Creativity Friday: Interview and giveaway with author Mary Sharratt, author of Daughters of the Witching Hill

This Creativity Friday, I am fortunate to have acclaimed author Mary Sharratt as my guest. Mary’s novel DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL was recently released to a bouquet of glowing praise included a coveted starred review from Publisher’s Weekly. I’ll be posting a review of it soon. Short version: DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL is a spell-binding novel, rich and evocative and very moving. Frankly, it’s one of the best books I’ve read in some time. As I read it, I found myself tearing up at the beauty of her writing as well as at the unrelenting hardness of her main characters’ lives.

DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL is Mary’s fourth novel. She is a writer who traffics in myth and magic and folklore — in other words, the manna of my existence. DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL is set during the infamous Pendle witch trials of 1612. It reveals the true story of Bess Southerns, aka Old Demdike, cunning woman, healer and the most notorious of the Pendle witches, and of Alizon Device, her granddaughter, struggling to come to terms with her family’s troubling legacy. Last month, I was thrilled to host a reading for Mary during her and Jos’s recent visit to New York City — we had a wonderful time. (BTW, the reading is available to watch here as part of our ongoing Authors at the Gallery series.)

In this interview, Mary generously shares with us her experience writing DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL —a process inspired by the Lancashire area in which she lives with her husband Jos and horse Boushka: the story of the Pendle Witches unfolded almost literally in her backyard. She also offers wonderful advice for aspiring authors.

More good news: we’re giving away a copy of DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL to one lucky blog commentor. Details at the end of this post. You can also read an excerpt from the novel here; there’s also a wonderful YouTube video featuring Mary and her horse here.

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Kris Waldherr: DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL offers a revisionist version of the Pendle witch trials. I know you spent a lot of time researching and examining the original documents from the trial. How close is your novel to history? How much was invented? Was there any plot point which you changed for the sake of creating a stronger book?

Mary Sharratt: All the major characters and events in this novel are drawn from the primary source material, The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster, court clerk Thomas Potts’s account of the 1612 Lancashire Witch Trials. I also drew on recent scholarship on historical cunning folk and witches in Early Modern Britain, and on the sweeping social changes emerging from the Reformation. Owen Davies’s Popular Magic: Cunning-folk in English History, Emma Wilby’s Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits, Ronald Hutton’s The Rise and Fall of Merry England, and Eamon Duffy’s The Stripping of the Altars were huge inspirations to me. All the charms and spells mentioned in the book are based on documented Lancashire folk magic, taken either from the primary source material or from John Harland and T.T. Wilkinson’s book Lancashire Folklore.

I remained as true to history as I could while trying to craft a dramatic plot structure. But I have taken some fictional liberties. There were so many different Nutter families involved in the story, that I had to change the surnames of all but accused witch Alice Nutter’s immediate family to avoid confusion. I also had to change some first names since there were so many Annes and Johns and Elizabeths that even I became confused. Perhaps the biggest liberty I took was making Mother Demdike the illegitimate offspring of the Nowell clan—this is pure fiction on my part with no known basis in fact.

KW: Many fiction writers talk about the challenges involved in crafting the right voice for their characters, especially when a novel is written in first person. In DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL I found the individual voices you concocted stunningly evocative and heartbreaking, especially for Bess Southerns, or Mother Demdike. I could really sense her physical limitations, her struggles. What was your process in creating these women of Pendle? Did you struggle with individuating them?

MS: Before the actual writing of the first draft came months of research and note taking while I tried to work out who the narrator would be. After much reflection, I concluded that Mother Demdike was the catalyst, the one whose personality stood out most strongly. As I wrote the first draft, her voice just seemed to emerge organically from the primary source material and even from the land itself, her native land that I walked each day, mulling over her story in my head. Her voice came very clearly as I wrote down the tale. Later I encountered a hitch when her voice suddenly stopped and the writing process stalled. And then Alizon’s younger, more uncertain voice took over and I realized that if Old Mother Demdike started the tale, young Alizon would spin it to its end.

KW: Of these characters, who was easiest to write? Who was your favorite, or that you identified with the most? Why?

MS: Both voices, once I had “found” them, just seemed to flow with a will of their own. I passionately love both women for different reasons. Bess for her indomitable strength and will and love. She is the epitome of a woman whose character was so strong that others found her scary. Alizon was more hesitant, uncertain, and doubtful, and I identified with her uncertainties, her questing for the deeper meaning of all her family had to endure.

KW: These women’s lives are incredibly difficult — toward the beginning of the book, Bess begs for food until she becomes aware of her healing gifts, which brings her a better life for a while. So much of her family’s rise and fall was tied into King James’ obsession with the occult. Did other women (or men) have similar experiences (whether or not they were practicing witchcraft)?

MS: Whether or not common folk had reputations as witches or cunning folk, they had a hard struggle for survival in East Lancashire. One bad harvest could result in famine and starvation.

East Lancashire had long been a poor backwater, never very prosperous as far as agriculture was concerned—the land was better for grazing than for farming. This was why, in the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution was born here. There were many hands and not enough paid work. These common people, struggling to feed their families, provided the cheap labor for the world’s first industrial cotton mills.

KW: Bess has a rather intense relationship with her familiar, a seductive male named Tibb who also appears as a hound. Only she can view and hear him, though. What did you make of Tibb? Did you think he was real? Or a hallucination? What parallels, if any, are there between Bess’s relationship with her familiar and the shaman’s relationship with the spirit world as healers?

MS: Modern people are allowed their skepticism, but for people in Bess’s era, the spirit world seemed very near—an active presence in daily life. Tibb was real indeed, as far as Bess was concerned.

In traditional English folk magic, no cunning man or cunning woman could work their charms without the aid of their familiar spirit—they needed this otherworldly ally to make things happen. Emma Wilby’s book, Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits, is a comprehensive scholarly study of cunning folk in Early Modern Britain and their perceived relationship with their familiar spirits. She has drawn some interesting parallels between cunning folk and shamans in tribal societies, and has even compared a cunning person’s life-long relationship with their familiar spirit to that of Siberian shamans’ relationships with their spirit wives or spirit husbands. The spirit was generally, but not always, the opposite gender of the spirit worker, and the familiar spirit often appeared in a very intimate, seductive guise.

Wilby also links the belief in familiar spirits to the Fairy Faith, the lingering belief in fairies and elves that existed alongside Christianity. This connection was also noted by scholars in the Early Modern Period. In his 1677 book, The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, Lancashire author John Webster mentions a local cunning man who claimed that his familiar spirit was none other than the Queen of Elfhame herself.

KW: You’ve written other novels — THE VANISHING POINT, which was also set in the seventeenth century, THE REAL MINERVA, and SUMMIT AVENUE, which uses fairy tales as part of its structure. How did your process for writing DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL compare to them? Easier or harder? Better or worse?

MS: My goal in writing fiction is to spin tales with much truth in them, hence interweaving my narratives with myth and fairy tale. I once did a storytelling seminar with Hugh Lupton who said that, “Myths are timeless stories and their function is to tell the truth.” SUMMIT AVENUE draws on dark, raw fairy tales mirroring a young woman’s coming of age in early 20th century Saint Paul. THE REAL MINERVA is a female retelling of The Odyssey—in small town Minnesota. The teenage protagonist’s name is Penelope and she is both the one who makes the journey and the one who waits. Set in 17th century Maryland, THE VANISHING POINT, a tale of star-crossed sisters and their quest for love, drew on the lore of the Green Man and the Vanishing People—the fey folk.

DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL was a departure for me because it was based not on folklore intertwined with fiction but on historical events and the lives of real women and men—a tale of heroism and tragedy that unfolded where I now live. My truth-telling mission here was to right ancient wrongs, to allow these unjustly maligned women to speak through me and finally tell their story in their own voices.

KW: Many of the people who read my blog are also writers. What sage advice would you give to them about the creative process of writing a novel? What do you wish you knew then that you know now?

MS: The primary rule of sustaining a career as a writer is that you’re in it for the long term and you won’t get any reward out of it unless you love the process of actually writing. The end result may bring nothing but rejection letters and rewrite after rewrite. You may have to put aside entire manuscripts before you come up with the one that speaks to a larger audience that finally lets you break through into publication. But even then, this is a highly competitive and volatile business. Great books often get mediocre sales for no particular reason. Love what you do and do your best to support other struggling authors. Buy their books and go to their readings. Help create the kind of writing community that will also welcome you when you get your first book published.

KW: Finally, I understand that you’re working on a novel about Hildegard von Bingen. Can you tell us a little about it? How does it compare to writing DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL with its female healers and cunning women? When can we expect to read it?”

MS: My current novel-in-press, KNOW THE WAYS, will reveal the dramatic life of Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Benedictine abbess. She was an incredible character, a polymath who composed an entire corpus of music and wrote books on subjects as diverse as natural science, medicine, and human sexuality—she’s credited as the first person to describe the female orgasm in depth. A mystic and visionary, her prophecies earned her the title Sybil of the Rhine.

Her story arc is amazing. Her parents offered her as a tithe to the Church at the age of eight when she was enclosed—literally walled into a claustrophobic anchorage—with another young girl, Jutta von Sponheim, who probably would be diagnosed with anorexia if she were alive today. Yet Hildegard triumphed to become one of the greatest voices of her age. And she’s not so far removed from my historical witches as people might think. She healed with herbs, crystals, and gemstones, and was guided by visions. I suspect that if she had been born a few centuries later, she might well have been burned as a witch.

I think it will take me another year to finish the novel.

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Thank you, Mary, for an amazing interview! As I mentioned above, Mary has generously given us a copy of DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL to raffle off here. To win it, simply leave a comment by midnight, April 29, 2010.

The rules: Only one comment per person. Book can only be shipped to U.S. or Canadian mailing address. Winner will be chosen at random and announced here April 30 next Friday. Good luck to all!

• Filed under creativity, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, mythic living, studio and gallery | 13 Responses

Out and about in Brooklyn (and a giveaway)

Here is the first iris of the season. I spotted it during my walk to the studio yesterday morning, nested within a small brick-bound pocket garden. Isn’t it glorious! It reminds me of my wonderful mother-in-law, Joyce Iris Miller, now that she’s been gone these past few months.

I offer this beautiful flower in lieu of a proper post this week. I’ve been backed up in the studio — all good, just  bottlenecked with an unending to-do list — as well as waylaid by the particulars of kindergarten registration. Anyone familiar with school-age children in New York City will understand the time and stresses involved, but the final outcome has been well worth it. I’m pleased with the school Thea will attend, an arts-based magnet school within walking distance from our home. An added plus is that she’ll be attending it with a number of friends, some she’s known since she was a baby.

(As a side note, can you believe that Thea is old enough for kindergarten?)

In blog-related news, I have a special treat planned for tomorrow’s Creativity Friday. I’ll be interviewing author Mary Sharratt about her luminous new novel DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL. Mary incorporates history, myth, magic, and folklore into her writing — all the things I love — as well as offers writing advice. Those of you might remember that she stopped by the gallery last month to give a reading, a real treat.

Oh, and there’s a book giveaway involved too! So I hope you’ll stop by. The fun commences at 9 am EST.

PS: We have author Stephanie Cowell’s wonderful reading livestreamed here for her Monet-inspired novel CLAUDE & CAMILLE.

• Filed under be-mused, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, interviews, studio and gallery, the world around me | 4 Responses

Authors at the gallery: Stephanie Cowell

Here in Art and Words land, I’m getting back up to speed in the studio. Thea was off from school last week, which reduced my hours here. There’s so much going on these days: iPad apps, e-books, The Novel (which now has a title), book videos (working on a new one for C. W. Gortner, author of the upcoming THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI) and another delectable piece of news which is too early to reveal.

Let’s just say that I’m impersonating Elastigirl again.

On the gallery front, I’m delighted that author Stephanie Cowell will be visiting us this Friday to give a reading from her highly acclaimed new novel CLAUDE AND CAMILLE. I’m in the midst of reading it right now –  it’s wonderful! The good news is that whether you live in NYC or in places far flung, you can join us. We’ll be livestreaming this event again, just as we did for Mary Sharratt’s reading last month.

Hope to see you here or there! Here are the details:

Friday, April 16, 7 pm
AUTHORS AT THE GALLERY: STEPHANIE COWELL
Book Event and Author Q&A
Free admission. Refreshments provided.

WATCH IT: We’ll be livestreaming this event on April 16 starting at 7: 15 pm. Watch it here.

EXCLUSIVE: Meet bestselling author Stephanie Cowell (MARRYING MOZART) as she presents and signs her new novel CLAUDE & CAMILLE. Monet is one the world’s most esteemed painters, known as one of the founders of the Impressionist movement. But what is known of Monet before he was “Monet,” when he was simply “Claude”—a handsome, obscure, twenty-five-year-old painter, loyal to his friends and in love with an enigmatic upper-class girl? In Stephanie Cowell’s CLAUDE & CAMILLE: A Novel of Monet, she tells the tragic love story of the young, unknown painter and his great muse, Camille Doncieux.

This is the second of a series of book events at Kris Waldherr Art and Words gallery. Our first one was for Mary Sharratt’s DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL. Watch the livestream here.

Advance Praise for CLAUDE & CAMILLE:

“To be swept up by this novel which reveals the man and woman behind–no, in, the waterlily paintings, the seascapes and landscapes, is a heartbreak. The story is lovely, touching, delicately written, and extraordinarily compelling. Read it with a book of Monet’s paintings by your side, and be prepared to marvel, and to weep.”
— SUSAN VREELAND, author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue and Luncheon of the Boating Party

“A convincing narrative about how masterpieces are created and a detailed portrait of a complex couple, Cowell’s novel suggests that a fabulous, if flawed, love is the source of both the beauty and sadness of Monet’s art.”
— Publisher’s Weekly

This event takes place at:
KRIS WALDHERR ART AND WORDS studio-gallery
1501 Newkirk Avenue (entrance on Marlborough Road)
Brooklyn, NY 11226
347-406-5811
B or Q to Newkirk Avenue Station; street parking is available.

• Filed under The Novel, art and words, events, friends and colleagues, studio and gallery, the world around me | No Comments

Reminder: Creative Women’s Networking Salon tomorrow!

And now for something distinctly low tech, compared to the wonders of the iPad….

It’s that time again! Last month, the salon went until 11 pm. I talked so much that I lost my voice, but a great time was had by all.

Friday, April 9, 7-9:30 pm
CREATIVE WOMEN’S NETWORKING SALON
Suggested admission $5. Refreshments provided.

Our third salon! Are you an artist, writer, or creative entrepreneur and practioner? Come out and meet other like-minded women for conversation, inspiration, and wine. At our previous gatherings, we were joined by photographers, crafters, editors, designers, artists, writers, and illustrators.

This event takes place at:

Kris Waldherr Art and Words studio-gallery
1501 Newkirk Avenue (entrance on Marlborough Road, across from the Rite Aid)
347-406-5811
additional directions and info here

• Filed under events, studio and gallery, the world around me | No Comments

iPad on my mind

Here is my iPad, fresh out of its minimal and exceedingly well designed packaging. It arrived Saturday on its first day of release. It’s unlike me to adopt new technology as soon as it’s available — I usually wait for the second or third generation. But in this case, I felt that the iPad was too important for me to wait. First off, as an iPhone developer, I wanted to make certain my apps were operative. Secondly, I suspect this is the first  “real” e-book reader that will be a contender on the publishing market. (Sorry, Kindle, Nook and Sony Reader!)

I must admit to being amazed at how many people have asked me about my experiences with the iPad so far. And I also must admit to enjoying the frisson of attention that came my way whenever I’ve used the iPad in public. It was a lot of fun to pull it out at my local coffeehouse and see the heads swivel in my direction.

Here are some quick thoughts on the iPad so far:

1. I like the iPad very much — it’s very well done. Some have commented on the 1.5 lb weight. At first it felt slightly heavy to me. But now it doesn’t. It feels solid and ergonomic. The size feels right too — not too big, not too small. It’s a pleasure to hold and look at. Screen is gorgeous!

2. My apps work well on the iPad. (Whew!) That written, I do intend to eventually redesign the Goddess Tarot app for the iPad, to take advantage of the larger screen size.

3. As an author, I recognize that digital books are now a permanent part of the publishing landscape. I don’t see them as replacing print books, however — just an extension. As such, the iPad is the only device (to date) that is appropriate for full color, illustrated books. I do plan to develop e-books for the iPad. First up is a digital version of THE BOOK OF GODDESSES. In time I hope to make my backlist of children’s picture books available anew.

4. Related to #3: I do have a Kindle. Alas, I never bonded with it. It just never felt comfortable to me, with that button to click to turn the page, the fugly (no other word for it) design of the device as well as the e-books themselves. There’s only one scenario in which the Kindle outshines the iPad — if you’re reading in direct sunlight, the iPad’s glossy screen is almost impossible to make out, like most laptops.

5. The big “if” to me was the quality of the iPad’s iBook app. I immediately downloaded it, nervous but excited. I must admit to feeling a bit emotional (yes, several tears were shed) the first time I opened the iBooks app. After all, I’ve been a book designer for well over two decades –  in this regard, the iPad is MAJOR. (I’m sure Guttenberg is rolling in his grave at this pronouncement.) The book which comes loaded in the iBooks app is a fully illustrated edition of WINNIE THE POOH. It’s a smart choice for showing off the strengths of the iBooks interface. Plus who doesn’t like WINNIE THE POOH? The illustrations look gorgeous. The type design is lovely, though not as stellar as I’d like to see. That written, compared to the e-books available on Kindle, the iBook e-books feel like gorgeous high end art books!

6. I’m happy to report that, based on my few hours here using the iPad, the iBooks app is deeply immersive for reading — so much better than a Kindle or a computer. The iPad’s strong point as an ebook reader is that it replicates a similar sensory experience where you can “disappear” into a book. The pages actually roll and curve as you “turn” the page.  As mentioned in #5, the book design still needs much refining, but it’s moving in the right direction.

7. For comparison’s sake, I also downloaded the Kindle app for iPad. It’s a much clunkier reading experience, though there’s many more books available via Amazon than from iBooks. But all this will change over time, especially since iBooks have wisely chosen to use the ePub digital book standard, which most digital publishers use. The Kindle format is proprietary to Amazon only.

8. The first book I downloaded was WOLF HALL, which I’ve been dying to read about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn et al. It’s a big, thick book –  one that it would be hard to carry around to read on the subway, for example. So I’m curious how it will hold up on an e-book reader. For example, I can easily imagine reading it in bed — the backlit display means that I can read without an external light source. So say goodbye to reading with a flashlight under the covers!

9. One technical note: The only iPad downside I’ve noticed so far is that it seems less sensitive to picking up wifi signals than my iPhone or laptop. This is hopefully a first generation glitch, not something serious. I’ve read that other users have had this issue too.

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Some people have asked me if I consider the iPad a substitute for a computer. My cut-to-the-chase answer: No. That written, the iPad is so light and portable I can easily imagine using it in the place of my laptop for when I’m out and about — to check my e-mail, or to edit a manuscript. (You can edit and write on the iPad, using Apple’s proprietary Pages application, which is similar to Word.) The iPad is also great for videos; instead of dragging a portable dvd player along to entertain my child during a long plane ride, I can bring the iPad.

The short version is that the iPad is really a device for consumption, rather than creation. And sometimes that’s all you want.

In closing, Farhad Manjoo of Slate recently wrote a round up of the iPad that sums up many of my thoughts. Here’s an excerpt:

So, why would you pay at least $500 for a machine that merely replicates your other gadgets’ functions? Because the iPad is the best media-consumption device ever made. Or, to put it another way, there is no better machine to use on the couch, the bed, or in the bathroom…. The iPad’s killer app is reading. The iPad is especially great for settling in with a book or a long article. Indeed, in nearly all scenarios, the iPad makes a better book-reader than the Kindle. Yes, Apple’s tablet lacks the Kindle’s paperlike E Ink screen, but that’s a feature, not a bug. E Ink e-readers can’t display color images and animation, and they don’t do graphic design. Those elements are critical to the presentation of newspapers, textbooks, magazines, children’s books, and lots of other printed content—all of which the iPad handles beautifully.”

• Filed under art and words, iPhone apps, publishing, the world around me | 13 Responses