Where does a story come from?

Where does a story come from?

I often wonder if it is solely out of the author’s imagination or out of their experience? Unless it is a story handed down from previous generations, the answer must in most part be a combination of both imagination and experience. It certainly is in my case.

I think some authors start with a character they are fascinated with, real or imaginary or an event they want to relate. As you may know, Michael Morpurgo is one of my favourite authors and he so often takes an actual event and weaves a story around it.

I always start with a story I want to tell to which I add settings, characters and events – some of which are entirely fictional and some relate to places, people or events that I have either experienced or been told about.

Both Nick North books started with a desire to tell a story with a Christian undertone that dealt with the difficulties that can be inherited down generational lines. As I have written previously this is a topic dear to my heart. In Nick North: Blood Quest Nick deals with a generational curse that has affected his family for many years. Into this I added a section about witchcraft in the Middle Ages. In Nick North: War Zone the story revolves around Leone’s family and a tragedy from the First World War that plays out into the present day.

The next Nick North; still in the writing process will feature the work of SOE in the Second World War though continuing the theme of inherited generational problems.

 

Odette Sansom SOE agent

However there is much more to writing novels than the plot or storyline. You need convincing characters.  I can honestly say that unlike Basil Fawlty based on the real life Torquay hotel owner, Donald Sinclair, my characters are not based on real people.  I tend to have a fictional person in mind for whom I then create a character profile.  

Settings however are another matter. Aston Turnberry is a combination of two villages in Buckinghamshire and the church, central to the story in Nick North: Blood Quest, was based entirely on the church in a village where we used to live. The scarecrow festival in Nick North: War Zone was also placed in that village.

'My' Aston Turnery church

If I don’t have a mental picture of a setting I want to write about or have not experienced it like a First World War battlefield then I pore over pictures till I am confident I can place my story there. In my latest Nick North I needed a picture of a World War Two aircraft used for dropping agents in France that I found via Google.

Events that make up the story and carry it along come from all manner of places. The letters in Granddad’s diary in Nick North: War Zone were based on the letters my Great Uncle wrote to his brother, my grandfather from the Western Front. The scarecrow festival though came from photos that a friend showed me of a festival they had visited. 

One of the events central to the resolution of this story came about in unusual circumstances. It was important that Harry, the soldier terribly wronged in the War, had his name added to his local war memorial in Burradon. I will not divulge why his name was not on the war memorial as that might spoil the story for those who have not yet read the book. 

I got the idea for this small part of my story on, of all places, the bowls green. I was playing bowls and one of the opposition was telling me about a mate of his that was killed in the Suez crisis whose name had been omitted on our local war memorial. He felt so strongly about this that he contacted the Royal British Legion who have now attached a special plaque to the memorial with his friend’s name on it.

 

The actual war memorial. If you look carefully you can just see the plaque on the back panel.

My latest book, due out soon, about trafficking of children into domestic slavery relies on my experiences of visiting Romanian orphanages in the 90’s. I rather hoped my descriptions of life in the orphanages would be out of date but unfortunately, after checking with a Romanian friend and another who regularly visits Romania, the descriptions are still all too accurate.

Nowadays fantasy novels abound and I salute those authors who can create worlds, people, animals and situations that have little connection to 21^st century life on Planet Earth. However my favourite type are those where people from our time and place find themselves in another world such as C S Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia books, John White’s Archives of Anthropos and Victor Kloss’s The Royal Institute of Magic books.

What’s your favourite type of book?

The enduring Beatrix Potter books

Beatrix Potter

This year is the 150^th anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter which is being celebrated in a variety of ways especially by the National Trust who benefitted from her generous bequest of her home, Hill Top and 4000 acres of land in the Lake District. She bought up much of the land to stop unwelcome development and protect the farmland and fells which she loved. By giving the land to the National Trust she has protected it in perpetuity.

However she is mostly remembered for her beautiful children’s books. It is fascinating that these old fashioned, little books full of Victorian and Edwardian morals and values are so enduring. They are still in print over 100 years after being published.  How is it that children today are able to engage with these books?

Children love animal stories from picture books to the exploits of Babe and Magnus Powermouse by Dick King Smith or Joey the War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. The difference is that modern animal stories often focus on the animals having super powers or overcome great odds or beating either villainous animals or humans. 

The delightful Peter Rabbit

This is not so with Beatrix Potter books. Her animals do occasionally outwit humans but the books feature much more animals in human, domestic situations. For instance Mrs Tabitha Twitchit trying and failing to dress up her kittens to look their best for a tea party. Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny getting up to mischief and trouble in Mr McGregor’s garden. The difficulties for Ribby the dog being invited to tea with Duchess the cat who she is certain will offer her mouse pie and all the drama of trying to swap pies.

In addition the settings of Beatrix Potter’s books are far removed from life in 21^st century Britain. No cars, motorways, planes, phones or domestic appliances feature – it is about walking or maybe driving a pony and trap, ranges to cook on and huge chimneys to climb and get lost in. Vegetables are grown or taken from Mr McGregor’s garden and all food is cooked at home. 

Squirrel Nutkin

However the beautiful illustrations of the wonderful characters of Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, the naughty Squirrel Nutkin and the foolish Jemima Puddleduck take you right back to that era. It may be unfamiliar but the frequent and lovely pictures instantly recall that time.  The animals wear appropriate clothes for the early 20^th century and the houses, gardens, streets and villages evoke those days.

However it was Beatrix Potter’s amazing ability to depict emotions in her animals that is fascinating.  Kittens look gleeful and mischievous, rabbits trail their ears in a forlorn manner and Peter Rabbit looks both scared and curious. Even Mr Bunny struts along the wall in an authoritarian way looking for his errant son. No surprise that he whips the cat and rescues Benjamin.

Mr Bunny strutting along the garden wall

Animals of course do not have these emotions but Beatrix Potter portrays them in this way to highlight the morals of her stories. Being good is a virtue and being bad leads either to trouble or punishment. The rude and wayward Squirrel Nutkin loses half his tail. The foolish Jemima Puddleduck nearly comes to a sticky end.  Adult figures are often needed to restore errant children.

The foolish Jemima Puddleduck

Modern animal picture books are so different with their huge colourful, double page spreads and they focus far more on the virtues of being good friends, being helpful, being kind and they often have a good sprinkling of wit and what I call wackiness; unusual drawings or offbeat humour. Children love it. 

Benjamin Bunny wearing Mr McGregor's
tam o shanty

Given all of this, it is surprising that Beatrix Potter books have endured and are still purchased today.  However despite their vintage and the different morals they are accessible. Children today can identify with the animals so when the disobedient Peter Rabbit and his mischievous friend Benjamin Bunny get into trouble children can be a little scared in a safe way. In fact re-reading Peter Rabbit still evokes childhood anxieties of being trapped in a hostile environment with no way home.

The situations may be rather different but children’s behaviour even portrayed by dressed up animals hasn’t changed much. Children are still children, naughty and foolish and though they may no longer be beaten or sent to bed with no tea, children do understand that being naughty should be punished even if the punishment is rather different today.

Mr Bunny taking Benjamin and Peter home after beating them.
Note the forlorn ears!

I suspect that each generation will pass on their love of these little books to the next. They have survived and flourished all through the social changes of the 20^th century so I am confident they will continue for many years to come. I hope so.

My latest book

I am having a short break from writing about Nick North and his exciting adventures whilst I write another book for middle grade readers – those aged 10 – 12.

My latest book is about human trafficking. It is quite a brave and almost shocking topic to write about for children but it is children that are being trafficked every day.

All through Turkey refugees including children from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are being ‘helped’ on their journey by traffickers far more interested in making a quick and exorbitant buck than in ensuring any safety to those risking their lives fleeing from war zones.

I don’t want to go into the rights and wrongs of mass immigration but I cannot help thinking that the European nations need to do far more than just allow these people to trail across Turkey and Europe at the prey of traffickers. Surely it would be better to register and vet migrants in refugee camps and then safely transport them to Western Europe rather than allowing them to make dangerous sea crossings in overloaded and inadequate small boats.

However it is not these traffickers that my story concerns but those who prey on vulnerable girls from impoverished situations in Eastern Europe. My story does not focus on the trade of girls into prostitution but on children trafficked into domestic slavery – a topic more appropriate for this age group.  I chose Eastern Europe rather than Asia where children are forced into factories as I know a little more about Romania than India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. 

Human trafficking is a wicked evil in our day and it is right that our children are exposed to its evils in a safe and suitable story.  Traffickers are vicious thugs who have no regard for human life other than to exploit it either for money or their own wicked aims.

The protagonist in my story is a young girl from a children’s home in Romania conned into domestic slavery because she is naïve and gullible and has no one to look out for her. She gets rescued and the story will have a happy ending. 

My aim is to enlighten pre teens to what is happening and hopefully inspire compassion in this age group for the poor and underprivileged.

Some good news: http://stories.imb.org/eurasia/photos/view/refugee-highway/1