Kelly's Writerly Q&A

S2E5 April 2026 Q&A with Camille Booker on Code Name Funnel Web

Kelly Sgroi Season 2 Episode 5

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0:00 | 36:18

Welcome to Kelly's Writerly Q&A, a podcast that celebrates authors and their books! I'm your host, Kelly Sgroi, writer, reader, and soccer mum.

Listen to my 28th episode where I chat to Camille Booker, multi-award-winning historical fiction author, editor, teacher, PhD candidate, literary judge, and my dear writing friend whose third novel just came out with Hawkeye, and it's an engrossing read! Purchase a copy of Code Name Funnel Web using my Booktopia affiliate link.

We discuss:

  • Our previous two chats
  • Code Name Funnel Web, how and why it was rewritten 
  • Book launches
  • Motifs
  • Covers
  • Being stuck

And more!

Thank you for listening!

Music credit to Levgen Poltavskyi from Pixabay.

*If you enjoy this podcast, please like, share, follow, and consider buying a copy of the book using my Booktopia affiliate link or buy me a Ko-fi. Your support, big or small, will help cover hosting and production costs, and keep me creating and supporting authors and books!

SPEAKER_02

You're listening to Kelly's Riderly QA, a monthly podcast that features authors and their books. Kelly Scroy is your host, writer, reader, and soccer.

SPEAKER_00

This is season two, episode five of Kelly's Riderly QA, and I'd like to extend a warm

Welcome back to Camille Booker

SPEAKER_00

welcome back to Camille Hooker, multi-award-winning historical fiction author, editor, teacher, PhD candidate, literary judge, and my dear writing friend. Your third novel code name Funnel Web is an engrossing read, and it came out with Hawkeye on April 15th. Congratulations, how are you today?

SPEAKER_01

Hi, Carol. Thank you. I'm good. How are you? I'm tired. The launch was, I feel like, just yesterday, although it took me like a few days to recover. So yeah, um, a bit of a like frazzled mess.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it I mean, the our kids just went back to school as well. You've had so much going on, but the launch looked dreamy. I wish I was there.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, I was so wished you were there too. It was, it was really dreamy. It was just like I couldn't have hoped for a better afternoon. It was so amazing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, wonderful. So, as I said in the intro, welcome back, because you were my

Our previous chats

SPEAKER_00

debut podcast guest last year. Yeah. So season one, episode one, which is actually my most listened to episode, so it's a really good one. And we met when the original version of this book came out. So you were a guest on my blog in 2022. Yeah. So if listeners have just discovered you and they want to go back and check out those previous two interviews, there's so much in there that I do encourage everyone to look at, like our shared love of peaches and the two kilos that you brought to hand out at your debut book launch.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I've forgotten about that. This time it was all spiders, but yeah, that one was yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Also, what inspires your stories? How you started writing, writing competitions because you were long listed in the Lucy Cavendish, runner-up, and then winner of the Hawkeye, shortlisted for Varuna, runner-up in the CYA, and uh winner of the book pipeline. So there's so much on writing comps from you. We talked about deep point of view, manuscript blindness because you do editing, mermaids, and so much more because you're just the master of setting and mood. So yeah, I had to do that little throwback. Yeah, thank you so much for talking to me again.

SPEAKER_01

And thanks for having me again, because most podcasters would not want another chat with the same author for the third time in a row. So I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I feel like we still have heaps to talk about. So I've had the pleasure of reading Codename Funnel

Code Name Funnel Web

SPEAKER_00

Web, and I could not put it down. So, for anyone who hasn't heard of it, how would you describe it?

SPEAKER_01

Okay, so Codename Funnel Web is a cinematic story of love and loss stretching from wartime Australia to war-torn Europe and back again, told through a distinctly Australian lens. It opens in Sydney in 1940, where Frances Davies has managed to avoid the first hand tolls of World War II. But that all changes when her brother Thomas is reported MIA in Singapore. Frankie meets Leo and they fall in love, but when he is detained as a prisoner of war, she can no longer stand by. She travels to London hoping to discover the whereabouts of her missing brother, or if he is even still alive. But while she's there, Frankie agrees to become a covert agent for the resistance. Behind enemy lines, Frankie must survive. Nazi occupied Paris, Gulag-infested Eastern Europe, and treachery laden Asia with instructions to ensnare her targets by any means necessary.

SPEAKER_00

Because you're looking at a soldier that's not a frontline fighter, you know?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I really enjoyed learning and going deep into what that would have been like for her because she basically, I won't give away any spoilers, but she has a huge impact on the outcome of the war in the end. So she definitely did important work. And comparing it to the original version, I loved how you managed to keep all the girl power and the spy scenes that I loved. And you added more agency to Frances, your female main character. And so for me, it just flowed in an amazing way from start to finish. I would recommend it for readers of Natasha Lester.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I have read some Natasha Lester. I've read her Mademoiselle Alliance. Yeah, and it definitely does feel a bit like that for sure. So that's a really good comp title. Yeah, so I just wanted to, I guess, in a similar way to Natasha, really sort of shine a spotlight on all of those unsung female heroes of the war that don't really get recognized. While my character is fictional, she does like take I took inspiration from real-life people in history. So like Nancy Wake, who was this sort of unassuming Australian New Zealand young woman who went to France and joined the resistance and did some amazing work in the war, and other women who like Lee Miller, who now there's a movie art with Kate Winslet in it. But you know, while I was writing it, just you know, reading about all the things she did and and how strong she was and and you know how brave. Also, there's a woman called Josephine Baker, and she was an American French performer who used her like access to sort of really high-end sort of Nazi parties and like these sort of events, and used her beauty and her charm to sort of smuggle out secrets that you know high-ranking Nazi officials would would sort of share amongst themselves, but she would overhear them and and smuggle them out, like written on her in in invisible ink on like sheet paper and stuff like that. So yeah, like there's definitely, you know, I drew it from those sorts of really cool things that actually really happened in in real life.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So the story was first published in 2021, and

On rewriting and rereleasing What If You Fly?

SPEAKER_00

it was called What If You Fly. Yeah. I think we've already covered a lot about this book in previous interviews, but what I wanted to talk about today was how you tackled the rewrite and going through the process of re-releasing the story.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So it's a bit of a weird story. Like I don't know any other debut or not authors who have been asked by their publisher to significantly cut down their manuscript word count. But I'll take you back to the beginning. So, yeah, so the original debut came out in 2021. I felt like, you know, it had its run, it had its time in the spotlight. It found some readers, not a heap, for other reasons, other than, you know, it was COVID, so I couldn't really do that many library talks or events. I was really new to the industry. I didn't really understand what it took to successfully market and promote a book. I didn't know how loud you needed to be amongst everyone else. So, you know, I was sort of, you know, dipping my feet in the water, not wanting to be too over the top, and then realizing actually I probably should have been a bit louder. So, you know, I I had learned so much from that experience, and I was happy that I did, and I was happy to sort of focus on my next book and write that and try again. But in the meantime, our lovely friend Ann Freeman, another Hawkeye author, who also dabbles in designing book covers, had suggested that my book needed to have a fresh new cover, a fresh new look. And I was on board with that because I agreed that the cover of What If You Fly didn't really yell World War II, you know, it didn't really cover the conventions of the genre. So when a reader picked it up in the bookstore, they might not really guess that it was, you know, a spy feminist World War II novel. So Anne went ahead and designed this beautiful cover which was just supposed to go on the original, you know, version and come out for the next print release. So then in 2024, at the beginning of the year, I had like a Zoom meeting with our publisher Carolyn, and the book was due to go for its next print run with a new cover. And during this meeting, she dropped this bombshell saying, Oh, would you mind maybe cutting off 10,000 words from the manuscript before we we put it to print? And not thinking, really, just wanting to be people pleaser, I said, Yeah, of course, like no problem. Easy. Easy. So yeah. So I I ended that meeting thinking, oh my god, what have I committed to? What have I agreed to? And just, you know, the panic just descended, the dread, the unknown, just this total fear of like, how am I gonna remove 10,000 words from what was really just a really plot-driven novel? So much sort of was tried, I tried to like um squeeze into those 90,000 words, and it wasn't like I I didn't know how to do that. I could either skim words off each page and in that way sort of dilute the story a little bit, but you know, how do you choose the worst few hundred words from each page over a whole book? I just I could I couldn't see the possibility of that happening, so I didn't know what to do. So I um got into contact with a really trusted writing friend who I knew would give really blunt and straightforward advice. And she read the original and I told her my dilemma, and she said, Okay, you can either you've got two options the way I see it. You can either do that, you know, skim some words off each page, but as we mentioned, it it would just really sort of dull down the story and and make it worse, or you could cut it right back to the plot's main beats. You could simplify Frankie's motivation, delete all the superfluous point of view chapters and only have it from Frankie's point of view, and then rewrite the novel with a deeper and more immersive sense of place and a more emotional thread running through it, add more interiority and sort of rewrite it in the voice that was really present in my second novel, The Woman in the Waves, because by that time I had finished it and it was coming out, and I feel like my voice, my authorial voice, had changed quite a lot from my debut to my second novel. So I sat with that advice for a while and eventually just thought, okay, there's just no other way around this. I need to at least give it a go. And then I think it was during your Edit Till Easter program where I finally committed to the decision because I was so just inspired by everyone in that group, just you know, doing really amazing and brave, when I say brave, you know what I mean? Like, you know, big editing commitments and just you know, throwing themselves into their work. And I thought, you know what, if they can do it with busy lives and responsibilities and everything, then I should be able to do it. So once I started deleting scenes, it was surprisingly easy and actually felt really cleansing and really good to get rid of stuff that just wasn't going to be working for the new version. I did reread Save the Cat Writes a novel, and I did plot out each beat and turning point. So, you know, I had this sort of a draft zero in a table form, and I knew which scenes from the original manuscript I could keep. The whole first act, apart from you know, her brother going overseas and going missing, basically, and meeting Leo, although she meets him in a different kind of way, they were still there. So that's what I mean when I say beats or turning points, like those events still happen, but the scenes themselves have been like totally rewritten. Um, and then in the middle, like you were saying, um, a lot of those same events, you know, Frankie goes to London, she becomes part of the SOE, she parachutes into France, she becomes like a Nazi mistress to steal secrets, things happen that happened in the first book. Then in the third act, because of this like domino effect of removing so many of those earlier scenes, I had to completely delete that whole third act and come up with something new. But I think the new ending, whilst there are some changes, I feel like it's deeper emotionally, maybe more resonating emotionally for readers. Because another benefit of you know, having had the original out for a few years was that those who did read it, the feedback was that you know it was an exciting novel, it was fast-paced, it was, you know, a fast, you know, page turn to read, but emotionally there wasn't really that much depth. And the characters, whilst they were fun and you know, exciting, it wasn't really like an immersive emotional, deep experience. So I really wanted to go as deep as possible, basically, just to push myself and see how far I I could go. So I really tried to sort of create more interiority, create more of those universal truths that we all sort of you know feel and resonate with. Yeah, so I I think I hope that the the final few scenes leave a more sort of long-lasting impact so that when you finally do close the book, there's more of that sense of like, oh sorry, you know, that that was you know a great journey. I was excited, but I also really felt deeply as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And I suppose instead of just having the love story with the love interest, there was also a nice ending with her brother, which is how it kind of all began, and then you added in a writerly element that was very apt. So I won't I won't say too much about that, but yeah, that also gave me a really nice feeling at the end.

SPEAKER_01

There's also a big change that I wanted to make because I felt I felt a little bit icky after the first one because um at the beginning of it, Frankie has this friend, Maggie, and in the original version, they kind of like have a friend breakup, you know, and I just I didn't like the way that sat with me anymore. They do essentially they're not best friends anymore, but there's no hard feelings between them. So I wanted to like do that for them as well. And yeah, like those sorts of little changes that I think when you are first starting out as a writer, you know, you you just love to explore and experiment with things. You don't really go deeper than that. But in this second version, I I really had time to think about what sort of messages I wanted to put out there, and like female friendship is so important. And I I didn't want to have like any like bad feelings about females against females in any way, so that was another change that was you know a conscious decision as well.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and it's definitely this is like next level writing because it's one thing to write a story from start to end, and then it's another thing to be so intentional about what you're trying to say, making sure that the plots flow, you're not getting bogged down with unnecessary threads or description, and you're proud of the message that the the whole story is portraying at the end of the day, you know, because I think it's taken me years to understand that that's the point of it all, you know?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because what sort of what sort of feelings are you leaving readers with, and what sort of messages, what sort of themes have come out in the whole process? Because obviously you don't go in thinking about what what moral message you want to leave the reader with, because that would be not why we write, but these things come out of it, and I guess that's what the editing process is for, is you can really go back in and make those things sort of shine.

SPEAKER_00

Huge decisions. Well, just amazing job with that. So you also said that you just had your book

The book launch

SPEAKER_00

launch and I was so jealous, it just looked like the most picturesque, well, the perfect place because you had it at the actual hotel that's featured in the story, but it was like a spider-field vintage fashion event, you know, because you're the queen of historical fiction with a twist. That's what I'm calling you. So, on book launches, like what are your tips on making them great?

SPEAKER_01

Oh my gosh. Okay, um, I guess it's just getting, you know, into the fun of it. I really love leaning into whatever the theme is. And obviously, this one was 1940s, and that was such a glamorous time, even though it was a hard time and there were rations and there was you know things happening, still the fashions were so much more appealing and stylish, and and people, you know, tried to make themselves feel better through the clothes that they chose to wear. And obviously, like there's no pressure for people to dress up. I just love a dress-up party, I always have. My 21st, I think it was 1920s theme, and everyone, you know, dressed up and there was prizes for best dress, so it just adds a little bit of fun and makes the photos look good. But yeah, I think definitely choosing the right location. And we were talking about this the other day. Bookstores are great, but the bad thing about bookstores is that they need to close, they need to pack up, and they kick you out after a certain time. So, yeah, so just thinking about how quickly you want to wrap things up, and because this was like a lazy, beautiful autumn Sunday afternoon, the best option was just to have it in a familiar location because I wanted my family around too. So Como pub is just our local pub, so I knew that they would feel familiar and safe and happy, and they and my kids were you know around, but then my son was like out on the footy field, like running around with his friends, and and that's the sort of vibe I knew I wanted. So I guess just thinking about yeah, like what sort of a feeling do you want to create for everyone to be comfortable? And I don't know, I guess always having like a cake or cookies is good because that is an incentive for people to come. Yeah, it's really hard, like like I said, it took me a day, at least a day or two, to get over it because it's so much social interaction and not just speaking in front of an audience, which is hard at any time. But afterwards, when you're signing books, you know, it's one-on-one with everyone that has come. And you know, I I I'm not great at small talk, you know. I rely on other people to create small talk. So I really had to switch my brain on. And I think one tip is like always have like a question about them. Like if they're a writer, ask how their writing or editing's going or how how many words a manuscript is at the moment. So yeah, I think, yeah, I don't know. It was really, it was, it was so lovely, but at the same time, like I'm hugely relieved that it's all over and it went it went the way it did. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Oh, that's so funny because every time I go to a book event and I line up to get a signature, I try and think of like an interesting question to ask. So I end up putting the poor authors on the spot.

SPEAKER_01

Like well, I think that's a good method though, because I'm the awkward one that panics and blanks. And so when I get to the signing table, I just stand there in silence and then say thank you and then move away.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, so you would like me then because I would I would let's just say I didn't know you. Would come up and ask some unique question, you know, what can I get out of this conversation? You know, yeah, yeah. On spiders, because

Motifs

SPEAKER_00

I know that you had some spider cookies there, they relate to your story. Obviously, the title is funnel web, but how does that tie into the story? And what can you tell me about using motives in writing?

SPEAKER_01

So, in the original version of the book, the name, codename funnel web, Frankie was given that. So that was already there. But in thinking about whether I could rewrite it in a stronger way, the first thought that came to me was I could make the funnel web a more significant element and give it sort of a symbolic meaning throughout the book. So obviously, funnel webs are one of our most deadly spiders in Australia. They're only in Australia, and I thought that was a nice parallel because, you know, this is an unassuming Australian girl, just like Nancy Wake, you know, she is forced into some serious situations. And I guess readers will keep reading to see how she handles those sorts of situations. So I guess I wanted to take her character art from this sort of meek, shy, unassuming girl to this sort of deadly, lurking in the shadows, fem fertile sort of a spy character. And so I really tried to bring the image of the spider, the funnel web, from the first opening page right throughout the book until the final, almost the final scene. So yeah, I guess it's just that idea of how can you use that image and how many different meanings can you create from it? So in the beginning, the opening scene is that she just tries to put her foot in a shoe, in one of her shoes that's been left outside, and there's a spider in there and it crawls up her arm, and she's all like, ah, get it away from me. So she's scared of spiders, you know, and sort of create that feeling that if that had happened to us, how would that make us feel? And and sort of hook the reader in by creating that sort of a feeling. And then obviously, yeah, she's named codename funnel web, and that's sort of relating to the fact that funnel webs can be deadly, don't underestimate them. You know, if if they bite you, they might think they're venom into you and all of that. So, yeah, like slowly building up the threat of the spider and the threat of her and how dangerous and how ruthless she becomes as a character and as a spy until yeah, she has she's forced to become this like reckless, dangerous killer. Yeah. So, and then I guess getting to the towards the end and and using the same motif, like of the spider and um using it in a different way. So I don't know, I I really like to um use that sort of a striking imagery and having it, I think at least in three different points in the story is good. But if you can bring it in a bit more, it's also good. Uh, but I think, yeah, like with the Woman in the Waves, the image was of the octopus and the recurring theme. And I think with motifs in novels, each time it appears, it needs to deepen the significance in a different way. So, you know, the first time it appears, it might just be that it is an actual octopus or it is a spider physically in the scene, but then the second time it appears, it might be that it's no longer a spider, but she is sort of becoming like a spider. Yeah, so I don't know, I think that's how I try to approach it.

SPEAKER_00

I love what you just said there, and it is like she becomes the spider, yeah. So, yeah, it starts off as something she's scared of, and she definitely becomes that fierce creature by the end. So I love that. So we also talked about how the cover

Covers

SPEAKER_00

changed, and I love how now the woman in the waves and code name funnel web match. They both perfectly capture like the essence of Camille Booker style. So I know you mentioned Anne Freeman. What can you tell me about the cover designing process and the talented Anne Freeman?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so Anne, as I mentioned, designed this cover for the original book. So I had this image as I was rewriting the book. So whenever I got stuck, or whenever I didn't feel like I was putting enough mood or atmosphere or anything, I would just have a look at the image again. And something that stuck out for me was this uh like the trench coat and the suitcase. So um I really did deepen the significance of those two elements, the trench coat that she borrows, and that's sort of too big for her, that is is concealing like different weapons and identity cards and all of these things. So it it became part of the story and the plot and the suitcase, which has like all her belongings in it. So that really did help me with the plot as well. But yeah, Anne is just so she had just has the eye, like she just knows what a book should look like. And I know you know it's obviously quite common for the whole woman in trench coat holding a suitcase facing away for historical fiction. But after having the experience with the first book and not having a cover that suited the story, this I feel really does match the story inside it. So even though woman facing away might have been done and dusted, I still feel like there's different iterations of it that can still work. And I definitely think this one captures and tells we that when they pick it up in a bookstore, they're gonna know what they're in for.

SPEAKER_00

So just moving on, writing

On being stuck

SPEAKER_00

is such a solitary passion that like it can be challenging to stay focused and motivated and connected to your work in progress. I know that we've both had our struggles, so can you share any advice on being stuck?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I'm stuck now, so it doesn't ever end. I think you always go through phases where you feel stuck, and I don't know. I guess you just have to hope that it it passes, it goes away, and that desire comes back. But I think to fuel that desire, obviously you need inspiration, and inspiration can come from anywhere. I'm a big advocate for daydreaming. I think that's a lot of the time where ideas for scenes, dialogue, characters come from. They often come when you're, you know, doing something like going for a walk or doing something like even when you're in the shower. All of those ideas come. So there's definitely a big idea around having that time to sort of let your mind wander. But I guess other sources of inspiration come from like other writers or going to book events and listening to other writers talk about their writing in their books. I think that really spurs you on to go, okay, they can do it. I I know I can do it too. Yeah, I don't know. I guess yeah, like joining like writing groups like you run, Kel, they're always so inspiring. I don't know. I guess it's a constant battle with tricking your brain into finding a reason to keep working on a project which might not be, you know, as exciting to you as it was when you first started. So you have to find different reasons to keep working on it every day when you might not feel like it. Sometimes the best thing you can do is to take a break because the worst thing I think is writing when you're not feeling it or it doesn't bring you joy because then you'll come to resent it and you won't want to sit down. How do you do it?

SPEAKER_00

I don't know. I do take a lot of breaks. Like I'm definitely kind to myself and I'm okay with going slow, and like I spent this last week of the school holidays just enjoying reading a book and not working on my manuscript, and that's sort of what I need a lot of the time. But then I go through very focused months where I'm pushing really hard. So I think it balances out because you can only push hard for so long, and then you do need that break. And like you've just launched a book, so I think my advice to you was to take a break and allow yourself to enjoy all that before you clear the slate and you know, give time to a new idea because you still got to talk about this one, don't you? Like you want that in your mind.

SPEAKER_01

That's it. You can't, yeah. I think that's another reason why, because yeah, you're so busy with talking about this one that there's no room in your brain for new ideas yet. So yeah, I think I should be kinder to myself. It's hard though when when you're so engaged with like the writing community and you see other people saying how productive they've been, or anything, it's sort of like, well, maybe I'm not working hard enough, or I need to do this, or I need to do that. It's really hard not to compare your journey with other people's, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I am going to quote you now. So from our last interview, you said something amazing, and your words are your story already exists inside you. And I think if you know that is the truth, yeah, then a break won't change that.

SPEAKER_01

You know, it will be there, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So last question

What's next?

SPEAKER_00

what can we expect from you next?

SPEAKER_01

After telling you that I've got an empty brain with no more ideas. Well, obviously, we mentioned that I am a PhD student. So my novel for my PhD is like a witchy novel. But because I don't know how long it's going to take me to finish my PhD, I've sort of pushed that novel to the side for now because I'm trying to focus on yeah, finishing the thesis and the theory side of that project, which is it's so much harder to write academically than it is to write creatively because every thought needs to be backed up by research, or you know what I mean? Like you have to articulate your argument, and it's really hard to even think what your argument is, let alone how to write about it. So it's taking much longer. And I'm only a part-time student, so I just thought while that's resting, you know, yeah, focus on on talking about this one. But then I also have my time slip novel, which I wrote last year, and you have read for me, and now Anne is reading, so yeah, that's gonna be uh I've got a manuscript assessment booked in for that in August. So I've again like I've put that out of my mind for now, and I'll come back to that in August when um it goes in for a manuscript assessment.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I really love the time slip one, so I'm excited about that. I am excited to read the witchy novel because I think I've only read one scene or something a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01

That has been floating around for a long time, many, many years. So I mean, I'm glad that's it's finished. I don't know what I'll do with it. Maybe I'll pitch it around, or maybe I'll just give it straight to Hawkeye. I don't know. But I just I don't want to jinx it and I just want to finish the degree first before I start thinking that it's this novel that I can pitch around because I feel like if I do publish it before the degree's over, I'll never finish my degree.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, well, you've got basically two novels that readers can be excited about, and hopefully they will be able to enjoy them in the next couple of years, and that will give you space to think about new ideas. Well, we better wrap it up, but it has been so wonderful to chat with you for a third time, and I look forward to just watching you grow as an author because I can see that your brand is building now with the covers that are matching and the themes that are solidified. You know, people are gonna really get behind you as the unique historical fiction author that you are. So well done. Thank you for listening to this episode of Kelly's Writerly QA. If you'd like to know more about the podcast, visit Kellyscroy.com.