(no subject)

Everyone who commented yesterday said that the Middle Ages is/are/were/oughttobe plural. I did some booksearching to find out when "The Middle Ages is" and "The Middle Ages was" are used together in print, and it's invariably when the direct object is singular. In all other cases (and in some singular cases, too) "Middle Ages" takes a plural. I also found writers who went out of their way to avoid making a decision on this matter...

And that is my grand insight of the day.

Interview: Felicity Pulman

A while back, one of my work experience students interviewed one of her favourite authors, as part of the week's work. It's about time I blogged that interview! The student asked that I not use her name, so here is the interview, sans nom. She interviewed Felicity Pulman, one of my favourite young adult authors. Enjoy!

What was your inspiration for the Janna series?
Why did you follow up that particular inspiration?

I'd been writing the Shalott trilogy and I found I loved writing and thinking about the middle ages. In Shalott: the final journey, Callie brings a child into our own world and asks the Empress Matilda to look after her. So I had to do some research into 'the Anarchy', the civil war between Stephen and Matilda. It was such a treacherous and awful time that I decided to keep it as a setting for the new series. My inspiration came from imagining a young girl who doesn't really know who she is and who loses everything - what would she do? What could she do? The story flowed on from that.

Why did you decide to make it historically accurate?

The Shalott series was set in a legendary 'otherworld', so I was able to use my imagination in creating a quasi-medieval world. But The Janna Mysteries are set in real time in our world and so I needed to make them historically accurate to retain credibility as a writer of historical fiction.

Why did you decide to aim the books at young adults rather than an older or younger age group, or was that just how it turned out?

I enjoy writing about teenagers who are just on the brink of adulthood - as Janna is at the start of the series, aged 16 (although that's actually quite 'old' for medieval time.) The age of the character tends to determine how the book is marketed - in this case as a Y/A novel, but I've received emails from many adults who have also enjoyed reading the series.

(Not necessarily relevant to the Janna books) How do you feel when someone else edits your work and you get it back?

It depends on who is doing the editing & providing the feedback, and whether or not I trust their judgment! It can be quite confronting having someone question what you've written, put red lines through it and, sometimes, suggest you do something quite different. On one occasion (writing the last Shalott novel) I pretty much had to start again from scratch - that was very difficult! After several weeks of stomping around muttering 'I can't do this', I finally sat down and gave it a go - and it was a MUCH better book because of it. I only did it because I trusted the very good editor at Random House - and she was right. If I feel very strongly about something (as has happened with my latest book, A Ring Through Time, due out next year) I'll argue my point. On this particular occasion I got my way, but I did go along with all their other suggestions. I constantly remind myself that while my story may be very clear in my head, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's clear to a reader - and that's why you need an editor!

You can find more about Flick and her books on her website.