Opening line

Here's a question we discussed at Book Buzz!

What made you open the book with the line 'Go outside and play Mythil?'
I felt that it was a line that most of us could identify with. Have you ever noticed how when adults want to discuss matters that they think children shouldn't hear they think of the most unimaginative ways of asking you to leave the room? The line is also significant to the story on several levels. First, Mythil's worries stem from the fact that he is excluded from such adult conversations and left to imagine the worst. Ironically, sending him out to play, which was meant to shield him from worries, actually led to his first encounter with the yaka and all the problems that follow. Second, as a writer I guess this is a point I wanted to make - a theme, if you like, that runs throughout the book - you can't keep talking down to kids. Sometimes it's best to include them and explain adult issues so that they don't seem so scary. The book explores Mythil's thoughts and feelings as he tries to make sense of the adult world on his own.

Book Buzz

What a truly exhillerating time I had at the British Council last Saturday. A group of keen young readers and writers (two of them Young Commonwealth Essay Competition winners) asked me a host of intriguing questions about writing and Mythil's Secret and that set off a lively discussion on what interests them as readers.

Over the next few weeks I will try and answer their questions here. But for now I will just say how thrilled I am that many of them were so serious about being writers. I wonder how many other youngsters share this ambition? Best wishes to all of them! Whatever type of writer they eventually become, I certainly hope they will take time to write a few stories for Sri Lankan children.

And of course many thanks to the British Council for organising this Book Buzz!

For kids or grow-ups?

I've been asked whether Mythil's Secret is for children or adults. Well I wrote it for the pre- to early teen age group because when I was that age I couldn't find any English language books that I could really relate to.  Of course there were fantastic books set in Middle Earth or Narnia or England or America... but hardly any set in Sri Lanka for young Sri Lankan readers.

If you are a frequent reader of these types of books you'll know that books written for older children often appeal to adults too. The first three Harry Potter books for instance, or the Hobbit, or so many of Jacquelin Wilson's books. They deal with adult themes because children of that age are aware of them. So many of the books talk about grown up issues but deal with them from the view of a child. This doesn't mean the stories have to be simplistic or watered down.

I think that if you've written a book for older children and you find that adults also enjoy it... then maybe, just maybe your younger audience will get hooked on it too!

At least that's what I think - and I'm no expert.

Peter Pan

J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan was one of my favourite stories.

Apart from the magic and wonder of it all - which you never really forget - what I like most about it now is the ticking crocodile. In the world of the-boy-who-refused-to-grow-up and Wendy and the lost boys, Hook was the one adult who made their lives miserable. How ironic that Time (in the form of a crocodile with a clock in it) should keep snapping at his heels and finally be the end of that deliciously dastardly pirate. 

A much gentler, invisible version of time turns Wendy into an adult. But in her place there is always another child, a daughter or a granddaughter, ever ready to travel with Peter to his world: 'second to the right and straight on till morning'!

Ukranian Folktales

I was talking to a friend the other day about a big book of Ukranian folktales I used to enjoy reading as a child. Wouldn't you know it - most of the stories are available on the internet! Including the same pictures that were in my book!

Here's a link to one of my favourites - I even remembered the name of it from my childhood. It's called Telesik Little-stick.

I remember many of the stories featuring snakes and dragons. In this story snake and dragon are used interchangeably! Strange!

Image courtesy of: 4to40.com

The reader's hook

What keeps you hooked on a book?

Original storyline
Interesting characters
Fast-paced plot
A good ending

Have I missed anything?

I also think that the plot and characters should be 'real' no matter how surreal their world is. Does this make sense?

Modern vampires

Vampire stories are on the rise - to state the obvious. The Twilight series (books and now films), and Vampire Diaries and Supernatural - two TV dramas that I've been following on DVD.

Why is not so easy to answer - one theory is that identifying with 'undead' vampires helps people temporarily escape their fear of death. Immortality is a subject that the vampires wrestle with. But in the Vampire Diaries particularly you'd think that 145 years would have made these creatures a little wiser than they appear to be!

Whatever the reason for their rise in popularity it's interesting to compare these modern vampires with their mythical ancestors.

What's common to all three stories is that the vampires are likened to addicts. Every minute of every day the 'good' vampires have to resist the temptation to drink human blood. And none of these vampires turn into bats. In fact that legend apparently got included after the 'discovery' of blood-drinking bats in South America.

The vampires that appear in Supernatural seem to be the closest to the old legends - perhaps that's because vampires are peripheral to this TV series and the writers weren't too interested in presenting them any other way. The creatures usually hunt by night. If you're bitten by a vampire you become one.

In Twilight the vampires are beautiful to look at and their skin shines like diamonds in the sun, but sunlight itself does not harm them. Their bodies are as cold and hard as granite and they have pale skin. They are almost indestructible. In these stories too all it takes is a single vampire bite - the venom takes three painful days to turn the victim into a vampire.

In Vampire Diaries the vampires have to wear a magical ring to avoid getting burnt by sunlight. But none of the usual things like, garlic or holy water adversely affect a vampire - only a herb 'vervain'. Becoming a vampire is more complicated though. A single bite isn't enough. I won't say more on that. One interesting folkloric element this series retains is the fact that a vampire cannot enter a house unless it is invited inside. So... be careful who you bring home?