The rules of backyard cricket by Jock Serong Q&A: 30 March, 2017

"The rules of backyard cricket is a novel of suspense in the tradition of Peter Temple’s Truth. With glorious writing harnessed to a gripping narrative, it observes celebrity, masculinity-humanity-with clear-eyed lyricism and exhilarating narrative drive."

Formerly a lawyer, Jock Serong is now a full-time writer. His first novel, Quota, won the 2015 Ned Kelly Award for Best First Crime Novel. His most recent novel is The rules of backyard cricket. Jock is married with four children and lives in Port Fairy, Victoria.

Jock will join us for a Q&A on Thursday, 30 March between 8 and 9pm. Please leave any questions you have below. (And discuss his writing at your leisure!)

Want to buy The rules of backyard cricket? Receive 10% off when purchasing it from Readings at State Library Victoria. To receive the discount online, enter the promo code BOOKCLUB in the promo code box during online checkout. To receive the discount at our State Library bookshop, simply mention the Thursday night book club at the counter.

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Hi Jock,

Thanks for doing this Q&A. 🙂

How did you time as a lawyer influence the way you approach plot and story? Do you think there are similarities between constructing a strong legal argument and a compelling plot?

Hi Cory. Probably the major influence was just the sheer abundance of extraordinary human dilemmas you encounter as a lawyer, particularly in fields of law where people are in extremis, such as in crime. While you obviously can't mine these stories directly for material, I think they cumulatively give you a sense of how people respond under terrible pressures: how they speak, even how they look. It was always a bit of a problem for me as a lawyer that I was constantly distracted by my visceral reactions to the stories I encountered, when I should have been more centrally concerned with the technical stuff - that was probably one of the clear warning signs that I was better off being a writer!