Megan Rogers is an Author.
She writes from home in Merricks on Warn Marin / Western Port Bay where she lives with her husband, two daughters and their lovely Labrador. Her debut novel The Heart Is A Star was published by Harper Collins earlier this year with much acclaim. We here at W.P.S.C have loved following her progress, from draft to published novel Megan's generosity of spirit has kept us buoyant.
During Melbourne's deep lockdown an image appeared on Megan's socials which felt imbued like a tarot card with the magic of anticipation. A woman in a shimmering gown, calm, statuesque surrounded by salt water. We stole some time from Megan Rogers busy schedule to ask her about stepping away from the writing desk and into the sea in a beautiful frock and the influence that place has on her creative process. We found out that while her final draft was in the hands of her agent Megan needed to take some new promotional photos during the lead up to sending her manuscript out to publishers.
The image appeared like an apparition for those of us who at the time were unable to get into the sea. It spoke to a longing for some place else that had set in to our winter bones. It was interesting for us as visual creatives to see our friend seemingly envelope herself in a character we were yet to meet. Sometimes these kind of actions cant be summed up in words, their existence arrives via the form of visual language.
The Heart Is A Star is based in two fictional towns. One somewhere slightly tropical on the Pacific Ocean and the other seemingly isolated, stormy and wild across the Bass Straight.
For me it was important to travel to the west coast of Tasmania (even though I'd been there quite a bit before) to get the setting right.
My setting is technically a fictional town, based upon (very roughly) three Tasmanian towns put together. That's one of the things I love about fiction is that you can strike a balance between fictional world building and accurate place making. Once I felt like I had the setting in my bones I could sit in my own home land and magpie things about it – the wild weather, the winds, the flora and fauna – and apply that sense of place to what I knew of Tasmania.'
'This Iand, the last place to unzip itself from Antartica, should be a hulking, desolate rock. If it wasn't for the warm eastern oceanic current that cultivates life, it would be stripped of everything. The way currents are Earth's arteries and veins. Sometimes I think, though, that a land aches to be something - an arid desert, a teeming rainforest, a lifeless stone - and that any attempt to dress it up as something else provokes volatile response.' From The Heart Is A Star, Megan Rogers. Harper Collins.
M.R: ' The location is itself a character in many ways and can be used to personify themes and the mood in a chapter. That said, I do think that in fiction there is, should be, and that I enjoy an element of fictionalisation.'
Thank you for your time Megan Rogers and sharing your transporting images, we were absorbed in The Heart Is A Star. It is published by Harper Collins 2023 and can be found at all Major bookstores.
The images were taken by Jess Brady in her wetsuit during a strange and unforgettable Melbourne winter. More about Megan Rogers here.
