Completely Normal (and Other Lies) by Biffy James (published Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Completely Normal (and Other Lies) is shortlisted in the CBCA 2023 Book of the Year Older Readers category.
Inside the CBCA Shortlist
Inside the 2023 CBCA Shortlist
“The jealousy I felt was familiar and comforting, so I clung to it. I was not allowed to mourn Isaac. Grief has rules. So does high school. The question was whether grieving for Isaac was yet another rule I was going to break, or if this was the one that would finally break me.”
Completely Normal (and Other Lies)
Author Interview with Biffy James:
Thank you for speaking to PaperbarkWords, Biffy.
Thank you for your totally rad blog and asking me to be on it! It’s very exciting. I had a blog once and it was absolutely not this cool. Like … really not.
Where are you based and what is your background?
I grew up in Melbourne and have always been a city girl, but for the last (nearly) two years I’ve been living and teaching English in Warracknabeal, which is a town in the Wimmera (Victoria) with a population smaller than the high school I went to. Once I discovered that the nearest smashed avocado was a 40-minute drive away, I honestly thought I’d last about five minutes. However, super inconveniently for me, my students turned out to be legends so I’m still here. And one would think I could just smash my own avocado but I always forget I’ve bought one until it’s too late. So yeah, my students are pretty awesome.
Completely Normal (and Other Lies) is your debut YA novel and it is CBCA shortlisted! It was shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Prize in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and is now also shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards. There is much of value in this book, including the study of grief and the process of living with and through it, and the varying complexities and deliberate shallowness of the relationships and friendships. All told in such an engaging way.
I’m asking you to be a mind-reader, but what aspect/s of the book do you think impressed the judging panel?
I reckon it was Mickey. I bet the judging panel kinda fancied him, they’re just not gonna admit it.
I mean it was either that or the exploration of challenging themes written in an authentic teen voice? I’m pretty sure I stole that sentence from a Goodreads review, though, so not sure if you’re allowed to include it. May not have even been about my book. Definitely go with Mickey. (We all know it’s true anyway.)
Who is your intended readership?
Me when I was 16. Me now, honestly. Um … anyone, of any age, who needs reminding – or is finding out for the first time – that big things like death and grief and mental health are (and I’m truly sorry for this twee little pun moment) seriously completely normal. And there are no rules, and there’s no real guidebook, and you’re going to have moments of making mistakes and screwing up and behaving in the ‘wrong’ way, and your friends might even all hate you. And you know what? That’s okay. You’re still cool. You’re just in one of those points in your life that’s going to end up one of the most interesting chapters of your memoir. Can you imagine how boring someone with a perfect life would be? Gross. I don’t even want to talk to that boring person.
How does the cover of Completely Normal (and Other Lies) match your vision of the novel?
For a start, the colour scheme makes me extremely happy. Very 80s, early 90s neon throwback and I am here for it. I love how Holly (Ovenden, the amazing cover designer) suggested the lies and the hidden parts of ourselves by covering the faces of Grace and Stella. (And of course Stella would be hiding behind a cactus, the prickly little thing that she is.)
But mostly, it’s that it’s Stella and Grace. Who are the real love story here. Not in a making out kinda way, but in a finding your people kinda way. Your true people, who will be there for you. And I don’t think Isaac was ever going to able to be that for Stella, so I’m glad he doesn’t get repped on the cover, to be honest. Lol.
You return to the word ‘normal’ (also in the title) at strategic times throughout the narrative. Why can ‘being normal’ be such a lie?
Normal is a lie! What does ‘normal’ even mean? No one is normal, thank god. Anyone who claims they are, is either a) lying, or b) have the personality of toast. Without vegemite. And undercooked.
But also, thank you very much for noticing the word drops, Joy! The number of times I commented in the edits to Luna (the most magical editor of all time who is, I suspect, actually really magic), ‘LOOK! SEE WHAT I DID THERE? I SAID NOOOORRRMAAAAL.’ I bet she got tired of it.
What is the significance of your protagonist Stella Wilde’s name? And also Grace Reyes’s name?
I’d love to be super deep with this answer, but I’ve got nothing except that I like names with L’s in them. And Stella just felt like a Stella.
Grace is just a Perfect Girl name. And I liked the rhyming sounds of ‘Grace Reyes’. I went to school with a Danielle Michele, and I always loved how her name sounded. If she ever reads this, by the way, she’s definitely going be all, ‘Man, wtf?’ because I literally haven’t seen her since Year 12 and this is definitely a super weird and random shout out for one to stumble across.
Having said that, Danielle Michele, if you ever do read this, I hope you’re awesome and I hope I spelt your name right!
Stella’s voice is a highlight. Could you please describe it in three words?
Ha! Um … snarky, irreverent, vulnerable.
Ooo, those words sounded good! I’m gonna use those again.
Could you briefly describe something of the relationships between Stella, Isaac, Grace and Mickey?
I love this question! How many words am I allowed to write?? (And yes, I did just realise you said ‘briefly’, which I’m going to ignore a little bit but not a lot.)
Stella and Isaac … they’re doomed from the start, really. And that’s not just because you find out in the first sentence that Isaac dies five-six months in. They probably were definitely made for each other, but Isaac, in his own way, is just as lost as Stella. Ugh, I hate that word, ‘lost’. What a stupid euphemism. But I mean that Isaac has his own shit going on, just as much as Stella does, but we only get glimpses of it. And – being an 18-year-old boy – he was never going to be ready to take the jump to something real and awesome, and something that he probably didn’t think he could trust, or believe in. And that’s not because of their relationship with each other, but because of Isaac’s own life stuff that he probably-definitely still needed to work through and go to a Little Lady about.
I think Isaac loves and respects Grace throughout but doesn’t have the same kind of connection with her that he does with Stella. But Grace would never make him question himself, and I think Stella does. Which is uncomfortable. So he sticks with the familiar and the easy and the understood, and Stella would never be going to be any of those things for him.
I truly believe that Stella’s real soulmate is Mickey, but they need to meet again in about 20 years. She needs someone to call out her bullshit, and Mickey would do that. He’d probably never stop doing that, let’s be fair. But there’s no way she’ll recognise that about herself (or him) for a long, loooooong time. She’ll probably string the poor boy along for years. Poor Mickey. But I also reckon he’d kinda love being strung along.
Finally, Grace and Stella’s friendship is weird because it’s both organic and super contrived by Stella. By the end I think they still have a long way to go, but the fact they’re willing to at least try gives me hope that they make it, and Stella will end up making some snarky speech at Grace’s wedding or whatever.
Stella was pleasantly surprised when she realised that Isaac and Paris asked her questions about herself because it’s so unusual. Even though she realises that “high school is tribal”, why does she stay with her awful friends?
I think it’s because while all kinds of relationships can break down because of one thing or another, I feel like it’s only the breaking off a romantic relationship that’s very normalised. Breaking off a relationship with a friend or a family member isn’t. It certainly never occurred to me at 16 to sit a friend down and say, ‘I really care about you, but this just isn’t working for me anymore’, even though there were times when I definitely should have done that.
And I still think that would be challenging for anyone. I think we should start doing it, though. I’m going to go through my phone contacts after this and find a friend to ‘break up with’ and let you know what happens.
And it’s so weird that there are so many relationships that can evolve in so many different environments, but it’s only the romantic ones that have this process, you know what I mean? The closest I can think of to the same thing is a work relationship, but even then I feel that people just quit a job rather than have ‘that’ conversation.
‘Look at you. Look at you feeling, and feeling safe to feel. Isn’t that wonderful? This too shall pass, as they say. And it will come again. And as long as you love and you feel, it will keep coming. Your whole life. Because that’s the deal we make. Joy and hurt … love and grief … that’s the payoff.’
… grief doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to find joy anymore.’
Completely Normal (and Other Lies)
I love Stella’s creativity in creating and sewing clothes. How is this part of her healing?
Um … I need someone smarter than me to analyse this. Maybe a Year 10 English student if this is ever studied at school. (And, by the way, if it is, and you hate it, Year 10’s I am sorry. Because I know. Schools ruin books all the time. But if you cop my one I promise you can message me on the gram and ask me questions and you’ll end up thinking I’m so cool that it will reflect on my book and it will end up being the best school text you’ll ever read. I SWEAR.)
Back to the healing thing though. I think the sewing as part of Stella’s healing was mostly about confidence for her. And about being okay with doing what she wanted, no matter what Crap Sophie and Shit Reena thought about it. And creating is literally the most important thing in the world. Creating is what separates us from the animals, not thumbs. I will swear by this. YEAH, SCIENCE!
Isaac had many thoughtful ideas and used many interesting words. ‘Apophenia’ is seeing patterns and connections where there aren’t any [p100]. How is this significant in your story?
Okay, this is going to be shortest answer ever but it’s WORTH IT. Look up the definitions of all of Isaac’s words, in order. He basically gives away the entire plot. EASTER EGG FUN!
What impact has Completely Normal (and Other Lies) being made a notable book and now shortlisted for the 2023 CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers had on you or the book? And now also the Queensland Literary Awards …
It’s got STICKERS ON IT!
No, seriously. I’ve dreamed of writing a book with a sticker on it ever since reading Looking for Alibrandi for the first time.
Also, my Mum and Dad keep making really proud noises at me, which is very lovely.
What have you been reading that you would like to recommend?
Okay, total throwback, but I’ve just picked up Blabbermouth by Morris Gleitzman again, because I’m wanting to find a new text to teach next year. Next up is going to be re-reading Two Weeks with the Queen. He is a brilliant writer, and I can’t believe it’s been so long since I revisited the Morris catalogue.
Having said that (and with no disrespect to Mr Gleitzman), no one can ever compare to my Hero, Graeme Base. I put out a yearly Instagram post asking if someone knows him and if he’d like to be my friend. It’s getting creepy now.
What are you writing next?
Shocking absolutely no one, it’s a YA set in a small rural town. That’s all I can say at the moment. Not for secret reasons, but because I can’t get stuck into it until I finish my Master’s degree in December. And mark my Year 11 English essays. Which are SO GOOD by the way. No seriously. They’re really good. I’m really proud of my Year 11’s right now.
How would you like readers to contact you?
Dream scenario? A mysterious, unsigned care package would show up at Hardie Grant, who would then send it onto my Very Private and Secret Residence. In the care package would be Mysterious Things that would also be Really Cool for a Variety of Reasons.
Or, they can just slide into the DM’s at @biffy_james on the gram. Which is probably easier.
Easier. Not necessarily better.
Thank you for answering these questions, Biffy, and all the very best with Completely Normal (and Other Lies). It’s standout Australian YA.
Joy, it’s been an absolute pleasure and I am refraining for making a pun about your name because I’m not an asshole and I’ve sick of hearing ones about vampires myself.
BIFFY ISN’T EVEN HER NAME! IT JUST SOUNDS LIKE THAT IN NEW ZEALAND!
Seriously though, thank you!!!!
Completely Normal (and Other Lies) at Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing
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