Every now and then I hear from a new reader so enthusiastic with either The Gateway Chronicles or BREEDER
(or both!) that they come to me with a plethora of questions, and
sometimes those questions are blog-worthy because I feel there might be
more people out there interested in the same information. This is one of
those situations! The following questions came in last month from a new
reader of The Gateway Chronicles...
1) Okay, I can't stand it anymore. I must know. What addictive substance did you hide between the lines of your books??
Fairy dust. That addictive substance is fairy dust.
:)
Actually,
in all seriousness, I've worked quite hard over the years to make sure
my books follow established literary patterns without being cliched. I
believe the human brain looks for patterns subconsciously, and because
of this, there are certain storytelling techniques that will always feel
more fulfilling in the end than others (or than a story written with no
plan at all). This is one reason why I also beat on the "plan ahead!"
drum when I give seminars on creative writing.
2)
Ever since my first read-through, I've been trying to figure out how
much of yourself you put into a character, if not more than 1. So,
obviously Darcy is from your town and went to your camp. I tend to
think you put some other parts of you in her, too. When at camp, did
you have those magical feelings about the camp? Did you feel that
perhaps you were meant for a different world, not fitting in? Or have
you so aptly captured those aspects from other things you've read and
from hearing it from others?
Or are you more like Lewis, always carrying around a backpack full of
journals?
Did you have a friend - or were you the friend - like Sam, who was
always by your side, never giving up on you even when you were mean-ish
to her?
Darcy
is definitely the character into which I poured the most of myself. I
did use my hometown (from my teen years) as Darcy's hometown, and the
camp they attend in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the real camp I
attended every summer of my life from birth until college (with the
names changed). There was absolutely something magical and different
about that camp, and not in a mystical, creepy,
I-can't-seperate-fantasy-from-reality, delusional sort of way, but in a
total separation from the rest of the world, from the rest of
civilization, sort of way. The real camp, which I'll just call Cedar,
was a constant for me in an otherwise changing world. Every summer when
we went there, it was virtually unchanged. Obviously the flowers and
trees and sun and water and rocks and sky didn't change, nor did the
smells or sounds or sensations of being there, but even the camp itself
went through very little change. For 18 years, I don't even remember the
quilts on the camp beds being replaced with new ones, or the carpet
being torn up and replaced. The furniture and artwork was always the
same. There were small changes made here and there, but nothing big was
done until I was an adult. I know the forest trails out there like the
back of my hand, and it's so achingly remote and beautiful. When the sun
comes through the trees, or glimmers in off the water, at just the
right times of the day, it really is a magical place. It was an escape
from reality, and it did make me feel like I was meant for another
world. I really didn't fit in well in my "real world" life, at least I
didn't feel like I did much of the time, so going to Cedar was like an
escape into a fantasy world for me. It revived my spirit. In writing The Gateway Chronicles,
then, I wanted to cause the reader to have this same sort of revived
sensation by "visiting" the camp - and Alitheia - through the pages of
my books.
I
was (still am) a bit like Lewis, too. I don't carry a backpack around
full of journals, but I'm rarely without one! I keep a small journal in
my purse, and I probably have ten to twelves scattered around my house
that are full of story ideas, notes, sketches, names, sample chapters...
you name it! I put that aspect of my personality into Lewis's
character.
I
definitely was not the loyal Sam-friend, although I wish I could have
been! I've always been a bit too self-centered to be a Sam. But I had a
Sam-friend, who is still one of my closest friends today. Even when I
grew exasperated with her and did mean-ish things to her so I could go
off and have "me time," she never gave up on me. And she always saw
(sees) the good in everyone. That combination of loyalty, optimism, and
overall goodness is so rare. I knew I had to write in a character
like Sam who had those same traits. A Darcy needs a Sam. (And the
parallel in names to Sam in The Lord of the Rings is not entirely unintentional! :) ).
3) Did you make up narks, or are those an across-the-board fantasy creature?
I
made up narks! They are entirely unique, although I tied them loosely
to Tolkiensian elves to give people a frame of reference (I believe I
say in the first book that they are in the elf family, or something like
that). Every successful fantasy series, in my opinion, has to have a
unique fantasy creature that has been created just for that particular
universe. Lewis has his marshwiggles and dufflepuds, Tolkien his
hobbits, and Rowling her house elves. I went with narks, which was a
word I pulled from a form letter at Cedar (apparently a "night nark" is
actually just a counselor who enforces night curfew). I came up with the
concept of having night narks and day narks sharing one body, and the
physical and social characteristics fell into place from there. I was
super nervous about it before the publication of the first book, though,
because I felt that of all the things in the story, the narks were what
could flop the worst. Either people would love them, or people would
think they were terribly cheesy and hate them. Thankfully, some of the
first feedback I got on The Six was that people loved the narks - specifically Yahto Veli. I was relieved!
4) You mentioned teenagers as your target audience. Do you hear from male teenagers about the books? Are they drawn to the battles and strategy?
Yes! Surprisingly, I hear from lots of male teenagers - actually, I hear from lots of males, period! I wasn't sure how The Gateway Chronicles
would be received by boys since it's written around a primary female
protagonist, but the boys who have read it have responded overwhelmingly
positively. Some of my biggest fans are boys, especially boys between
the ages of 11 and 14. After the publication of book 4 (I think), I had
8th-grade boys (who were my students at the time), coming up to me the
next day, bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived and red-nosed, saying things
like, "Thanks a lot, Mrs. B. You made me cry!" or "This is your fault,
you know. Your fault!" It was great. I've also recently had a lot
of grown men reading them and giving me positive feedback. That's blown
me away. I think part of it is that they like the battles and strategy,
but I really think that's only a small part of it at the end of the
day. Some themes are just universal. If you write a story that speaks to
the human condition, you're going to have a crossover story on your
hands.
5) Any tips on where I can look up the names/places?
Baby
name books or generators online, lol. But it's the truth! I have a big
book of baby names that includes names from all around the world with
country of origin, meaning, variations, etc., and I've relied heavily on
that for choosing names with specific meanings I wanted for The Gateway Chronicles
(and all my writing). A Greek translator online would help with many of
the Alitheian names, too, but not all of them! Some of the nark names
incorporate Finnish and Hebrew and Native American languages. If you
ever really are desperate to know what a particular name means, though,
and can't find it online, just shoot me an e-mail at
kbhoyle.author@gmail.com and ask me, and I'll spill the beans. :)
6) Is it tough to switch gears to your teacher-hat?
Yes
and no. At this stage in my career, it's really more about the time
crunch. My writing and teaching career have coincided for about eight
years now, so I know more or less how to balance things. There are times
of the year when, as a teacher, I just have to focus on getting teacher
stuff done, but then there are other times where I have more energy and
it's easier to come home and write for a couple of hours at night. But
because I teach history at a classical school, which means I'm not bound
by a textbook or a curriculum some government suit put together, I
basically get to stand in front of my students and tell stories - true
stories, but stories - all day long. I get to dramatize historical
stories for a bunch of teenagers every day. And I get to read to them
from primary source material that is hundreds of years old, and I get to
talk it out with them, and gnaw through the tough bits, and study them
and their reactions to things... It's kind of fantastic! As an author of
Young Adult material, it feels like the other side of the writing coin,
if that makes sense. I do wish, however, that I just had more time. But
I think we all wish for that! And as Gandalf says, "All we have to
decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
