ARP Warden

During World War 2 we had air raid precaution wardens in Ceylon too. They were responsible for ensuring that people in their area knew where to go to if there was an air raid. They were also responsible for setting up first aid centres and ensuring that no lights could be seen on the ground to enemy aircrafts flying overhead at night.

There are many pictures of ARP wardens in England on the internet but none of those from the colonies. I seriously doubt that our ARP wardens wore dark blue overalls. An eye witness who was around 10 at the time remembers them wearing khaki shorts, short-sleeved shirts, wide brimmed hats and shoes with socks up to the knees! And the ARP arm bands of course.

I'll need to do some serious digging to find out.

Second story done!

I've written my next story and sent it off to the publisher!

This doesn't mean of course that we will see it in print any time soon. Assuming it is liked we then start on the long process of editing...

The narration in this book is a lot more complex than that of Mythil's Secret. The story too is a lot darker. So I think this book will be more suited for a readership of 13+ but lets see...

Meeting Mythil

I met a 10-year old called Mythil earlier this month and I was blown away at how strikingly like the character he was! Looks-wise they were almost identical. The Mythil I met also likes reading books and reads fast. He thinks a lot about stories and what goes into them. But there the similarity ends.
Whereas the Mythil in my book is a bit of a loner and an introvert the Mythil I met was a real live wire. He was leading the other boys in a series of experiments on a large fish in a glass tank. I think they were checking the fish's reaction time - much to its owner's dismay!
I think, that faced with the yaka on the tree this Mythil would not have run away. He would have climbed up the tree after the yaka - either chasing it away or cornering it to learn more about it!

How to come up with a title

This was actually very last minute. We suddenly realised there was no title. All this time we'd just been calling the manuscript Mythil. Ameena, the publisher, asked me to think of some good titles and I think I came up with a short list but nothing seemed right.


One was Mythil and the Yakas. But that spoilt the element of surprise - it told you up front that the story would have real yakas in it.

Another was Mythil and the Masked Ones but of course that was far too long and obscure.

Then I hit upon Mythil's Secret. It was short and sweet and was in keeping with the 'mysterious' element of Eranga's fantastic cover design. Ameena loved it. I loved it. And that's how the title came about!

Favourite author/book

I don't have one. I have too many and I'm very fickle when it comes to a favourite author or book. Also I prefer to go by books/stories than authors. Here's a short list off the top of my head (with apologies for misspelling!):

The Hobbit - J R R Tolkien
The Amulet of Samarkand - Jonathan Stroud
Witch Week - Diana Wynne Jones
Spirited Away - Hayao Miyazaki (animated film)
My Friend Totoro - Hayao Miyazaki (animated film)
Clean Break - Jacquelin Wilson
Cold Tom - Sally Prue
Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
Thief Lord - Cornelia Funke
Six Bad Boys - Enid Blyton
Those Dreadful Children - Enid Blyton
Good Night Mr Tom - Michelle Margorian
Just William - Richmal Crompton
Anne of Green Gables - L M Montgomery

Do you write as you go along or plan the story first?

The story unfolds as I write it. So my first chapter was pretty much as I first saw it. Sometimes the ideas come too fast for me to write them out so then I use bullets so that I don't forget and flesh them out later.

The ending took me a long time to figure out. So for ages and ages the story was 3/4s done and it frustrated me no end wondering how the story would conclude.

Chapters

When you've written your story, how do you divide it into chapters?
Well, what I did was to look at places in the story where the reader would just have to turn the page and read on. That's where I put my chapter break because I didn't want people to put the book down for too long once they started reading it.