Guest Blogger: Satima Flavell
Gillian and I have been writerly friends for many years – probably about a decade. However, she lives in Canberra, our country’s capital, while I am in Perth, a couple of thousand miles away on the coast of Western Australia. Aussies get used to what we like to call ‘the tyranny of distance’. Australia is about the same size as the USA or mainland Europe, but its population is less than 25 million souls, nearly all of them in towns and cities scattered around the coastline like beads on a rather raggedy pearl necklace. So it’s a great treat for writers and fans in this vast country to go to conventions interstate. I’m lucky – I have relatives in Canberra so I have two good reasons to visit the Capital Territory at least once a year, and catch up with Gillian and other write-minded buddies there.
But in between, there is Facebook. Ah, what did we do before Facebook? It’s so easy to stay in touch, have arguments intense discussions on matters literary, and, of course, to bemoan the fact that it’s a/ almost impossible to get published by conventional means and b/ almost impossible to get our sparkling prose in front of people who will enjoy reading it. Gillian and I have both found blogging to be a good way to stay in touch with readers and prospective readers, and we thought it might be nice to meet each other’s fans by doing a blog-swap.
So here I am, to tell you about my first novel, The Dagger of Dresnia. It’s the first book of a high fantasy trilogy, which will tell those of you familiar with Gillian’s work that we are very different kinds of authors! It took me five years to write and another five to get published. I was rescued from starvation in a garret (well, bed-sit actually, but garret sounds more starving writerish) by Satalyte Publishing. I am delighted to find that Gillian has sold her new novel to Satalyte, so now we are stable mates!
The Dagger of Dresnia, book one of The Talismans is unique in several ways, the main one being that my main character, Queen Ellyria, is not a bright young thing but a middle-aged woman, plagued by family troubles, an obnoxious staff member – and a Dark Spirit. There are lots of younger characters, so there is adventure and romance a-plenty (including a few raunchy bedroom encounters) all underpinned by a set of themes that could probably be summed up as ‘the many forms love takes in our lives’ and ‘actions have consequences’. That’s as far as I took my consideration of themes, but it’s a funny fact that writers are often not aware of the themes in their work until they are pointed out by someone else. In my case, ‘someone else’ was Jaki Arthur, Publicity Manager at Hachette. Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to be accepted into a one-day workshop on Marketing Development Skills, facilitated by Ms Arthur at the WA State Library. She insisted that recognition of themes was key, as they can play an important part in promotion. She assured us it should be possible to find at least seven themes, and suggested that this is the magic number for marketing purposes.
To my surprise, I found I could break down my two main themes into nine! Here they are:
• The nature of love in its many forms
• The development of intimacy in different kinds of relationships
• The singularising nature of an unusual talent
• Dealing with the consequences of the decisions we make
• Internal conflict
• Family conflict
• Problem teenagers
• Racial conflict
• The potentially healing power of family ties
Strange, but they were there all the time, hidden by my own failure to seek them out.
Although I’m not a historian, like Gillian, I have an abiding love of, and respect for, the discipline. I studied modern history right through high school and did a year of ancient history at university. In almost any course one takes, there will be some kind of historical component, so I also have at least a nodding relationship with History of Music, History of Art, History of Dance, History of Theatre, History of Literature, even History of Agriculture and History of Astrology … there’s no getting away from history. It is embodied in any subject area one undertakes, and what’s more, it’s where our ancestors live. As a keen family historian, that’s very important to me.
For some reason, I’ve always been drawn to late twelfth century Europe and Britain, and although The Dagger of Dresnia is set in an imaginary kingdom in an imaginary world where elves and dwarves abound, Ellyria’s story is recognisably based in the time of another strong woman, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Ellyria’s life is quite different from that of Eleanor, but they have some similar personal characteristics: determination, pride, conflicting emotions and relationships, wanting the best for their children – in short, all the troubles that beset a woman who has many jobs to do and only one pair of hands with which to do them. And a woman in a powerful position must constantly watch her back. My Ellyria, fortunately, has magic to help her smooth out the rough spots.
Should you feel moved seek out The Dagger of Dresnia, here’s your first port of call:
But in between, there is Facebook. Ah, what did we do before Facebook? It’s so easy to stay in touch, have arguments intense discussions on matters literary, and, of course, to bemoan the fact that it’s a/ almost impossible to get published by conventional means and b/ almost impossible to get our sparkling prose in front of people who will enjoy reading it. Gillian and I have both found blogging to be a good way to stay in touch with readers and prospective readers, and we thought it might be nice to meet each other’s fans by doing a blog-swap.
So here I am, to tell you about my first novel, The Dagger of Dresnia. It’s the first book of a high fantasy trilogy, which will tell those of you familiar with Gillian’s work that we are very different kinds of authors! It took me five years to write and another five to get published. I was rescued from starvation in a garret (well, bed-sit actually, but garret sounds more starving writerish) by Satalyte Publishing. I am delighted to find that Gillian has sold her new novel to Satalyte, so now we are stable mates!
The Dagger of Dresnia, book one of The Talismans is unique in several ways, the main one being that my main character, Queen Ellyria, is not a bright young thing but a middle-aged woman, plagued by family troubles, an obnoxious staff member – and a Dark Spirit. There are lots of younger characters, so there is adventure and romance a-plenty (including a few raunchy bedroom encounters) all underpinned by a set of themes that could probably be summed up as ‘the many forms love takes in our lives’ and ‘actions have consequences’. That’s as far as I took my consideration of themes, but it’s a funny fact that writers are often not aware of the themes in their work until they are pointed out by someone else. In my case, ‘someone else’ was Jaki Arthur, Publicity Manager at Hachette. Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to be accepted into a one-day workshop on Marketing Development Skills, facilitated by Ms Arthur at the WA State Library. She insisted that recognition of themes was key, as they can play an important part in promotion. She assured us it should be possible to find at least seven themes, and suggested that this is the magic number for marketing purposes.
To my surprise, I found I could break down my two main themes into nine! Here they are:
• The nature of love in its many forms
• The development of intimacy in different kinds of relationships
• The singularising nature of an unusual talent
• Dealing with the consequences of the decisions we make
• Internal conflict
• Family conflict
• Problem teenagers
• Racial conflict
• The potentially healing power of family ties
Strange, but they were there all the time, hidden by my own failure to seek them out.
Although I’m not a historian, like Gillian, I have an abiding love of, and respect for, the discipline. I studied modern history right through high school and did a year of ancient history at university. In almost any course one takes, there will be some kind of historical component, so I also have at least a nodding relationship with History of Music, History of Art, History of Dance, History of Theatre, History of Literature, even History of Agriculture and History of Astrology … there’s no getting away from history. It is embodied in any subject area one undertakes, and what’s more, it’s where our ancestors live. As a keen family historian, that’s very important to me.
For some reason, I’ve always been drawn to late twelfth century Europe and Britain, and although The Dagger of Dresnia is set in an imaginary kingdom in an imaginary world where elves and dwarves abound, Ellyria’s story is recognisably based in the time of another strong woman, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Ellyria’s life is quite different from that of Eleanor, but they have some similar personal characteristics: determination, pride, conflicting emotions and relationships, wanting the best for their children – in short, all the troubles that beset a woman who has many jobs to do and only one pair of hands with which to do them. And a woman in a powerful position must constantly watch her back. My Ellyria, fortunately, has magic to help her smooth out the rough spots.
Should you feel moved seek out The Dagger of Dresnia, here’s your first port of call:
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