Writer Unboxed

My new novel for young adults, Cybele’s Secret, has been released this week here in Australia. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to share Kinuko Craft’s gorgeous cover painting with you. Unfortunately, the American edition doesn’t come out until September 2008, so anyone wanting a cute Knopf hardback to match their copy of Wildwood Dancing has a long time to wait. Macmillan’s UK hardback comes out in December 07 and, of course, both that edition and the Australian one can be purchased online.

Cybele’s Secret was a fabulous book to write. My protagonist, Paula, accompanies her father on a merchant voyage to Istanbul in early Ottoman times. This story gave me a great excuse to visit Turkey myself in search of information about Islamic religious faith and practice, Anatolian folklore, commercial wheeling and dealing, and Black Sea piracy. The characters come from many different cultures and speak a variety of languages, so there were all sorts of challenges in getting the details right and telling a good story at the same time. I hope I succeeded. It was certainly fun.

Now it’s back to the work in progress, an adult fantasy novel that will probably end up with the title Heir to Sevenwaters. I’d love to say I’m at the polishing and refining stage, but actually I’m still writing the last couple of chapters and THEN I have to revise some of the earlier part before I’ll be quite happy with the ms. But at least I have reached the section of the book that more or less writes itself. By this stage, the story knows exactly where to go. The loose ends tie themselves up, the characters resolve their difficulties, the sun comes out and we all live happily ever after … Well, maybe not that. I’ve never believed that the happy endings of fairytales apply for every single character. There’s always darkness to balance the light. But I do at least allow my protagonists the hope of a bright future.

Research for this book has been a different kettle of fish. There is far less history and far more mythology and folklore in it. Human drama, of course, is centre stage and needs no researching on the author’s part, just an observant eye and some insight into the reasons why people interact the way they do. As for the otherworldly part, that comes easily to me thanks to a lifetime of reading fairytales, folklore, myths and legends. By now, they’re more or less in my blood.

Speaking of kettles of fish, you’ve probably heard fantasy writers talk about the cauldron of story. That’s the big imaginary pot containing all the ideas, motifs and images anyone has ever dreamed up when telling traditional tales. There’s an enchanted sword in it, a magic ring, a tree whose roots stretch down to the centre of the earth, a dragon guarding its hoard, a mask-wearing trickster, a naïve hero, a wise old woman, a sausage … This pot includes ingredients from every storytelling culture in the world. Fantasy writers dip into it freely for their ingredients. Geoffrey of Monmouth , Chretien de Troyes and Thomas Malory took out the old Welsh tale of Arthur and each made it his own. Shakespeare borrowed freely from the cauldron for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, King Lear and other plays, and put back in with generosity. In their turn, later writers borrowed from him. From Edmund Spenser to Mary Shelley, from Lewis Carroll to J R R Tolkien, from Marion Zimmer Bradley to Neil Gaiman, generations of fantasy writers have made use of this brew, which has only grown richer over the years as creative souls not only borrowed but also added new ingredients to the mixture.

So, you ask, does that mean all fantasy writing is heavily derivative? No, it doesn’t mean that at all. It means we fantasy writers are part of a rich tradition of storytelling, sharing a heady brew that is constantly growing, developing and changing as time passes. Some make heavy use of the cauldron, some only take a drop or two. The resulting soup is more diverse these days than ever before.

Must go now, writing to do.

Juliet Marillier has published more than a dozen novels for adults and young adults. Her works of detailed historical fantasy have been published around the world, and have won numerous awards. Her latest release, Seer of Sevenwaters, is the fifth book in her popular Sevenwaters series but can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Juliet Marillier

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