In the Labyrinth

When the Tortoise and Then the Hare Sit Down to Write

When it comes to writing novels, I am tortoise. At least with the first half, and there is something thrilling about the second half, like sliding down a long snowy hill, or as in below, leaping off the top step. I am still the tortoise right now. 

For assistance, I return to a 1968 Paris Review interview with the great Canadian author Robertson Davies where he describes his writing process, a laborious and methodical investigation long before the narrative is written. 

"I am at the moment winding up to write another novel, and when I say “winding up” I mean I am making notes and plans and perpetually building up what I will eventually write; that is the way I work. I make very, very careful plans and a great many notes—so many notes indeed that sometimes they are as long or longer than the eventual book. And sketches of characters and suggestions and references to things that will be useful. All that takes a long time. Getting to work on a new novel is a dismal business, for the beginnings never seem to get any easier with the passing of time. I toil like a swimmer who feels himself about to sink beneath the waves at any moment. Like all my novels, this one began with quite a simple idea, but as I work on it a mass of complexities assert themselves, and I have to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by extraneous detail. But then—at least the way I work—when you begin to write, you can write quite briskly because you have done all the preparatory work beforehand. I hope it turns out well. But with novels, like cakes, you never know. Even when I finish a book, I’m never sure whether it is good or rubbish."

So, I will making furious notes, plotting, character studies, and the rest -- and I pray the cake will hold. And that will be good. And can I just add, that I love even more that Davies used a food analogy -- another habit of my family when talking about literature that is close to my heart. 

The wonderful illustration is by Guillaume Ospital and you can more of his terrific work at Cake or Death website. 

A Moment With Sweeney Astray and The Stags

"Those unharnessed runners
from glen to glen!
Nobody tames
that royal blood,

each one aloof
on its rightful summit,
antlered, watchful.
Imagine them,

the stag of high Slieve Felim,
the stag of the steep Fews,
the stag of Duhallow, the stag of Orrey,
the fierce stag of Killarney..."

 

From Sweeney Astray a version from the Irish by Seamus Heaney

Art: Illustrated Manuscript: Gaston Phoebus, Le Livre de la chasse (Paris, ca. 1407)

Hannah's Garden Available in Kindle Edition

Feeling very excited to see the first of my revised novels about to go live in a Kindle Edition. It has been a long journey for me (with more than enough road blocks and frustrations along the way) but joyful too as my dream starts to come true. You can find the kindle edition of the young adult novel here. 

 

 

Book Blurb: Seventeen-year-old Cassie Brittman was thrilled to be playing the violin solo in the Rose Bay Youth symphony. But that changed with a phone call informing her mother Anne that Cassie's grandfather, Daniel Brittman, a painter living in Northern Wisconsin, was gravely ill. Cassie, Anne, and Gunnar, Anne's new boyfriend, quickly set out for the Brittman farm. On their arrival, they discover the farmhouse and great-aunt Anna's gardens have been ravaged by looters. Darkness hangs over the farm, and ghostly forms waver at the edge of the forest. Soon, Cassie can't shake the feeling that they are being stalked by wild creatures or something much more dangerous.

Book Reviews for Hannah’s Garden

“A mystical spiral garden that is also a gateway to another world blooms at the center of Snyder's tightly woven fantasy, a potent blend of faery and family conflicts…Thanks to Snyder's gift for description, readers may feel as if they can hear the music or smell the fragrance of the garden's rare woodland species; the audience will be hooked.” Publisher’s Weekly

“Like the tales Cassie remembers her mother telling, this is “filled with wonderment and botany,” as well as music, deep relationships between generations, and complex, evocative magic-working.” Kirkus Reviews

“Inventive, beautifully written…Snyder’s use of language is especially poetic in describing nature, including the farm’s flora and fauna and the magical creatures of the Green Clan…a satisfying mix of real life problems and lovingly described magic.” School Library Journal

“Compelling…This has a power and depth that makes it good for contemporary fantasy of all ages. Locus”

To Hell With Social Distancing...Can We Celebrate How To Be Close Again?

A few photographs have surfaced of my grandfather, Pierre Menager's work. I am always charmed by his informal paintings...they have so life in them, and so little social distancing. A barn dance and a wedding...They make me happy these dark days. 

And another favorite to hell with social distancing moment from "Stray Dog" directed by Akira Kurosawa. A muggy summer, a thief who steals a young officer's gun, a chase, and this scene where a troop of burlesque dancers, exit the stage and throw themselves on the ground backstage in a heaving, sweating jumble.

And these romantic lovers, kissing snails publicly defying social distancing then and now....I found these guys on my morning walk near the lagoon...so romantic!

Notes, References From Janet Smarr's Italian Renaissance Tales

This is a terrific collection, short enough to read all of the stories which range from tragic ("The Duchess of Malta") to naughty, bawdy, and full of fools. These are selections taken from historical collections that span 1300s -- 1600s. Since my interest lies in the 1500s --most of these notes and references are from collections from those years. 

Luigi Da Porto(1485--1529) Sometimes the writer's introduction to the story is more interesting than the story itself. He writes of being a young man, a soldier at arms who rode with an archer named Peregrino, a man much older than him, and who chastised the soldier for his misery in love.

"Do you want always to live your life in melancholy because a cruel beauty with feigned demonstrations cares little for you? And though I often speak contrary to what I do, yet because it is easier to give advice than to follow it, I will tell you, my captain, not only is it unbecoming for you who are in the army to spend a long time in the prison of Love, but also so wretched are almost all ends to which Love leads that it is perilous to follow him. And in witness of this, if it should please you, I could tell you a story that happened in my city (Verona) ... in which you will hear how two noble lovers were led to a wretched and pitiful death." 

Peregrino then recounts one of the many popular versions of Romeo and Juliette. 

Giovan Francesco Straparola da Caravaggio (148-1558)  As part of his collection he establishes a frame story for the storytelling that goes on within it -- a very Italian conceit I think as so many collectors and re-tellers of popular folktales and romantic stories perhaps found it more engaging for a literate class even though it is seen a divertente (a pleasant diversion). Here a group of noble men and women gather at the Venetian Palace of Ottaviano over thirteen nights during Carnivale to entertain each other with stories. (Straparola gives a long introduction to the principals at this gathering, establishing that while the tales have their rugged and at time vulgar characteristics, they are elevated by the splendor of the palace surroundings and the status of the participants sharing the tales. ( p 159, the list of who is there)

Father Scarpacifico Duped Only Once by Three Rogues, Dupes Them Back Three Times and Lives Happily Ever After With His Nina. One of the best trickster tales in the book, when a trio of rogues succeed in tricking Scapacifico, his revenge-tricks are outrageous and dangerous to the rogues. (Note to self -- What is the joke in trying to trick Scarpacifico into believing his mule is an ass? This must be a common ploy elsewhere but how is it funny? ) He in turns manages to convince them that a his goat understands when the priest tells it to take home the food his has purchased and tell Nina to cook a feats. He invites the rogues home for the meal, which Nina cooks (understanding the ruse.) The rogues pay a small fortune to buy the goat and of course it doesn't go as they thought and are mocked by their wives. The priest then pretends to "kill"  Nina (a bladder of blood under her petticoat) and "revives" her from death by placing a pipe between her buttocks and pretending to blow her back to life. Rogues purchase the pipe and then manage to kill their wives. Several more deceptions occur which pretty much winds up killing all of the rogues. The cleverness of the trickster, the set ups, the stupidity and usually greed of the dupes all make it darkly funny. 

The King's Son who is Born as a Pig, Marries Three Times and Eventually Puts Off His Pig Skin and is A Handsome Young Man: pg 168 (cf Three Sisters -- Battista and Swine Herder transformed into a Boar.) A fascinating rite of passage tale for the prince. Three marriages each with a flaw: the two sister-brides are not interested in love or the prince, due to his hideous form as a pig (he shits the bed regularly for one thing)  but they agree to the marriages for the prestige and wealth of aristocracy. The first two plot to kill him but he can hear their thoughts, so, he  kills them with his tusks. The third daughter is kind, loving and indulges all his piggishness, plus she does not appear to secretly harbor violent ideas in her thoughts. The Pig King tests her and when he is sure of her faithfulness, he finally reveals his true self and removes the skin. He is quite handsome as a human and in short order, the bride becomes pregnant. The Queen is astonished, and the bride finally reveals her husband's secret disguise. The Queen then arranges to spy on him and see this for herself and when she does, she removes and destroys the skin (think monkey girl, et al,) and the young prince is ready to take his place as a man, a husband and a father.  The fairies play a role here too -- putting on the spell, helping take off the spell. They show up whenever there is a need for a change in the status quo -- alternating between creating conflict and assisting when the time is right to resolve it. 

Comments From the Dream World

I woke from an early (really early!) morning dream where Max Fleischer-style cats on a fence were singing "I woke up too early too late." I can't decide if it was meant for my untimely rising, a description of my whole life, or the character I am writing in a new novel. All three sort of fit.

Taiko Haessler: Costa Rican Duendes and Folklore

Many years ago now, my daughter took herself to Costa Rica as a teenager to immerse herself in a Spanish speaking country to learn the language and a place of great beauty -- mountains and ocean. She found it in a small seaside town called Tamarindo (which since those years has become a favorite tourist destination, though back then it was surf shops, local dances halls and miles of white surf. I was writing for an online journal of mythic arts at the time and prevailed upon her to write an article on her experience with Costa Rican popular culture and folklore. She sent us back "When My Hair Was Woven With Duendes," and what a wonderful article it is on the duendes of the rain forest and encounters with magical and sometimes dangerous creatures.

 

"...For weeks I asked Lysia to bring me any storybooks she might have on Costa Rican folklore, mythology, or duendes (faeries). Then, on my last day at the school, she took me aside and quietly suggested that I speak with her after class. Thrilled, I assumed that she had brought a book to loan to me — but what Lysia had in store was not a book. Instead, it was a personal story of her encounter with a creature called La Segua. Sitting in the cool shade of the rancho, the midday sun glistening off the restless sea and white sands, Lysia recalled for me her frightening encounter with Costa Rica's other world..."  Read the article.