling Snow is a young adult novel…but given the timeliness of its themes and the beauty of its prose, it would be a shame for adult readers to miss out.” Gemma Nisbet, The West Australian
Links
Read ‘Finding by voice: I no longer ‘other’ myself in my writing’ by Cath Moore, SBS
Read ‘The MWF Interview: Cath Moore’ via the Melbourne Writers Festival blog
Listen to ‘Metal Fish, Falling Snow’ on ABC’s The Drawing Room
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This month Stella celebrates Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore, longlisted for the 2021 Stella Prize. What inspired you to write …
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