Hootcat Hill
A Novel
 |
|
| Buy this book from Amazon > | |
Why I loved writing this book:
Hootcat Hill really started with my son’s obsession with owls. We were doing some research on a project together, and came across the old East Anglian dialect term for a barn owl. It was hootcat, and from then on, the word swished around in my head, nudging me and asking me to do something with it. Then, one morning, I saw a place called Hootcat Hill in my head, and that was the beginning of the novel.
I’d always wanted to write something longer so that I could explore how my characters really ‘ticked’. Lots of writers start off by knowing a start-to-finish outline of the plot, and can therefore write a proper synopsis to send to their publishers. I find that really hard! So I had a vague outline, and just wrote the first 6 chapters, letting the story tell itself as I went along. Unfortunately, after that I really did have to have a synopsis to give to the lovely sales people at Orion! So I concocted one, under protest (though it was very good for me to do it!), with lots of excuses like ‘of course, the plot might decide to do something different in the end’ (Needless to say, it did!) I wrote the last bit of the book in Donegal, Ireland. Kind friends lent me a fabulous cottage at a place called Paradise Pier, right on the edge of Bruckless Bay. I typed away for almost all of one January, looking out at two swans (who I named Aonghas and Caér), with different weather rolling majestically in from the sea every hour. It was a most creative place to be, and I hope I shall be allowed back there to write my next novel.
Linnet, as the Maiden and main character, had a strong voice from the very beginning. She’s quite obstinate, and very often when I wanted her to do something, she refused and went off in another direction entirely. Typical teenager! But, like any mother, I am pleased with and proud of the way she’s turned out in the end. One of the things she has to contend with is terrible bullying at school. This is something I feel incredibly strongly about, having suffered it myself, and having also come across it more recently too in my children’s lives. Obviously, the way Linnet comes to terms with it is unique, but I hope that reading the book might help someone who has been or is being bullied to realise that being different—in looks, or race, or religion, or sexual orientation or character or any other thing that sets people apart—can very often be turned into a strength, just by a shift in your own attitude about how you feel about yourself. Just practicing saying inside ‘I am a good person’, and believing it, can really turn things around. There are lots of great websites to help those who are being bullied, and you can find a collection of the best of them at http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/Page.asp The Anti-Bullying Alliance. It’s important that we all do something, however small, to stop it wherever it rears its hideous head.
As you can see elsewhere on the website, I love fantasy. In Hootcat Hill I wanted to use the concept of fantasy in a different way. Lots of readers are turned off by the swords-and-sorcery type of book, so I chose to write a fantasy book for non-fantasy lovers, set in a world that is nearly this one, but not quite—perhaps it is best described as ‘two worlds over to the left’. I loved the freedom of being able to take bits and pieces of ancient myths and legends from both the Norse and Celtic cultures and mix them up and shake them about till something totally new appeared. I am a terrible magpie for all sorts of weird and wonderful arcane scraps of information, and I was able to use some of them here. It was fun rewriting Malory’s Questing Beast as Gladysant, pink wings and all, and putting in a reference to King Arthur and Guinevere as Artur Mac Uthair and Jennivere, and to William Shakespeare as Shakspear, to point out only a few. Nearly every name in the book has a rational reason for being there—but I’m going to leave my readers to have fun working them all out.
Finally, my editors wanted to know why
the spells in Hootcat Hill are written in Gaelic. Well, it’s
a wonderfully ancient, vibrantly musical language, which originally
comes from Scotland and Ireland. Long ago, Gaelic was commonly
used every day in those countries, but because of historical
events and the spread of English, it has become increasingly
rare to hear it spoken. Luckily, more and more people (especially
in the USA) are beginning to learn the language and get in
touch with their Celtic roots.
I wanted to use it here because of my own Scottish ancestry,
and because I wanted a magical language that was real—and
that sounds great when shouted out loud! So have fun twisting
your tongues with the words—and Slàinte
(or good health)!
You can read Chapter One of Hootcat Hill right now! Just click here
You can read Lucy's interview with 'The Truth About Books' here
You can read Lucy’s interview with Doodled Books here.