JOSHUA GILLINGHAM
  • Welcome
  • About
  • Ten-Tree Saga
    • Book 1: The Gatewatch
    • Book 2: The Everspring
  • Althingi
    • One Will Rise
    • Saga Heroes
    • The Crescent & the Northern Star
    • Ran's Daughters
  • The Dreadcore
  • Writing Blog
  • Contact
  • Welcome
  • About
  • Ten-Tree Saga
    • Book 1: The Gatewatch
    • Book 2: The Everspring
  • Althingi
    • One Will Rise
    • Saga Heroes
    • The Crescent & the Northern Star
    • Ran's Daughters
  • The Dreadcore
  • Writing Blog
  • Contact
Search

Q&A with A.R. Jung

3/17/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Welcome Adrianne! First, a few quick-fire questions: What is your favorite magical creature? If you had to be best friends with any villain who would it be? And what is your preferred beverage while writing? 

​First off, thank you Joshua for putting this together. My favorite magical creature is Al mi’raj from Arabic poetry. It is also known as the Wolpertinger in German mythology, the Jackalope in American myth and the Lepus Cornutus from medieval and early Renaissance times. This creature is a mash-up of various animals and the Al mi’raj specifically is a ferocious hare with one spiral horn protruding from it’s head. It has an immense appetite and can devour living things several times its size.
​
"My favorite magical creature is Al mi’raj from Arabic poetry. It is also known as the Wolpertinger in German mythology, the Jackalope in American myth and the Lepus Cornutus from medieval and early Renaissance times."
​

 I like stories when seemingly weak or underdog characters win in unexpected ways. I’m not particularly religious, but even as a kid I liked the David and Goliath story. Speaking of Goliath- the mythology there is of the Nephilim- the giants who were apparently offspring of demons and humans. That’s interesting. It was when I was a little kid and to me, it probably always will be. I’m a lover of myths that attempt to explain life to believers. There’s a creature from the Ewe tribe of Togo and Ghana called the Adze. The Adze are shape shifting vampires and evolved as a way to warn against the deadly effects of mosquitos and malaria in the region. 

"If I had to be best friends with a villian, I would choose the Fratelli family from Goonies."
​

​If I had to be best friends with a villian, I would choose the Fratelli family from Goonies. They were such a bumbling group of silly meanies. I write Middle Grade and Picture Books, so it follows that I would like this group of greedy criminals from a smash hit kids movie. I especially loved Sloth Fratelli but he was a good guy, wasn’t he?

I drink an unnatural amount of coffee while I write. I recently upgraded to a Keurig after a decade of using the same drip coffee maker. Now, I can have a hot cup - fresh every time I need a bathroom break. It’s kinda funny- I was gifted a box of mixed flavor coffee from my wonderful husband and now I rotate through cinnamon, vermont maple, hazelnut, southern pecan and blueberry vanilla and I love it. 
​
"I drink an unnatural amount of coffee while I write." 
​

I often offer to read rough manuscripts for fantasy fiction and one piece of feedback I often give (and sometimes get!) is that the narrative doesn’t feel ‘real’. How do you manage to connect with your characters and express their thoughts and emotions to readers in an authentic way?
​

​Well, thank you for this question because it implies that I know how to make a character come to life and feel ‘real,’ jumping off the page. I am not sure I always do this. There are times that I’ve reread my work and felt the feelings that the characters are reported to be feeling. I’ve cultivated those moments by writing about something that I have a personal, visceral connection to. Feelings are triggered by sensory experiences and if you can tap into the sensory experiences of your reader and make them feel the feelings that the characters are feeling from the lens of their own visceral life experiences...it becomes real for them. They feel like they “know,” the character. Using the five senses can get you where you need to be quickly. Also using observations about human nature and human behavior can create a connection and give insights into how a character might be feeling. The reader might find themselves thinking “I do that too.” 
​
Many authors branch out from writing to provide other services related to the process of making books as editors, graphic designers, and online forum hosts; I call these ‘writing adjacent’ skills. In addition to your writing, you also design incredible author logos to help writers present their brand effectively. What advice do you have for writers who are thinking of exploring the option of offering services using their ‘writing adjacent’ skills?
​

​I think that writing adjacent services help you to build an author platform. If you are launching a writing career out of obscurity - offering a service can help others get to know who you are and where you sit within the writing community. You can cultivate friendships, readership and writing adjacent customers in this way. When it comes time to enter into the querying trenches, having a following of some kind is important. How important? The blog subscribers, twitter followers or insta numbers as a platform are a mystery to most of us, but a general, strong effort to get your name out there is valuable and it shows. It shows you have staying power and that you are willing to work for your place in the industry. 
​
Picture
Your book The Girl Behind the Magic, is an epic reworking of Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit. What inspired this project and how did you set guidelines between what you would keep from Williams’ classic and what you would make your own? 
​
Thank you for the compliments. My retelling of The Velveteen Rabbit came about because I wanted to attempt to write a backstory to the evolution of the Easter Bunny. Santa Claus gets a new origin story often enough. I just wanted to give the Easter Bunny his due. 
​
"Santa Claus gets a new origin story often enough. I just wanted to give the Easter Bunny his due."
​

​There is an origin story for the bunny in The First Easter Rabbit narrated by Burl Ives from 1976 but I wanted to give my story a classic feel and tie it to another famous rabbit story. I find retellings satisfying because the reader gets to re enter a world they’ve loved before and learn a little bit more about the beloved characters. They get to relive the joy. My version of The Velveteen Rabbit,  The Girl Behind the Magic sticks to Margery Williams’ original and has enough of her story for modern children to receive the wisdom that Williams intended about ‘realness,’ coming from the pure source of love. However adding a few more layers of contrast helps this story come to life in a fresh new way. Also there is a little girl in this story and I think adding little girls to stories that once had boys as the only protagonist is a fresh take too. 
​
"However adding a few more layers of contrast helps this story come to life in a fresh new way. Also there is a little girl in this story and I think adding little girls to stories that once had boys as the only protagonist is a fresh take too. "
​

You are also a writer of short stories and in your lyrical piece The Hope Goblin, a young girl named Isabelle learns to confront a wicked, bullying goblin. The themes of building one’s own self-confidence and self-image are apparent throughout the rollicking tale. On that topic, how do you feel about instructive literature vs. escape fiction? Where is the line for you as a writer between stories that teach and stories that entertain? 
​

​I love escapism as a reader. 

As a writer, I must be true to my roots, and instructive literature comes out in me in earnest. I was an English teacher overseas in the Peace Corps,  Uzbekistan and then also independently in China. I taught 8th grade writing in Texas as well as ESL to adults and kids. If teaching is breaking something down to its simplest components to be able to build- students in tow, a thing to its theoretical completion- this is how I approach most things in life. I am a parent and I utilize those skills. I love to cook and paint abstract pieces and I do graphic design. I use the skill of looking at the building blocks and ingredients to get to a desired result in those areas too. I think this is why I like writing for kids. Simplifying may seem just that...simple...but it’s a lifetime thus far of developing the skill of breaking things down in order to teach it... I think I bring this skill to the table as a writer too.  
​
"Simplifying may seem just that...simple...but it’s a lifetime thus far of developing the
​skill of breaking things down in order to teach it..."
​

You have an impressive compendium of mythological creatures on your website, including the little known fairy pig from the Isle of Man known as the Arkan Sonney. What draws you to these creatures and in what ways have other writers responded to your work on that collection?
​

Picture
The Arkan Sonney
​I love myth and folklore. I think you can learn a lot about a place and its history by looking at the tales they tell. I love to travel and explore cultures and places that seem exotic and so, so different from me and what my experience has been. I have traveled a lot and what I have found is that we are all very much alike. Human emotion, spirit and desire for love and prosperity is common everywhere you go. I like myth and folklore for that reason. We all have similar fears and insecurities too and you find them personified in many of the creatures of myth.  
​
"We all have similar fears and insecurities too and you find them personified in many of the creatures of myth." 
​

​Authors from other countries have contacted me and asked when I am going to do an article on a creature from their culture. I am slowly working through an alphabetical list and so many have said they will be patient until I get to theirs! Others have reached out and thanked me for expanding past what they can find on Wikipedia. I try to cross reference and give examples from several sites so that I am not just replicating what is already easily accessible on the internet. What also seems to be helpful is talking about where the mythological creature has shown up in American pop culture. I find that advertising and product naming ventures pull from International myth and folklore a lot. 
​
"I try to cross reference and give examples from several sites so that I am
not just replicating what is already easily accessible on the internet."
​

What can you tell us about your most recent project? Do you have a few smaller stories on the go or are you working on something big? 
​

​I am currently seeking representation for a #STEM, PB series and am very excited about the process. I have a MG Contemporary Adventure based on Aztec Mythology that I am trying to find a home for as well and am also continually working on short stories and creature articles for my blog. 
​
Last, but not least, where can readers find more of your work and stay up to date on your latest publications?
​

​Thank you, yes, I can be found on Twitter and on my blog - Happy writing everyone! 
​
Find A.R. Jung's adaption of Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit on Amazon: The Girl Behind the Magic. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Joshua Gillingham is an author, editor, and game designer from Vancouver Island, Canada.

    Archives

    September 2024
    May 2023
    April 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018

    Categories

    All
    Ableism
    Algiers
    Archeology
    Arthurian Legend
    Article
    Author Q&A
    Beowulf
    Canadian
    CanLit
    Children's Books
    Colonialism
    Crime
    Crowdfunding
    Dialogue
    Dwarf
    Dwarves
    Editing
    Egyptology
    Experimental
    Falconry
    Fantasy
    Feminism
    Film
    Folktale
    France
    Genre
    Greek
    Heavy Metal
    HEMA
    Hispanic
    History
    Horror
    Hungarian
    Irish
    Journalism
    Kickstarter
    Korean
    Libraries
    Loki
    Microspaces
    Middle Grade
    Myth
    Myths
    Narration
    Norse
    Norsevember
    Podcast
    Poetry
    Publication
    Publishing
    Queer History
    Resiliency
    Review
    Runes
    Russian
    Sci Fi
    Sci-Fi
    Scotland
    Screenwriting
    Sequel
    Serial
    Smithing
    Social Media
    Storytelling
    The Gatewatch
    Thriller
    Translation
    Trees
    TTRPG
    Viking
    Virginia Woolf
    Welsh
    Woodblock Print
    World Building
    Writing Craft
    YA
    Zombies

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Welcome
  • About
  • Ten-Tree Saga
    • Book 1: The Gatewatch
    • Book 2: The Everspring
  • Althingi
    • One Will Rise
    • Saga Heroes
    • The Crescent & the Northern Star
    • Ran's Daughters
  • The Dreadcore
  • Writing Blog
  • Contact