Editing Picnic at Hanging Rock (novel) (section)

==Conception==
[[File:William Ford At the Hanging Rock NGV.jpg|thumb|right|205px|William Ford's 1875 painting ''At the Hanging Rock'', held at the [[National Gallery of Victoria]], was the basis of the novel's title; in addition to her writing, Lindsay was also a professional painter and influenced by visual art.{{efn|Lindsay spent the majority of her early life studying art, and was a graduate of the [[National Gallery of Victoria Art School]].{{sfn|Benson|2005|p=888}} Donald Barrett further notes Lindsay's role as a painter as a potential source of influence in her writing, specifically in ''Picnic at Hanging Rock''.{{sfn|Barrett|1987|p=80}}}}]]
Lindsay claimed to have based the novel on an idea she had in a dream. In a 2017 article in ''[[The Age]]'' it was noted: "The dream had centred on a summer picnic at a place called Hanging Rock, which Joan knew well from her childhood holidays. Joan told Rae [her housekeeper] that the dream had felt so real that when she awoke at 7.30am, she could still feel the hot summer breeze blowing through the gum trees and she could still hear the peals of laughter and conversation of the people she'd imagined, and their gaiety and lightness of spirit as they set out on their joyful picnic expedition."<ref name=mcculloch>{{cite web|url=http://www.theage.com.au/good-weekend/the-extraordinary-story-behind-picnic-at-hanging-rock-20170327-gv7upc.html|work=The Age|title=The extraordinary story behind Picnic at Hanging Rock|author=McCulloch, Janelle|date=1 April 2017|access-date=14 May 2017}}</ref>

According to her housekeeper at the time, the events of the novel were dreamt by Lindsay successively.<ref name=mcculloch/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/victoria/hanging-out-for-a-mystery/2007/01/18/1169095907672.html?page=3/taglines|title=Hanging out for a mystery|work=Sydney Morning Herald|date=21 January 2007|access-date=14 May 2017}}</ref> Several years after the publication of the novel, Lindsay would recount the experience of writing it as such: "''Picnic at Hanging Rock'' really was an experience to write, because I was just impossible when I was writing it. I just sort of thought about it all night and in the morning I would go straight up and sit on the floor, papers all around me, and just write like a demon!"<ref name=mcculloch/>

The novel was written over a total of two weeks at Lindsay's home in Mulberry Hill.<ref name=mcculloch/> In thinking of a title, Lindsay recalled the painting ''At the Hanging Rock'' by William Ford, which had hung in her husband [[Daryl Lindsay|Daryl]]'s office at the [[National Gallery of Victoria]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/the-great-lindsay-mystery/news-story/69e64ed89d756a8041a8f9e9e86f74ed|work=The Australian|first=Phillip|last=Adams|author-link=Phillip Adams (writer)|title=The great Lindsay mystery|access-date=16 May 2017}}</ref> and chose to incorporate it into the title as it was "simple and pretty, and belied the horrors hidden within."<ref name=mcculloch/> In an interview after Lindsay's death, academic Terrence O'Neill, who had befriended Lindsay, remarked the supernatural elements of the novel: "It was clear that [Joan] was interested in [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualism]], and longed for some spiritual dimension in her life, but she didn't feel safe bringing that side of her out in front of her husband. So I think she channelled it into her writing. I know she was very interested in [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] and his belief in and theories about Spiritualism, nature and the existence of spirits."<ref name=mcculloch/>

The novel was imported for sale in the United States and would receive its first publication there in 2014 by [[Penguin Random House]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lindsay|first=Joan|title=Picnic at Hanging Rock|publisher=Penguin Random House|isbn=978-0-14-312678-2|orig-year=1967|year=2014}}</ref> In the United Kingdom the novel was printed in several editions by [[Vintage Books|Vintage]], in 1998<ref>{{cite book|last=Lindsay|first=Joan|title=Picnic at Hanging Rock|orig-year=1967|year=1998|publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-0-09-975061-1}}</ref> and 2013.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lindsay|first=Joan|title=Picnic at Hanging Rock|orig-year=1967|year=2013|publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=978-0-09-957714-0}}</ref>