Influences on The Long Circle
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My parents and elder brother read to me a lot when I was a boy which was the root of my love for stories. From my school days I particularly remember having stories read to my class one afternoon each week. The one book which stands out in memory from that time is Alan Garner's Weirdstone of Brisingamen. This tale has a special quality for me, being set in my home county of Cheshire. You can visit Alderley Edge to see the real setting of this story which weaves fantasy into Arthurian legend.
At the age of 14 I was introduced to Tolkien and avidly read, talked about and day-dreamed of his marvellous world. A little later I read T. H. White's Once and Future King (that man Arthur again) with its wonderful disregard for history, bringing alive the medieval England we all really want as our heritage.
Recently I've discovered the writing of William Morris. The Well at the World's End, published in 1896, is possibly the forerunner of the whole fantasy genre (open to discussion). It takes you on an adventurous journey in an imaginary medieval world in search of eternal youth.
The common thread here is fantasy rooted in actual history or folklore, tales of King Arthur or Robin Hood, but I also love to hear and read about ancient history, anything pre-Conquest. Can there be a greater ripping yarn than the events of 1066? The thousand years which preceded Hastings are full of epic tales from Roman Britain, through the Dark Ages on into the Saxon and Viking eras. King Alfred especially was an inspiration for The Long Circle's principal character Howak, as alone Alfred gathered an army to confront the invaders who threatened to take all England.
As well as enjoying the works of fantasy authors such as David Gemmell and David Eddings, I like to read many other types of novel. Thomas Hardy inspires me for his rich descriptions of landscape and rural life and for the construction and development of a great story. I have also tried to learn from the insightful character portraits of John Steinbeck. Again for landscapes and an eye on the reality of a bye-gone age, James Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans, The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder took me to the last days of the relatively untouched New England and Canada.
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The Long Circle is set in an imaginary country, Teynland, the inspiration for which is the British landscape. I love to go walking in open country, whether in my home county of Cheshire or further north in the Lake District, enjoying low level woodland paths as much as the high fells and tarns. Then of course there is an abundance of good pubs in Cheshire and Cumbria alike, with a variety of local real ales. Generally any country pub serving real ale will do for me and a couple, The Parched Farmer and The Crooked Furrow, feature in my book. Other favourite walking areas of mine are the Yorkshire Dales, Peak District and anywhere in Wales, all within easy reach of my home in Cheshire. The feeling of being on a journey on foot excites me, and if there's a fascinating landscape, encounters with wildlife and perhaps some dramatic weather, then all this stirs up my imagination and pours onto the page when I get home.
As an example, the principal castle in The Long Circle is Thirlanden which is an amalgamation of three places. I grew up in Runcorn and from my bedroom window had a view of the ruined Halton Castle which sits on a low hill overlooking the slow sweep of the river Mersey heading out to the Irish Sea. Further south into Cheshire is Beeston Castle, a Norman construction on a high artificially raised mound, which dominates the flat Cheshire plain. In Cumbria, there's a place called High Raise just north of Langdale Pikes. From here, on a clear day, you have a breath-taking panoramic view of mountains all around you (grid reference 281095 if you want to take a look). These three locations, superimposed and tinkered with a little, gave me Thirlanden.
Another city in my book was influenced by Chester. Lyras is a
walled city set amidst a plain of cultivated land: "The
city walls were now regarded by many as a monument to the past as was the old
keep, now used by King Naethal as a ceremonial hall. As its society prospered
the city had spread its buildings beyond the castle defences, the old ramparts
which had once encompassed the citizens of Lyras were now themselves encircled.
Along with various private dwellings there were markets, craftsmen’s
workshops, animal stockades, auction grounds, warehouses, barns, taverns, a
tournament ground and - unheard of in Teynland - a theatre.
From many parts of Cheshire you can see distant hills, the walls of Chester look out to the Clwydians in North Wales and the Peak District hills are clear from where I work in Knutsford, I often gaze at these during lunchtime walks. Other locations which have fuelled my invention for locations are Alderley Edge, Kinder Scout, the Ridgeway, Delamere Forest, Offa's Dyke and castles anywhere.
Locations are important to me but are enhanced by the company of old friends especially when there’s a pub at the end of the walk or a dinner at somebody’s home and talk round the table as our legs recover from the days hike. It’s all inspiration.
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One of the main problems any fantasy novel faces is the unfamiliarity of names which the reader has to learn and remember, often in complex story lines. There are a lot of characters in my novel and a variety of locations. As well as simply inventing some names which sounded right, Howak and Celtorn for example, some are drawn from the Welsh language. Saethwr means 'archer’ but others are adapted, Lofrud and Caria and drawn from 'llofruddio' meaning ‘to murder’ and 'cariad' meaning ‘darling’ or ‘love’. There are many others which you can find in a Welsh dictionary and hopefully this will encourage you to learn a little of the language of which I believe all people living on these islands should have a knowledge.
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I drew some inspiration from a six week journey around Scandinavia, particularly from some of the Viking sites where daily life has been reconstructed from archaeological evidence. Experiences and observations from this journey and other foreign travels in such diverse places as Mongolia, Jordan, and three months spent sailing in the Pacific, are going to be put to use in The Elusive Invader, the sequel to The Long Circle.
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