Asking The Biggish Questions

Travel writer and naturalist Don Pinnock considers nature, activism, mythology and ‘enwording’ in his new book.

- Bruce Dennill

For this book, you’ve written in succinct, distinct essays rather than a long, fictional narrative or using the reams of research needed for a biography. How did the process differ to that used when writing books in those formats? 

I love doing what I’ve done here. My favourite length for a piece of writing is 1,000 words, as you have to be sure of every one, which makes it almost a Zen process. I can spend anything up to a couple of weeks on an introductory sentence, but once I have that, I can often write the rest in a couple of hours.

What is the relationship between observations – spotting small things – and research? What makes something you’ve noticed worth following up on? 

Once you open up the headspace for that sort of thing, it comes flooding in. To keep up to date, I read a lot online – environmental sites, mostly – as well as trawling through academic papers. I have a lot of friends in those areas, so I make sure I have those conversations and then see what happens. Sometimes, a topic I’ve picked up on spirals out of control, and it becomes investigative journalism. I get challenged on facts, so there’s a need to prepare properly.