Hollie spoke to author Claire Baylis about her debut novel Dice. A compelling courtroom drama, Dice is an incredibly timely exploration of how sexual violence is viewed in our society.
Tell us about yourself.
I grew up in England, moved to Wellington and was a law lecturer for 12 years before we moved to Rotorua for 'just a couple of years'. Twenty years later I still live here with my partner and 18yo daughter - the youngest of my 3 children. I've wanted to write a book since I was 6, so Dice is the culmination of a 50 year intention.
Where did the idea for Dice come from?
Having been a mum of teenagers for the last 13 years, I'm aware of the issues they have to negotiate. At the same time, I was doing jury research, interviewing real jurors and analysing how they had made their decisions. I became fascinated by the courtroom process, the dynamics of the jury room and how some jurors were making false assumptions about what real sexual assaults would look like. It all felt like important material for a novel.
What research was involved in the writing of Dice?
Lots! Dice was part of my PhD in Creative Writing from the IIML, so I simultaneously wrote a non-fiction paper about jury decision-making in sexual violence trials. I read a lot of survivor memoirs and academic research as well as analysing all the court documents and juror transcripts from the NZ cases in the Trans-Tasman Jury Study. While the novel is fiction, this research definitely informed it.
What was the intention behind having the story told through the eyes of the different members of the jury?
Listening to real jurors' voices, I became very aware of how different people responded to the court process and how differently trials impacted people's lives. I wanted to portray the idea of the jury as a microcosm of society, and explore how the baggage we all bring - our life experiences and beliefs - might affect deliberations.
What is one thing you would like readers to take away from Dice?
Readers tell me how compelling they find Dice and I definitely wanted to write a story with a strong narrative drive, but I love it the most when people say they are left with so many questions - about the justice system, about consent, about social media misuse and how we change society. I would love it if book clubs, parents of teens, young people and readers generally leant in to those questions and continued to think and talk about them.
What do you think the biggest misconception is about being a juror?
Some people feel like jury service is a waste of their time - either because they don't think they can offer anything (which can be very untrue, like Chantae in Dice) or because they think they are too busy. Jury service can be a profound experience and most people do approach it with a great deal of care and commitment.
What is your favourite snack to enjoy while writing?
If I'm in the flow I get hyper-focused and forget to eat, but when it's tricky, popping through to the kitchen for whatever is on hand is definitely one of my favourite distractions - nuts, mandarins, hummus, even chocolate drops supposedly bought for baking!
What is your desert island book?
AGGGH so hard to choose ONE - do I go for an early influencers like Pat Barker, Michael Ondaatje, Kirsty Gunn, John Berger, Christos Tsiolkas or a book that would keep me thinking about creativity like Charlotte Wood's The Luminous Solution, or poetry by Anahera Gildea, Tusiata Avia or Claudine Rankine, or books I desperately want to reread (but there are always too many amazing new books) like My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout and Intimacies by Katie Kitamura? (See how I totally avoided the question there?)