New blog for Wendy Scott - Guest Belinda Mellor

 

My writing buddy Belinda Mellor is on Wendy Scott's new blog today. Drop by and see what she has to say.

https://authorwendyscott.mysites.io/author-belinda-mellor/

 

 

 

 

Friday Focus

 Today Belinda Mellor is going to tell us about being a fantasy author. Thanks for visiting, Belinda.

How did you choose the genre you write in? Or did it choose you? Tell us why you love writing in whatever genre you consider your favorite.

I write myth- and folklore-inspired fantasy. I have always been fascinated by ‘story’ and story-telling: family stories, Bible stories, myths, legends, fairy tales. I was a voracious reader as a child, but C.S. Lewis’s Narnia stories were my absolute favourites and the ones I read every single year. The first school prize I received – for ‘creative expression’ was a hardback copy of The Snow Queen. It is still one of my most prized possessions. I was six. At age ten I won J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Adventures of Tom Bombadil’ as an English prize. That was my introduction to Tolkien. Of course, that book is illustrated by Pauline Barnes, just as the Narnia stories are, so the connection made it very special to me. Learning my favourite authors had a fascination with mythology made me interested, so, as a teen I was reading Homer’s Illiad and Oddysey. The importance of mythology to humanity inspired me to study theology at university – I attended Bristol in the UK. Writing fantasy that explores human nature, relationships, life, death and all the big questions, seems natural to me.

What does literary success look like to you?

Initial success would include: invitations to talk at writing festivals; a decent payout from the NZ library fund; finding my books in bookshops outside of New Zealand.

‘Real’ success might include having a book on a national school curriculum (any nation!) – even though I mainly write adult fiction it is suitable for any age, so I’d really love that; having a respected artist (or two) illustrate my work, perhaps for a calendar, would be wonderful; a radio serialisation wouldn’t go amiss either.

Are you a full-out plotter? Are you a "let's see what happens" pantser? Or do you think you fall somewhere in between?

I daydream all my stories before I begin writing (before I fall asleep, or in the bath, or while I’m driving) but, after that, anything can happen. I do tend to know where they are headed and what matters before I begin, but I rarely plot. Having said that, I attended a writers’ retreat last year and did a full-scale plot of a YA story that had gone astray. It had been sitting in a drawer since the Millennium because I had literally ‘lost the plot’! Knowing exactly what I was doing was really helpful in that instance.

Did you ever write a novel with a message to the readers, or at least, a message you hope your readers garnered from it? What was the book, and what was the message. Why did you want to express it?

My two novels: Silvana - the Greening and Silvana - the Turning have a very definite message: humans who love, respect and cooperate with nature and the natural world, will reap benefits. Those who treat the environment as a commodity to be exploited will suffer and make others and future generations suffer too. I hope that by making the stories beautiful, I can show people how beautiful the natural world is. If even one person looks at a tree with new eyes as a result of reading my books it will have been worth writing them.

Silvana The Greening            Silvana - The Turning

How does it make you feel when people who have read your books talk to you about them? Are you self-conscious, or does it inspire you?

I LOVE hearing from people who enjoyed my work or were moved by it. The best times are when other creative people are inspired to write poetry or make art because of my writing, and I have been fortunate that that has happened several times. But I can feel a little self-conscious. On the other hand, there’s nothing I like better than to discuss my writing with someone who is really interested so it’s worth the initial discomfort!

What did you edit OUT of your most recent book (scene/character/etc)? Why?

I wrote several thousand words of the backstory of the partner of a relatively minor character. Really, all the book needed was the fact that he had a wife, and that she was rather too old to start having children. But I do love what I wrote, so I suspect a novella might feature in the not-too-distant future. Fennua is a complex and fascinating character – a contented farmer who becomes a reluctant queen – and knowing her now as I do, she is much more real in the novel than she would have been if I had just written her in without knowing her well. Her story opens with her plucking a chicken (something I am not fond of doing) – I don’t even know where it all came from.

What have you never written about, but want to some day? 

Not so much a subject I’d like to ‘write about’, but a style: but I rather fancy having a go at a ‘who-done-it’ or a thriller. I think because it would mean learning new writing techniques and skills, which would be fun and very satisfying. Of course, it might be a cross-over: I did have an idea that involved gnomes, a circus, and also crimes that needed to be solved! A subterannean, albino Miss Marple if I recall correctly.

Did you write stories or make up stories as a child? Do you remember what any of them were about?

Yes, I can’t remember when I didn’t write. The Adventures of Bonny Bunny was my first ‘book’. I must have been about seven. It was written in pencil in an exercise book, and illustrated too! Bonny Bunny foiled a burglary, if I remember rightly. That was followed by ‘Minimus Goes To The Moon’. Minimus was a mouse (you can see a pattern with the names, I suspect). MGTTM was a chapter book. I was very proud of that. So, talking animals dressed like people were my thing. I loved my cuddly toys, and disliked dolls, so that probably accounts for why I wrote about animals.

    

Do you have a favorite writing related quote?

‘Every story is true – some of them actually happened.’

Friday Focus

Belinda Mellor continues her insight on words used in writing. Thanks Belinda

As an editor I sometimes see words or phrases used that simply don’t fit – whether with the historical context, or situation, or experience of the characters. I think the problem comes when we take words for granted. Every word, phrase and saying has a history. If that history is too obvious then the words can sometimes stick out like a sore thumb.
But it’s possible to go too far. Where do you draw the line?
Take colours, for instance. ‘Burnt Siena’ is a rich reddish-brown colour. It is named after the Italian city-state of Sienna, which in turn was named after Senius (son of Romulus - as in one of the wolf-reared twins who were the supposed founders of Rome). On the other hand, Burnt Umber (a dark yellow-brown colour), which also shares its name with an Italian city (Umbria) actually translates as ‘shadow’; the region it is named after was known as the ‘land of shadows’. Perhaps because it doesn’t have a mythical Roman behind it makes it more acceptable. I’d let that one go, just as I’d let ‘Turquoise’ for, even though it takes its name from Turkey (the country, not the bird). However, for me there is no question at all about colours such as ‘Navy Blue’ – that one is a definite no-no if the context doesn’t warrant it.

On the subject of place name, Damask roses are named after the city of Damascus and I admit that I thought long and hard about that one in my own writing, but decided there was no good alternative. After all, Damask roses are a very specific type of rose with a texture and a scent like no other and that’s what I wanted to convey. On the other hand, I would not use the flower ‘Rose of Sharon’ in a book set in a time or setting that was unaware of the existence of that particular place. When I thought about it, I decided that my criteria was: exact word – no; derived word – yes. (But that’s not an actual rule, it’s simply my rule!)

Sometimes you just have to decide what works for you and not over-analyse it. So I would advise anyone against using Wellington boots, but woudn’t ever worry about the word ‘sandwich’. In this case, I think the capital letter is the issue: it announces that it is something named after someone, even though sandwiches, like the aforementioned boots, are so named (after an earl rather than a duke but that hardly matters!)

An author’s own experience can make a word or phrase problematic, while another author might not even notice it. For instance while ‘beyond the pale’ might to some sound slightly cliched, it probably wouldn’t worry anyone without a working knowlege of Irish history. But once you know that ‘the Pale’ referred to an area under English jurisdiction just outside of Dublin (in the 15th century) and ‘beyond the Pale’ was a 17th century British term referring to ‘unlawfulness’ or ‘uncivilised’ you might find it jarring to see it in a historical novel set for instance in Ancient Egypt or in a science fiction story where the characters hadn’t started off from Earth. And even if it doesn’t bother you, your readers might find it jarring, so if in doubt about a word or saying – check!


Curses, oaths and expletives are another issue. But that might be a subject for another day.

Friday Focus

Cultivating a love of words

The writer has many tools in their box, of these, words surely are the most important. The more you enjoy words, the better you will use them. That’s not to say you have to know the meaning or history of every word you use, but sometimes really understanding a word will add a new dimension to it, which will allow you to use it in a refreshing or different way, and that will lift your writing. Similarly, it might suggest not using it, and that, too, might benefit your writing. Besides all that – words are so much fun.

Not all words are created equal, of course, and we all have favourites and least favourites. ‘Moist’, I believe, is among the least favourite of many. Personally, if I can get through life without using the word ‘pulchritudinous’ I will be very happy, especially as this (imo) extremely ugly word means ‘very beautiful’. I suspect that said with an Italian accent ‘pulchritude’ is not so bad.

Favourite words. Now, that’s hard. But I do love the word ‘capricious’. I could write a whole article on this word. It sort of comes from the word for ‘goat’ (think ‘Capricorn’) and the way they move and behave. This is one of the reasons I love the word – I have a huge fondness for goats! I think it’s a good thing to know what influences your love (or dislike of words too – often they have personal associations). But ‘capricious’ also comes from an Italian word for a lively piece of ‘free’ music, and that comes from the term for the hairs standing up on the back of your neck … and that comes from a combination of two words meaning ‘head’ and ‘hedgehog’!!!! So it can have rather spooky connotations (a word that itself has an interesting history, coming from ‘con’ – together with, and ‘nota’ – to mark/note, so it means ‘an additional meaning’).

Random Friday facts:

*The word ‘jot’ and the word ‘iota’ are, in fact, the same word. The letter ‘j’ did not exist in the classical world and was, instead, written ‘ie’ (which, to confuse things more, looks like IH in Greek). Iota is the name of the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet and is the smallest - simply a ‘jot’ (the Ancient Greeks didn’t dot their ‘I’s).

*Speaking of which, the word Alphabet is from the first two letters of the Greek, well, Alphabet – Alpha and Beta.

*Did you know that the word ‘Conversation’ shares a root with ‘convert’ and has to do with the fact that a good conversation should change both the participants’ mind sets?

*The word ‘conspire’ comes from the same root as ‘inspire’ and ‘expire’. It literally means ‘to breathe together’.

*Similar to the word ‘inspire’, the word ‘enthuse’ (enthusiasm) also means to be filled with the breath of the divine. It comes initially from religious fervour associated with the worship of Apollo.

*Finally: the word for a lover of words is ‘logophile’.

So, there you are. Collect words, understand words, fall in love with words, use words to maximum effect and watch your writing come alive.

Belinda Mellor

 

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