Gary Lonesborough on his latest book Good Young Men

We chat with Good Young Men author Gary Lonesborough.

A&U: Hi Gary! Thanks so much for chatting with us. First, can you please tell us a little about your latest book Good Young Men?

GL: Good Young Men is about three Aboriginal boys who are growing up in a small country town. The story follows the three boys on their unique journeys to adulthood as they rediscover their friendship following the murder of Brandon, another boy who grew up on their street.

A&U: What was the initial inspiration for you to write Good Young Men?

GL: Kallum, Jordy and Dylan each began as three different manuscripts and three separate stories – all of which I kind of struggled to write past the first act. I was inspired to bring them together when I saw a story in the news about an Aboriginal teen who was killed by a white police officer. The police held no responsibility for this death and the anger I felt compelled me to bring these characters together into one big story.

A&U: Your characters always feels so raw and real – we couldn’t help forming such a bond with Kallum, Jordy and Dylan over the course of the story. How do you go about crafting such believable and authentic characters?

GL: I think all of my characters feel authentic because they always come from some part of me and my experience. I drew on my time as a footy player in high school for Kallum. I drew on my experience as the eldest child following my mother’s death and coupled that with my early days out of the closet for Jordy. And I drew from my sense of not belonging as a teen, feeling so angry about injustice in the news and my love for filmmaking when I created Dylan. All these characters come from parts of myself, so I think that’s what makes them feel so real – because they are!

A&U: This is your first book where you’ve told the story in multiple POVs. What made you decide to structure Good Young Men this way vs. a single POV like you’ve done for your previous novels?

GL: I touched on this a little bit earlier, but these three characters began as three separate stories. Bringing them together was what I felt the story of Brandon needed. I began writing Jordy’s story way back in 2021. Kallum’s story was going to be set over the course of a weekend, but I didn’t think I had enough story for a whole manuscript. Similarly, I began Dylan’s story in 2024, but wasn’t confident the story could fill a whole book. Once I brought these characters together, I experimented with alternating POVs, but I realised this story needed to be told over the course of at least a year. I did really enjoy writing in this way. Once I brought the characters together, their stories changed so much and I really enjoyed weaving the big story of Brandon throughout. I think understanding all these other characters, how they are all so different and have unique lives and hopes and dreams helps to understand how the depth of Brandon was lost because of the injustice in the book. I think if I only explored this story through Dylan’s eyes as I had originally planned, it might not be as impactful.

A&U: What is your writing process like? Are you a writer who has a lengthy plan from the get-go, or do you just see where the words take you?

GL: I’m very much a pantser, in that I don’t like to plan too much before I start a first draft. I do plan a little, but these plans consist mostly of character lists, big story moments (that usually change through the drafting), and ideas I have for scenes the characters are going to experience. I learned early on that by planning the story from start to finish, I lose the fun and the mystery of it. I love sitting down and having a general idea of what’s going to happen in the scene, and then just following the characters and the story where it goes. It feels like a kind of magic, and it’s addictive. I think it also taps into a feeling of excitement I first experienced as a child – I can just write and I have no idea where my brain will take me. I love that.

A&U: If Good Young Men is someone’s first Gary Lonesborough read, could you give us a short pitch for each of your earlier novels they might want to check out next?

GL: The Boy from the Mish is about a boy named Jackson who is living in a small Aboriginal community in rural NSW, and his journey of falling in love and learning to accept who he really is.

We Didn’t Think It Through is about a boy named Jamie who winds up in juvie after he and his friends steal a car in response to a racist attack. At its heart, it’s a story about connection and belonging, as Jamie begins to understand who he is and where he comes from, reconnects with his family and is introduced to poetry.

I’m Not Really Here is about a gay Aboriginal boy named Jonah, who moves to a new country town with his dad and little brothers. Jonah tries to fit in and make new friends, joins the local footy team and begins to catch feelings for a boy named Harley, all the while finally beginning to confront the grief of his mother’s death four years ago.

GL: And finally, if you could give some writing advice to any budding authors out there who might be reading this Q&A, what would you tell them?

GL: To any future authors, I would say to write a lot and read a lot. Writers can procrastinate, but writers must write. So read books, talk about books, but above all, write. If, like me, you work a full time job at the same time, set aside an hour to write in your days. For me, I like to write in ‘writing sprints’. That means I put my phone on airplane mode, close the door, put on some music (to drown out any noise from outside the room), and set myself thirty minutes or so. Then, I write for that whole time. I try not to stop unless it’s to take a sip from my cup of water, or stretch my fingers.

---

Good Young Men

by Gary Lonesborough

A brilliant contemporary YA coming-of-age novel about three small-town Aboriginal friends finding their way towards adulthood.

FIND OUT MORE