ROSEMARY HAWLEY JARMAN INTERVIEW
with Daniel Blackston, Senior Edition, Pitch-Black
l.(i) What drives your inspiration in fantasy fiction?
When I take the first step into an imagined world, I immediately experience the excitement of a place where people, scenes and happenings arise totally untrammelled from my own brain. This feeling is my 'rocket fuel'. It is my driving force.
Being first of all an historical writer I take satisfaction in inventing cities and customs, religions and politics, feuds and alliances which all have a parallel with actual events but which can be tailored to my own specifications. Yet the outcome is decided not by me but by the characters themselves as they become spontaneously imbued with life. That first step into this world releases me into my own personal reality. It's a complete involvement with something which grows almost organically as it becomes more concrete, more multidimensional, a living entity.
(ii) Where do you find inspiration?
I've never been at ease with the word 'inspiration'. It always seems to conjure some eureka moment when the pen begins to zoom across the pad at top speed (not always a smart move, haste superseding planning). Some great brain, whose name escapes me, once said: "Writing is ten per cent inspiration and ninety per cent perspiration", and I'm inclined to go along with that.
However. My imagination can be triggered by a casual or half forgotten or seemingly incongruous moment, a name, a frame from a movie, a particularly striking or provocative painting, or an anecdote: a friend related how someone driving late one night saw a four-legged animal with a human face cross her path; I incorporated this into a story. Inspiration doesn't come in one great burst, but can be harvested in little sips, each building on to the next. And when this hotchpotch contains the seed of an idea which can be nurtured and shaped into a serviceable narrative, then yes, call it inspiration, although seldom do I go out and look for it, because I do believe one could be looking for ever. Luckily, it just happens.
2. How important do you think prose style is for a novelist?
For any type of literature I believe prose style to be vital. The style is of course dependent on the context. To cite a now unfashionable example: in the noir thrillers set in the 'mean streets' of the 1930s, the sentences were terse, brutal, broken into harsh segments as was the dialogue, to reflect the tough-guy, shadowy settings, narrative and plot structure.
In the other extreme, the historical novel (which incidentally has an absolute synthesis with fantasy) needs a broad brush for a big canvas. In this genre, license to linger over descriptive passages is acceptable. The past is another country, and has to be shown in all its panavisionary glory if one is to do it justice.
The historical novel and the SF/fantasy novel touch at certain points. No one can truly know the fact of yesterday; even the individual memory of recent events varies from person to person; therefore how much more inaccessible are the details of centuries gone? One has to re-invent scenarios, language and, to an extent, characterisations and attitudes. History is laid open to the author's stylistic powers.
By the same token, one is empowered to create a world history in the fantasy genre, and here it is most necessary to write with gravitas. Necessary, because the more outrageously fantastic the ambience, characters and plotline, the more serious and gracious should be the approach to detail and description. Style is paramount whether it be brittle or lush. Building the world of the fantastic should result in something entirely credible where disbelief is happily suspended.
The Bible is perhaps the best style counsel of all, for its example of prose/poetry.
3. What projects are you currently working on?
During the recent publication of my new fantasy THE CAPTAIN'S WITCH, I had already begun a sequel. There was no escape - despite being the begetter I find myself seriously enmeshed in the happenings of my twin, often warring lands: Taratamia (holy) and Karenia (corrupt), and the fate of my hero, the Captain.
Captain Tallis is a cavalry officer in the Taratamian Red Royals Household Guard, quick to defend honour, skilful both in battle and the boudoir. This character, who has up to now all but physically materialised in my workroom, continues to undergo countless hazards and trauma, encountering love and enmity, the forces of purity and darkness, while wielding his Lion Sword against new intrigues and enchantments. All the villains have revived, morphing into even more hideous forms (you can't keep a good demon down), and the several loves of his life continue to support him. Hopefully this sequel (working title: THE CAPTAIN'S WOMEN) will afford scares and pleasures equal to is predecessor.
While writing about the Lion Sword it occurred that I'd never explored the origins of this occult weapon. Was it recovered like Excalibur from a niche, by a chosen one? Concurrently with the sequel I'm working on a short story about the Sword's 'birth' and the warrior worthy enough to liberate it. Possibly titled 'In the First Days of the Lion' I'm learning surprising things. The ruling deities of Taratamia - the Lions - are immensely iconic and actually appeared to me in a dream about twenty years ago. The Lion of Stone, which overlooks and protects the capital city, is modelled on Landseer's lions around Admiral Viscount Nelson's column in London's Trafalgar Square. The lions represent good guardianship and honour and have their own temple and priests. The Sword is their active arm and the Captain is its present custodian, as he epitomises Chaucer's 'parfit gentyl knight'.
4. Where can fans find out more about you and your work?
The most comprehensive place is my own website at: www.rosemaryhawleyjarman.com. Information is available about my historical novels including my first WE SPEAK NO TREASON (Wm.Collins/Little,Brown/Time Warner 1971-2006). It was reissued in two parts by Tempus Publishers, U.K., the fourth edition after its major debut in 1971, and all my other historicals were reissued as well. You may also visit Amazon sites for information, and there is also info in Wikipedia.
5. What have you been reading lately?
I have been totally spellbound by Michel Faber's UNDER THE SKIN (Canongate Publishing 2000). This compelling novel defies categorization. It is fantasy plus; horror/tragedy mingled with cosmic hilarity (I'm sure my neighbours heard my uncontrollable bellowing), and the grimmest possible example of how humanity treats its other half. To say more would be to spoil the jaw-dropping surprises. I've also finished reading a comprehensive biography of Ava Gardner (Lee Server, Bloomsbury 2006). Server wrote a fine biog of Robert Mitchum recently. Goddess Ava was my first favourite. I met her briefly in 1978 just as her health was beginning to fail. She was still beautiful. I'm also reading a classic Stephen King - EYES OF THE DRAGON (New American Library1987). It's an old one but follows the classic 'create your own historical monarchy and legal system' - my own genre - and is written most effectively in a deliberately naïf style and links cleverly with King's famous THE STAND and DARK TOWER series.
6. Who are your favorite fantasy writers?
The legendary Tanith Lee lit my way to fantasy. She is unique. As I wrote in a Foreword to her DREAMS OF DARK AND LIGHT (Arkham House, 1986), ‘she is the Scheherazade of our time’. Astonishingly prolific, every work is intelligent, absolutely original, uncharted, tender, spiritual, sensual, cruel, loving and knowing. Her horizons are infinite, her concepts endless, her prose lyrical.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro – for her wondrous historical horror novels, especially those featuring the gorgeous vampire Count da San Germano as he roves from ancient Rome to Renascence Italy. Dripping with luscious colour and drama, a rare feast, always.
Margaret Atwood – if only for her HANDMAID’S TALE – a literate, dangerously prophetic fantasy of wars and victims.
Anne Rice – for Lestat, but mainly for THE MAYFAIR WITCHES.
Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Marion Zimmer Bradley – the masters, need no puffery, and there are too many stars in the fantasy firmament to mention – Andre Norton, Josepha Sherman, Diana L. Paxson, Deborah Wheeler – the list goes on.
7. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Yes. Be Sure you know what you really want. The many times I’ve heard ‘I’m going to Be A Writer’ (although I’m sure none of you reading this has ever said it). Anyway. It doesn’t really work like that. The following ruminations and opinions are my own humble ones and are entirely subjective because I am passionate about what I do.
Writing is having something to say that just cannot be left unsaid.
‘Writing about what you know’, is spurious advice. It is making the way safer. It shields the writer from the reality of venturing into the unknown. Writing is a wonderful, painful, spiritual and mental accouchement. A true labour, this making something out of nothing and seeing it to be fair – in fact, a miracle.
There are no tricks. No short cuts. You cannot fool the reader. Ever.
Look for the idea inside the most profound place in your psyche, bring it to the light, consider it, and if not one hundred per cent convinced of its viability, toss it and delve for another.
Do not be discouraged. Ever.
Dispense with self, with the thought of awards and admiration. The ego has to be subsumed beneath service to the art. The creative muse is jealous and wants all the attention! Write without thought of publication – it makes for self-consciousness. Write for yourself. If it pleases you, chances are it will please others.
I found humility came to me early on when I realised that writing is a priestly occupation, a calling. King warns: 'Never come lightly to the blank page'. True writers are reverent, solitary, lonesome, and filled with doubts and faith. It is realising one is part of centuries-old traditions in which scribes, bards, skalds and poets laboured to bring forth old tales made gloriously new in the mines of deep intellect. There is nothing new under the sun. But every writer tells it differently.
Creative writing workshops help to a degree, and Writers' Circles with their mild competitiveness are stimulating. However. Au fond, you're on your own, kid.
A smart (if frightening) yardstick to tell whether the gods are home is: write fifty pages as quickly as possible without looking back. Then when you read it through you will know whether your subconscious (another name for the gods) has been busy and that you have the makings of a book. And when the first draft is complete, you have to remember the advice of the great R.T. Plumb (to whom I was lucky enough to be married): -- Cut your script. Cut, cut, and then cut again. Especially your favourite bits. Kill your darlings! There is nothing that cannot be improved by pruning.
Work in progress should remain private. There is always a temptation to show your opus around, but close friends may flatter you and one false criticism can undermine the delicate shoots so that they wither on the tree. We writers are hypersensitive folk, and in a strange way, the magic is shy. I believe that we are privileged to be visited by a gift which surely comes from some mystic other place via our own psyche. It is elusive and loving and sly and rewards us when we homage it. I feel an immense gratitude. I don't reveal my plots in advance. Writers tend to be superstitious and I'm pretty obsessive in this way.
Lastly. Read. Classics. Fine writing. Not to copy slavishly but to assimilate its form by osmosis - the subconscious will eat it up gratefully. Bad writing - to see what to avoid, and to test your own taste buds. Again - the Bible (King James version) is an invaluable template, for its rhythms, poetry, drama. Writing is work. Hard, lonely work. But when after weeks, months, longer, of learning, cutting, revising and polishing, the whole damned puzzle, falls gloriously into place, there's no better feeling in the world.
That sheer burning glory of creativity!
8. How important is research for a fiction writer?
Research is important in any genre. To be taken seriously as a writer, however perfect and honed the style, accuracy of detail must be observed in everything, and while adding verisimilitude, the details should drop into place so softly as to be unobtrusive. If a scenario contains any kind of procedure or discipline - historical, botanical, the occult, adventures in jungle, warfare or desert, star signs, the habits of vampires, take your pick - ideally all narrative should be backed by knowledge. This gives the reader confidence and adds a dimension to the enjoyment. The reader feels safe. It also avoids the reception of letters from readers out to 'put you right on this point'. Years ago I was deeply shamed over a solecism concerning naval matters (I think I had the characters sitting on top of the mainmast), and the ticking-off I received from a retired Rear-Admiral was well deserved. Ever since then, this land-lubber has checked every detail of maritime lore - I could tell you the gun capacity of every ship of the line at Trafalgar.
Research can be fun and an almost supernatural eye-opener. There is something like happenstance, a spontaneous leap across margins where browsing one topic leads to another quite unrelated but precisely desirable for the work in progress. Keeping an eye on dates and lifespans is key. It's daunting to find your hero witnessing scenes long before (or after) his birth or death, and this applies equally to fantasy. The creation of a parallel world with its own origins has to stand up to scrutiny. For THE CAPTAIN'S WITCH I commenced by drawing a closely detailed map which grounded my narrative scope and helped me to visualise the mountain frontier, the two realms, the journeys involved, and the layout of the cities. The most pleasant of all research. I feel I can now follow my Captain on his gold-coloured mare anywhere.
Thank you for visiting this zone. Be lucky.
Rosemary Hawley Jarman