AMANDA COLE

Bachelor of Psychology 2001

Amanda Cole

Emerging author Amanda Cole’s first novel has been a dream come true – literally.

The UOW Psychology graduate says the plot of I Hate Cinderella is based on a dream she had while sleeping on a plane flying from Sydney to Melbourne.

I Hate Cinderella is a teen fantasy novel about how to mend a broken heart. Its heroine, Lucy, has just broken up with her boyfriend when she is involved in a plane crash. Her plane crashes into the sea, and Lucy is rescued and nursed back to health by a mermaid.

It’s a story about self-help and renewal, delightfully illustrated by Brazilian Jovan De Melo.  Although clearly aimed at the teenage market, it is likely to appeal to romantics of all ages.

“I was on a plane flying to a business meeting and had this amazing dream. The story line basically follows that dream,” Amanda said. “I woke up knowing that I had a good story that I had to write.”

Amanda got to work writing then found an editor, an illustrator, printer and distributor. Sydney media celebrity Bianca Dye launched I Hate Cinderella in December 2008, and since then sales have been brisk.

Now Amanda is working on a deal to have the book distributed in Britain, and has publishers interested in future works. “I’ve got another book half-written,” Amanda said. “It’s a story about love through time, and is based on another dream I had 12 years ago.”

A career as a full-time writer is tantalisingly close for the former Nowra High School student who grew up on her family’s Cambewarra Estate winery in the Shoalhaven. It’s a long way from the career as a clinical psychologist she envisioned when she completed her degree in 2001, but Amanda said she used a lot of her psychology training in her first novel.

“My psych degree definitely helped. There is a fair bit of social psychology in the book …. subtle undertones of relationships and issues like grieving. It has been very satisfying to have readers come back to me and say how much the book has inspired them, and helped them through traumatic experiences like break-ups.”

After she graduated from UOW Amanda went to the United States, travelling, working and undertaking an internship as a psychologist. Along the way she discovered she needed  to satisfy her creative yearnings and so has been combining professional photography with work for a marketing company in Sydney where she has been applying her psychology training to various campaigns.

Now she is hoping to forge a full-time career as novelist. That really would be a dream come true. (Visit http://www.ihatecinderella.com/ for more information about Amanda’s book). NH

Last reviewed: 10 July, 2009