Melissa Garside shares the inspiration behind her debut junior fiction novel, Lexie Moon & The Word Burgling Bungle, the first in a series following a brilliant young inventor, which she hopes can inspire readers to follow their own dreams. 

You’ve said that you loved to write from a young age. Did you always want to be an author?

Yes, I’ve loved writing for as long as I could hold a pencil. As a child, I would write plays for my friends to perform and newspapers for family members to buy—with a bit of cajoling from me—and of course, I loved writing stories. I also dreamt of one day being an author, but never thought it could actually happen and so didn’t seriously pursue the idea until quite recently. I’m very grateful to our wonderful kids’ lit community for showing me that with a bit of luck and some hard work, it is possible to be a published author.

What do you love most about writing?

Whether it’s a junior fiction novel, a university assignment or a school report, what I love most about writing is sculpting words. You start with a lump of language and gradually mould it into shape. I also have a lot of fun playing with words—that was particularly the case with Lexie Moon & The Word Burgling Bungle—and getting lost in imaginary worlds.

Lexie Moon & the Word Burgling Bungler is your debut junior fiction book. How did you approach planning and drafting this book?

Four-and-a-half years ago, Lexie Moon & The Word Burgling Bungle was a picture book with a different title. Then one of my wonderful critique buddies suggested that it might be worth exploring the story more in a longer form for a slightly older audience. Once I switched to a junior fiction format, the early stages of planning involved plenty of researching, making Pinterest mood boards, developing characters and scribbling ideas in my notebook. I mapped out key plot points on sticky notes and in my notebook, and then wrote my way between them, with some very helpful feedback from several people along the way, including my critique buddies and fabulous editor at Riveted Press. I learnt a great deal during the process of making this book, and I hope that has helped me to hone my approach to planning, drafting and polishing my writing.

What inspired you to create this story?

The inspiration for Lexie Moon came when I was given the advice to write about what I know. Well, to be honest, although I did spend a lot of time as a child in electronics shops, I’m no inventor, but I do know a little about words and language. So, I started thinking about how I could incorporate my love of words into a story and I started playing with words. The character of Lexie developed directly from thinking about the word lexicon. I also thought about what would happen if someone who had trouble saying more difficult words could somehow borrow them from other people. From there it seemed obvious that Lexie should be an inventor.

What do you hope readers take away from Lexie Moon?

Mostly, I hope readers have fun reading the story, but I also hope that they will go away knowing that, like Lexie, they don’t have to be like everyone else to make friends and find things that interest them. I hope they feel inspired to follow their own dreams, even if those dreams are not exactly what you’d expect.

Do you plan on making Lexie Moon into a series? Any big plans in store for her?

Lexie Moon & The Word Burgling Bungle is the first book in the Lexie Moon series published by Riveted Press. I've really enjoyed getting to know Lexie and her Grandad, and I'm looking forward to spending more time in her world in other books. Although I can’t reveal very much just yet, let’s just say that Lexie lives in a world where gadgets can make the impossible happen, so in terms of plans for Lexie Moon, the sky is the limit!

Lexie Moon is a great inventor and you’ve said that if you could invent anything, you’d create a cloning machine. What other inventions would you love to see someday?

Wouldn’t it be great to clone yourself so you could actually do everything you want to do in life? Imagine if one of you could be sent off to work while the other one could go snorkelling, have more time to write, or could even just sleep in occasionally—a slightly less dystopian version of David Brin’s Kil’n People! I wish very helpful inventions were as easy to make in the real world as they are in Lexie’s, then maybe we could easily solve many of the world’s problems. But on a lighter note, a practical invention I would love for my adult life would be a Ctrl + F search function for my overflowing kitchen pantry so I might easily find the jar of peppercorns that always seems to disappear when I need it.

You have shared that your love of language often leads you to travel. Do you find that travelling to new places has an impact on your writing?

I draw on all of my life experience when I write, and that includes travel. The beauty of going somewhere different is that everything is new and it’s easier to notice interesting things, but I find there are many hilarious, unusual and wonderful happenings all around us all the time that would be great in a story. I think the key is to be curious and observant, and to always carry a notebook—you never know when something will spark an idea!

Do you have any other projects in the works?

Other than Lexie Moon, I have been working on a lower middle-grade portal adventure story, with plans for a couple of narrative non-fiction books.