Tag: imagination

The world needs stories

The world needs stories

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I never dreamed of writing the “Great Australian Novel” or selling enormous amounts of books. I just wanted to tell stories. The world needs them. It always has.

Photo from Pexels by Suzy Hazelwood

Stories reach people when all the arguments and debates don’t. There can be understanding and connection on an intuitive level. Points can be made without anyone feeling they’re being beaten over the head. And stories stay with us. We may not remember all the detail, but a story we’ve loved will stay in our heart. Who doesn’t hold on to the memory of a book they loved as a child? I can’t remember the details of many of the books I read as an adult. But my early adventures in reading stay with me, with amazing clarity.

Sometimes we revisit the tales that moved us. We know how they made us feel, the realisations they gave us, the way they sparked our imagination. A good story can reach out to people. Unlike other forms of writing that are located in a specific time and place, they can be, in a way, eternal. Enduring.

We are narrative beings.

Something about tales speaks to a spark that lies within all of us. Children who are denied stories are denied a chance for a garden to grown in their soul. Perhaps what we learn through books needs to become more nuanced as we grow to adulthood. The world is not divided into good and evil. But the tales we encounter early on give us a framework to start with.

In fact, we could understand the world better if we questioned the stories that underpin it. Every society has its own narratives. In Western society the enduring story is that everything must be done in service of the economy. We are told this so often we don’t even realise it’s just a story. Nobody questions whether there is another way to conceive the world. What would our society look like if the underpinning narrative, the story we all believed in, was that everything should be done in service of humanity? What if the cultural stories placed living beings at their heart?

Fiction writers use their imagination to create worlds that are underpinned by different stories. They show us other possibilities. We need that now, more than ever. To change the world, we need to see how it can be different.  And we need to care. We need our hearts and minds engaged. Stories can do all of that.

Dreams of story telling

This is why I chose at a young age to be a story teller. Not a ‘writer’. I didn’t have visions of sitting in a garret starving while I carved out some masterpiece from blood and suffering. I didn’t picture myself appearing at writers festivals, exchanging words of wisdom for book sales. No – I just wanted to tell stories, because they seemed magical.

I’ve been told I’m naiive for imagining writers can change the world. But all it takes is for one idea to light a spark that grows into a flame, and change can happen. I suppose that belief is why my central character in The Tales of Tarya, Mina, is a story teller who changes her world with her stories. Art and imagination are tools for doing magic in the world.

 

Caring for your new author

Caring for your new author

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Congratulations! You’ve brought home a new author and you’re looking forward to going on an exciting journey with them. However, authors need to be treated with care if they are going to give you years of loyal storytelling. Before you begin, here are some important things you should know.

Diet

Authors need a regular supply of chocolate, tea or coffee and, if they write fantasy, baked rainbow goods, in order to keep their creative imaginations running. An author will struggle to feed themselves since they don’t make a living wage, so if you find one wandering in the wild, do your best to keep them fed and hydrated. If their inspiration runs dry, one day you will find them at a writers festival sitting in the corner, a dried out husk. If that happens to you, administer coffee immediately, intravenously if need be.

Emotional Care

Sensitivity is an important trait in an author since it allows them to place themselves in the minds of their characters with empathy. They also have incredibly active imaginations. However, this combination renders them somewhat fragile and prone to over-thinking. If you have promised to write a review of their book, make sure you do so because otherwise they will imagine you hated it and will die a little each time they see you. If you don’t read their genre, feel free to say that, but don’t use a superior tone as this is akin to saying their life choice is ridiculous. And most important of all, never, ever compare their book to Twilight.

Respect your Author

Research shows that it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery of a skill. Your author has spent a long time learning to construct fiction. They have written some incredibly bad prose, survived the experience and lived to write better prose. They have mastered pace, dialogue, and characterisation, and may even know what a dangling modifier is. Unless you would say to a mathematician, “Yes, I expect I’ll  solve the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture when I retire,” do NOT tell your author you will write books when you get around to it. And it would be wise not to question their authorial choices on the basis of your personal preferences. An author will include things in their book for a reason, but that reason is generally NOT because you have a personal dislike of cut scenes. It is more likely to be related to the plot and story. Strangely enough.

Don’t make them beg!

Aside from coffee, reviews are the lifeblood of the modern author. Since there is no regulation of the author industry, author farms have sprung up where authors are kept in dark cages and made to churn out book after book. This means there is a glut of books out there. As a result, your author may be struggling to get noticed. This can lead to depression, over-eating of rainbow cupcakes, and paranoia that they will fade away and eventually become completely invisible. If you do not want this to happen to your author, keep them happy. This can be easily and cheaply done through little treats such as a review on Amazon, asking your library to get their book in, or buying their book for every single person in your extended family as a Christmas gift*. However, do not make them beg for reviews. It takes up precious time when they could be writing another book for you.

A final word…

Follow the simple rules above and your author will live a long and happy life. Your support will make all the difference. If you care for your author they will give you many years of reading pleasure. But be wary. Some authors are known to bite. If you fail to care for your author, you may find they turn you into a character in their book. Then kill you.

Have a lovely day!

* Ok, not all of them are cheap….

 

Brilliant darkness: An interview with Isobel Blackthorn

Brilliant darkness: An interview with Isobel Blackthorn

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Today I’m delving into the mind of author Isobel Blackthorn and I have to admit to being both excited and a little nervous. Isobel’s books are brilliant, and having a thrilling dark edginess. She holds a PhD in Western Esotericism and the occult features in most of her writing. So far Isobel has published five novels, The Legacy of Old Gran Parks, The Cabin Sessions, A Perfect Square, The Drago Tree and Asylum, and a short story collection, All Because of You. An avid writer, her current work includes two dark psychological thrillers and a biographical fiction of occultist, Alice Bailey. If this little taste leaves you wanting more, visit her website.

Which writer or writers opened your eyes to the magic of storytelling and why?

I’ve always been an avid reader and it’s hard to single out any particular author. As a child Pastures of the Blue Crane by Hesba Fay Brinsmead left a deep and lasting impression. In my early twenties, I was captivated by Hermann Hesse and Franz Kafka, and then by Doris Lessing. I devoured her entire Children of Violence series, which is set in what was then Rhodesia, and much of her Canopus in Argos Archives, which is amazing science fiction. A little later I read Iain Banks’ The Wasp Factory, and I loved the novel so much I read everything by him I could lay my hands on and there was a stage when I didn’t read any other author. I wasn’t reading much during that phase of my life, it was a dark period, and Iain Banks kept me going. I’ve always felt a profound sense of belonging to the world of novelists, even before I was one, as though the authors whose books I loved were sitting beside me as friends.

Why do you think people need stories in their lives?

Stories give shape to our lives. Stories help us make sense of the world. Stories open us to our own imaginations. Morality, empathy, compassion and understanding, all these qualities are enhanced by reading fiction. For many, stories are a form of escape from the burden of life, a way to unwind, or a form of entertainment. Even then, a story may invite us to ponder or question.

What is your greatest magical power as a writer?

What an interesting question! All storytellers are magicians. All creativity is a form of magic. We cast spells on the minds of our readers, viewers, listeners. We enchant. And we do so to manipulate the reader into seeing the world our way, or another way, if only for a while. We might be trying to transform the reader in some way. Even at the level of pure entertainment, a novel is enchantment, the reader is taken away from their ordinary reality and into their imaginations.

Which mythic archetype or magical character most resonates with you and why?

The Fool. I walk through life and into situations naively and largely unaware of the people around me and their hidden motives and agendas. I have a sort of natural blindness. I take people at face value and in good faith. I accept what they present to me as truth. I fail to see the shadow. Therefore, I have been tricked and deceived, abused and trampled on, or treated as though I am not worth more than as somewhere to wipe one’s feet.

Isobel Blackthorn writes across a range of genres

That said, I do not carry around a sense of victimhood and I am not bitter, I simply keep walking on, just as the Fool keeps walking. Although with age, I am a little wiser. We are all made wiser if we try to learn from situations and our mistakes. I have learned that people lie. I have learned that people run their own agendas. I have learned that the person who tells you to beware of someone stabbing you in the back, is in all likelihood holding the knife. On the up side, I have accumulated a treasure chest of experiences and every writer needs those!

What themes or ideas do you find keep arising in your writing?

The occult crops up in most of my writing as a theme, as do art and social justice. I have a passion for the Canary Islands (Spain), and set some of my stories there. Each novel I write is distinct. I write across genres and I like to explore a range of ideas. A Perfect Square is a good example of the themes I like to explore. On one level, it is a story about different approaches to creativity. It is also a dark mystery concerning two mothers and their daughters.

Bio

Rachel Nightingale is a writer, playwright, educator and actor. With a passion for story telling and the theatre, it was only natural that her first fantasy series would centre on both. She lives in regional Australia with her family, a very bossy cat and the cutest dog in the world. She is represented by Creative Net speakers.

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