The next
author in the ‘Few of my favourite things…’ 2015 HNSA Conference interview
series is Juliet Mariller. She will be appearing on a panel on how historical
novelists weave history into fiction: Tall
Tales and True: How Story Tellers Imagine History on 21 March 2015.
Juliet Marillier was born and brought up
in Dunedin, New Zealand, and now lives in Western Australia. Her historical
fantasy novels and short stories for adults and young adults have been
published internationally and have won a number of awards including the
Aurealis Award (4 times), the American Library Association’s Alex Award and the
Sir Julius Vogel Award (3 times). Her lifelong love of folklore, fairy tales
and mythology is a major influence on her writing. Juliet is currently working
on Tower of Thorns, second book in
the Blackthorn & Grim historical fantasy/mystery series for adult readers.
The first novel in the series, Dreamer’s
Pool, was published in 2014. When not busy writing, Juliet is active in the
animal rescue field, and she has her own small pack of waifs and strays.
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Juliet is a regular contributor to Writer Unboxed,
an award-winning blog about the craft and business of writing. Her Facebook
Author Page is here.
Her Goodreads Author page is here.
Her website is at http://www.julietmarillier.com
These
are a few of my favourite things….
Book as a child and as a teenager?
Impossible
to choose just one, as I was a voracious reader. Tove Jansson’s Moomin books
stand out – the characters were so real with their anxieties and doubts, and to
a child from the Southern hemisphere, the Nordic elements were as strange and
enchanting as the magical ones. I still
love those books. As a teenager I read a lot of adult books but I did
especially love the Marlowe series by Antonia Forest, which combined boarding
school, music and acting, horses and hawks, and a memorable family of
individuals. They are out of print now; I have managed to collect treasured copies
of all but one in the series and I still read them once a year.
Author/authors?
Writers
who have influenced me include Dorothy Dunnett, who made history spring to life
on the page, and who demonstrated how to keep a story tense and exciting
throughout a six book epic; Daphne du Maurier, who packed such drama into her
novels without ever becoming wordy or overwrought; Mary Stewart, whose clean,
economical style was exemplary – she
could create a wonderful picture in very few words; Iain Banks, a versatile, imaginative
storyteller.
Period of history?
As a writer I favour the ‘grey areas’ of history about which not a lot is known, or about which historians and archaeologists argue. They provide great scope for a writer of historical fantasy! Northern Britain in the time of the Picts was the setting for The Dark Mirror and its sequels, in which I blended historically known fact (St Columba did travel up the Great Glen to tell the Picts about Christianity), informed guesswork (the Picts may have had matrilineal succession for their kings) and pure imagination (I created a Pictish religion – I did base it on archaeological evidence!)
As a writer I favour the ‘grey areas’ of history about which not a lot is known, or about which historians and archaeologists argue. They provide great scope for a writer of historical fantasy! Northern Britain in the time of the Picts was the setting for The Dark Mirror and its sequels, in which I blended historically known fact (St Columba did travel up the Great Glen to tell the Picts about Christianity), informed guesswork (the Picts may have had matrilineal succession for their kings) and pure imagination (I created a Pictish religion – I did base it on archaeological evidence!)
Character in one of your own books?
My
favourite usually comes from whatever I’m currently writing. Right now it’s
Grim, the big, taciturn man who accompanies healer Blackthorn everywhere she
goes in my most recent novel, Dreamer’s
Pool, first book in the Blackthorn & Grim series of historical
fantasy/mysteries. One reviewer referred to these characters as ‘Holmes and
Watson in medieval Ireland.’ Grim’s been an interesting character to write,
with his full backstory emerging very gradually. He’s a man with hidden depths.
Getting his first person narrative right was a meaty challenge for me as a
writer.
Scene you enjoyed writing?
I
like writing the scenes at the end of a novel where everything is moving fast
and I have to make sure all the pieces fall in the right places. In my work in
progress (Tower of Thorns, sequel to Dreamer’s Pool) I am at that stage now
and switching between a monastic scriptorium and a haunted tower in the forest.
There’s a huge satisfaction in seeing the end of a book come out right.
Place to write?
No
choice, really - the dining table. In Perth summers I need to be in the
air-conditioned part of the house. It’s also nice to be near the tea-making
supplies. But mostly it’s because my dogs and I like to stay close and that is
where they hang out, using the doggy door to come in and out from the garden. I
write full time, so they get to spend a lot of time watching quietly while I
tap away at the laptop. Their job is to make sure I take breaks (for walkies
and snacks.)
Step in the process of writing? E.g. researching,
drafting, editing etc
I
don’t have a favourite step – every step is good when it’s going well and
frustrating when it isn’t. My un-favourite is editing!
Method of writing i.e. longhand or typing?
I
gave up longhand years ago as it is too slow for me to keep pace with my
workload. I’m a fast touch typist and I travel with my laptop. I do revert to
pen and paper occasionally if I feel stuck. The change of medium can be a
mental refresher.
TV program /movie?
NCIS Los Angeles. Great cast of
characters, enjoyable even when it’s doing cheesy comedy.
Comfort food?
Earl
Grey tea, and lots of it.
Featured book:
Dreamer’s
Pool
What if you were locked up awaiting
execution and a stranger offered you a bargain that would set you free?
What if accepting bound you to certain rules of behaviour for seven years,
rules you knew you were likely to break within days? And what if the penalty
for breaking them was to find yourself back where you started, eaten up with
bitterness and waiting to die?
Blackthorn chooses life, even though she
must promise not to seek vengeance against her arch-enemy, Lord Mathuin. In
company with a cell-mate, the hulking, silent Grim, the one-time healer and
wise woman flees north to Winterfalls in Dalriada, where she settles in a
derelict cottage on the fringe of the mysterious Dreamer’s Wood.
Blackthorn has promised her benefactor, the fey nobleman Conmael, that she will
use her gifts only for good. But she and Grim are both scarred by the past, and
the embittered healer finds her promise increasingly hard to keep.
At Winterfalls, Prince Oran of Dalriada has
been eagerly awaiting the arrival of his bride, Lady Flidais, from the south.
The lady’s portrait and letters have suggested she is his perfect match, the
one true love he’s long been waiting for. But although Flidais proves to be as
lovely as her portrait, the prince finds himself confused and disappointed. Has
he made a terrible error of judgement? Or might there something Otherworldly in
play?
Blackthorn and Grim find themselves swept up in a mystery that will require all their resources to solve: courage, ingenuity, leaps of deduction, and a readiness to accept the uncanny. Hardest of all will be grappling with their own demons.
Blackthorn and Grim find themselves swept up in a mystery that will require all their resources to solve: courage, ingenuity, leaps of deduction, and a readiness to accept the uncanny. Hardest of all will be grappling with their own demons.
Juliet
Marillier will be appearing in the following panel at the 2015 HNSA Conference:
21 March 11.15-12.15 pm
Session Three
Tall Tales and True:
How Story Tellers Imagine History
How do historical
novelists weave history into fiction? What draws an author to choose a
particular era, and what research do they undertake to bring past times to life? Jean Bedford talks with Isolde Martyn,
Johanna Nicholls, Juliet Marillier and Craig
Cliff about these choices.
Here's
your chance to sit next to Juliet at the conference dinner on the 21st March.
Book your Author Dinner ticket
here.
For more information on all our panels, please visit our site for programme details. And you can
buy your tickets here.
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Here’s a few favourite things for Juliet Marillier
on #HNSA2015 blog @histnovsoc http://ow.ly/JuHl8
Register now for the #HNSA2015 conference! Let’s make a noise about
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The first 30 ticketholders to purchase a ‘Standard’ Whole Conference Ticket will receive a free copy of either The Lace Balcony by Johanna Nicholls, The King’s Shadow by Barbara Gaskell Denvil or The Island House by Posie Graeme-Evans.
All ticket holders will receive a Momentum ebook bundle in celebration of Felicity Pulman’s launch of Unholy Murder.
The first 50 fully paid ticket holders will receive a copy of Sherryl Clark’s new book Do You Dare – Jimmy’s War in celebration of her launch.
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