Chatting with J.S. Dunn author of ‘Bending the Boyne.’
Today, I’m delighted to be chatting to J.S Dunn, author of ‘Bending the Boyne.’
Could you tell me what types of books do you like to read?
Mostly nonfiction: history, biography, narrative (ex: Tony Horwitz’ Confederates In The Attic), and, humor (like Round Ireland With A Fridge). I do constantly read archaeology monographs and journal articles to stay bang-on with that field. For pleasure, I turn to good historical fiction.
Your book ‘Bending the Boyne’ is about a period which is not often written about, the beginning of the Bronze Age in Ireland. What made you decide to write about this time and this place?
The striking megaliths of Ireland, Wales, and Orkney inspired this novel. No one had written about the great Boyne passage mounds. Bru na Boinn is a UN Heritage site that has had hundreds of thousands of visitors, and is older than the Pyramids and Stonehenge. The story explores why the mounds fell into disuse around 2200 BCE with the coming of metallurgy: Ireland’s first gold rush. The title is a metaphor for change, the early Bronze Age change in Ireland. 
Tell us how you research.
With a microscope! —Figuratively. For Bending The Boyne, I read a great deal of archaeology, stronomy, and some archaeogenetics. I use academic sites and search engines. The website www.jsdunnbooks.com has a bibliography. In addition to the source material in archaeology, I glean bits of what might refer to prehistoric Ireland from the myths, which are Western Europe’s most ancient. This approach can be quite useful. Archaeologist Wm O’Brien used the bit referring to a Lake Of Many Hammers in Irish myth about the ancient smith Lein, to find and excavate the Isles’ oldest copper mine in county Kerry. His find was quite the coup. 
Do you plot your stories or do you have a looser approach?
Have the bones of the story in mind when I begin a project, including the ending. The characters get some free rein after that to drive the story.
What would be a typical writing day for you? Do you have set times, spaces, routines or rituals?
There isn’t a typical day–some days it is an hour or two. At other times, I might be away with the fairies writing over two or three days, eating only yogurt and soup and ice cream and really cranking it out. Sweet oblivion, that’s the best.
Tell us a little about your favourite characters in the novel.
Both protagonists, Boann and Cian, for being gutsy and foresighted and, unlike many modern celebrity and hero types, for being able to delay personal gratification for a higher purpose. Bending The Boyne is definitely not a romance with obligatory happy ending.
You frame your novel with chapters from the present day. Can you say more about your reasons for doing this.
It was hoped the bookends of Prologue and Epilogue would transition the modern reader into the remote setting and after the journey would provide closure. The sole fantasy element occurs in the final pages and with a big nod to Flann O’Brien. 
If you were to give advice to someone thinking of writing a novel what would it be?
Never give up! The research for this novel took ten years; of course I enjoyed many, many travels along Atlantic coasts and the residence in Ireland during that decade.
What is your next writing project?
The second novel is painfully coming forth, set later at 1600 BCE or roughly mid-Bronze Age. A third novel idea percolates now as well. So many books, so little time!
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Thanks very much for chatting with me and good luck with your second novel.
Here are some links for you to find out more about the author:
Recent author appearances:
iBAM! 2012, Chicago (USA); History Festival Of Ireland, June 2013 (Ireland); Historical Novel Society June 2013 (USA).
Links:
http://www.jsdunnbooks.com/ —website with Bronze Age info for readers
https://www.facebook.com/BendingTheBoyne — FB page used as a blog
Where to buy in print, ereader, and audio.
USA: Amazon.com, B&N sites; also trade distribution at bookstores.
Ireland and nonUSA: http://www.irishbooksdirect.ie/ ; also Amazon.co.uk;
and Kobo, Sony.
The pictures were from Michael Fox of Boyne Valley Tours.
By the way, if you’d like to have a look at Gordon Doherty’s interview of yours truly, why don’t you head across to his blog: http://www.gordondoherty.co.uk/writeblog
Have a great weekend.
