Joan Fallon
Welcome to my web page
  • JOAN FALLON - WELCOME
  • JOAN FALLON'S BLOG
  • AUDIO BOOKS
  • Joan Fallon - ABOUT
  • CITY OF DREAMS- Historical Fiction series
  • Al-Andalus- Historical Fiction Series
  • TRANSLATED BOOKS
  • JOAN FALLON NEWS
  • MAKE CONTACT WITH JOAN FALLON
  • PRIVACY
gtag('config', 'UA-167087790-1');

An interview with JG Harlond about her latest book

29/4/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Good afternoon Jane. Thanks for joining me on my blog to talk about your latest book THE DOOMSONG SWORD.

You are a successful novelist of historical fiction for adults. Why did you suddenly decide to write a fantasy novel for young adults?




Picture
To be honest, there was nothing sudden about it: quite the contrary, in fact. Apart from my historical crime fiction, I also write school text book material for senior schools – middle-grade to pre-university students. Some years ago I planned a re-telling of Norse myths and legends to be used in schools. This was taken up by a publisher and I began the project, but then the financial crisis caught up with the publisher and it was cancelled. By that time, though, I had nearly completed a re-telling of the Sigurd the Dragonslayer legend and had various other stories at different stages. Somewhat annoyed, I stopped writing and put the material into a drawer the way writers do – because you never know when something might come in handy. It was just as well I did, because that Dragonslayer story wouldn’t go away. I can’t say precisely when or even why, but one day I started to write it all over again using a fictitious protagonist called Davor. This, in turn, produced all sorts of problems because the saga goes off at tangents. Trying to create a chronological timeline suitable for a work of modern fiction was more than a challenge. So the story went back in the drawer. But Davor wouldn’t stay quiet. He started nagging me and got quite pushy so I began work on his story properly, which is a new version or an adaptation of part of the Volsung Saga with the famous sword called ‘Doomsong and Truth-teller’ plus the evil dragon. It took a long time to get Davor’s story right, though. I wrote it in three distinct ways, and even then the ‘final’ version went through numerous drafts then hours of harsh editing until it sounded right.

Did you find it more difficult writing for a younger audience?

Well, I knew how to pitch the dialogue, but I made a conscious decision not to over-simplify the prose or narrative to ‘make it easy’. There was no ‘writing down’ whatsoever. ‘Is it more difficult to write for younger readers?’ I would say yes, definitely. Initially I was consciously writing for adolescent boys, but as the story grew so did the scope and nature of potential readers. To be honest, I’d like to think The Doomsong Sword is one of those books – like Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea Trilogy or the Hobbit that appeals to all ages. The main character starts off a lazy adolescent and then gets younger, but he does grow up – I can’t say more because it would give too much away – but it’s not strictly a children’s story.

How important is it for a writer to keep within a certain genre with their writing?

Nowadays fiction authors are advised to find a genre and stick to it, at least until they have written a complete series. That, we are told, is how to get and keep readers. We are also advised to write what we read; and I read all sorts of books. I suppose my sort of fantasy – in this novel anyway – is essentially historical fiction without the facts: the hero, Davor, is abandoned in a Dark Age Scandinavia, and having been to the area where the story opens numerous times, I can assure you that when the clouds threaten or the mists come down anything might happen. In the not too distant past, I was addicted to magical realism, so I suppose there is an element of that in the story, as well. The Doomsong Sword falls into ‘high’ or ‘classical’ fantasy, I suppose, but I wasn’t bothering about that while I was creating the story itself. This genre question is a nuisance, useful for online marketing perhaps, but very limiting for a widely-read author. Margaret Atwood has written books in just about every genre and nobody criticises her for it – to my knowledge.
Are you planning to write any more books for younger readers?
​

Yes. As I’ve said, I have a whole file full of unused material, but this Davor character has places to go and people to meet before I can finish his story. He has some pretty amazing adventures from the old Norse sagas to get through before his story is finally told.

Well that sounds as though we're in for a treat. I for one am looking forward to reading the further adventures of the fearless Davor.

JG Harlond's books can be found on Amazon, other on-line bookshops and, if you're lucky enough to still have one where you live, in high street bookshops. 
​You can find out more about her on her web page 
www.jgharlond.com
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Joan Fallon is a writer and novelist living in Spain.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    Abd Al Rahman III
    Albarino
    Al-Hakam II
    Amy Fitzpatrick
    And Al-Rahman III
    Andalusia
    Ann Victoria Roberts
    Australia
    Autobiography
    Bell Book & Candle
    Biblioteca Nordica
    Biography
    Blitz
    Blog Tour
    Book Clubs
    Books
    Cambados
    Camino De Santiago
    Canterbury Tales
    Cape Torment
    Captain Smith
    Cathedral Of Santiago De Compostela
    Celebrity Books
    Child Migrants
    Christmas
    Compostela
    Cooking
    Cornish Pasties
    Costa Del Sol
    Costa Women
    Crime Thrillers
    Daughters Of Spain
    David Lean's Dedicated Maniac
    DI Paolo Storey
    Editing
    Ernest Hemingway
    FINCA DEL NIÑO
    Frances Di Plino
    Free Kindle Books
    Galicia
    Historical Fiction
    Historical Novel Society
    Holiday Reads
    Http://larosilla.info/
    International Women's Day
    J G Harlond
    Jg Harlond
    Karen Mcmahon
    Literature
    Local Television On Costa Del Sol
    Lorraine Mace
    Madinat Al Zahra
    Madinat Al-Zahra
    Malaga
    Margaret Humphreys
    Memory Keepers Workshop49d8720cd8
    Mijas 340 Television
    Mijas International
    Moors In Spain
    Novels
    Paul Anthony
    Pilgrimage
    Police Anthology
    Publishers
    Publishing Deals
    Punctuation
    Raija Oranen
    Santiago Tales
    Sea Evacuees
    Self Publishing
    Self-publishing
    Spain
    Spanish Civil War
    Spanish Lavender
    St James
    The Chosen Man
    The Empress Emerald
    The Hemingway Project
    The Master's Tale
    The Shining City
    The Way Of St James
    Titanic
    True Story
    Umayyads
    Uncuffed
    Vlad The Inhaler
    World War Ii
    Writing
    Writing Courses
    Writing Holiday
    Writing Workshops

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly