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NOVELIST IS BECOMING
A SPARE TIME FARMER
"The fundamental decision that any writer has to make is whether
he is going to write to please himself or other people," says English
: author Nevil Shute, whose novels are well-known to Australian readers
j either in book form or through serialised versions published in maga-
; zines.
A MAN who w riles to
| / \ -use htmxoll may
1 A turn out a work of art
that wul still be read by .schol- '
ars 100 year.-- hence, but. let ,
there be 110 hard words if ili
doesn't sell in his lifetime." he j
adds. j
Accoitiiii-', to Mr Bliute people!
who write to please others are
lollowiitg a track worn by bet-j
ter men than they -men like
Shakespeare. Dickens. Thack-
era> and Trollope. .'.11 ol whom
unashamedly wrote "pot
boilers." He quite frankly ad-j
rnits that this is the course he!
chose.
Although his is creative
work. Nevil Shute tin real
life V S \nruM\l maintains
"olliq- hours" and he writes
every day. "I start so much
that is never finished," he
says, explaining that he
never knows whether a novel
will be completed or not until
he is at least two-thirds of
the way through it.
He believes, too. that a writer
must have some other Interest.
I When he first began to write
he was an aircraft engineer
and writing was his hobby.
"And you'd be surprised how
much easier it was to write suc
cessfully after I'd earned my
first £100." he said.
Although Nevil Shute and his
family have lived in Victoria
for more than six months. Mr
Shute lias seen less of the Aus
tralian countryside during this
time than he did when he flew
out from England on a brief
visit two years ago in search of
background material for his
novel "A Town Like Alice."
Since his return to this coun-
t y he has made only one short
trip — to the Snowy River area
in the hope that workmen on
the hydro - electric scheme
would provide the kernel of a
siory He found, however, thai
there were tar too few of them
and they were too scattered to
provide the necessary material.
Nowadays housebuilding and
organising the nucleus of a
farm take all of his spare time.
He has bought 52 acres ol land
at Langwarnn. across the
Morninglon Peninsula lrom Mt.
Eliza, where lie is living tem
porarily
Migrant Sponsor 1
Actually Mr Shute says hisj
main employment these days Is
as a "migrant sponsor." He and
ju.> itLUi.iA vtvii: luiiuhtru w nua"
tralia by their English gardener
and his wife, then by the gar
dener's son—a boat builder —
and then by the gardener's
son-in-law. So there will be
two families to work on the
property, where Mr Shute in
tends to breed Aberdeen Angus
cattle.
Already six cows and their
calves have been established in1'
a cleared paddock to form the I
basis of the herd. These are!
under the care of the author's j
wife, who has taken over thej
stock as her share of the work
ing partnership while her hus- 1
band looks after the problems!
attached to the land. House!
cows and other stock w ill follow !
as the land is cleared. At the
moment the only other animal
is an Australian terrier. "We
had to give him an Australian
name." said Mr Shute. "so we
christened him Plonk."
Nevil Shute chose to migrate
to Australia with his wife and
family because he feels that'
this country offers much more
opportunity for the children
than England. His elder
daughter. Heather, is now
doing the first year of a Law
course at Melbourne University
and the younger, Shirley, is a
student, at Toorak College.
Frankston.
The majority of Mr Shute's
novels have been inspired by
his own experiences. "No High
way." for example, arose from
his knowledge of aircraft engin
eering while "Most Secret"
came into' being because of his
connection with flame throwers
while he worked in the Miscel
laneous Weapons Department
during the war.
Keen On The Sea
A keen sailor — the whole
family is fond of yachting —
he served with the RNVR dur
ing the war and later, when he
and his family lived on Hayling
Island, near Portsmouth, he
kept an 18-ton schooner.
Part of the reason for their
home being on the Peninsula
lie.s in the family's love of the
sea. There are. however, many
other reasons — such as being
near an airfield where Mr
Shute can keep his private
plane, and not too far away
from the mountains which his
wife loves.
The house itself has been
specially designed to cater for
most of the varied hobbies
which he and his family follow.
It has a workshop where Mr
Shute can do the metal work
which, with painting, forms his
main source of recreation, a
darkroom where his wife can
indulge her love of photography,
and room to house his daught
er's many interests.
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