David Crystal Interviews Hilary Crystal, Author of the Children's Techno-fantasy Novel, The Memors

David Crystal and Hilary Crystal, UK

David Crystal is patron of IATEFL and author of around 120 books on many aspects of language. Hilary Crystal trained and worked as a speech therapist but, since the 1980s has worked as David's business partner. She is co-author with him of Wordsmiths and Warriors: the English-language tourist's guide to Britain. The Memors is her first novel. Contact: through David Crystal's website, www.davidcrystal.com

DC: Hilary, you've become a children's novelist quite late in life. When did you decide to start writing like this? Was it a sudden decision?

HC: I've always liked the idea of writing, but never tried it in any serious way. The emphasis here is on 'serious', because each year I write an alternative Christmas letter. Yes, it includes a bit of information about the family, but it's mainly taken up with mini-disasters that have occurred during the year: an invasion of ants, a leaky roof, the washing machine packing up - that kind of thing. A couple of recipients said I ought to write a book (probably to stop me writing stupid letters!), but I didn't think that was for me.

I love reading, and had always marvelled at the ingenuity of fiction writers. How on earth do they think of something new to write? Where do the ideas come from? Then, one day - probably when I was meant to be preparing the accounts for a VAT return (not a favourite task) - I found myself gazing at a photo of one of our grandchildren, and the idea for The Memors was born.

DC: I'd describe The Memors as a techno-fantasy novel. Did you have that genre in mind from the start, or was it something that emerged in the writing? Did you have any models in mind?

HC: No, the story was just one that I wanted to tell. Having said that, it didn't end up entirely the way I'd planned. On several occasions the characters took the story in a completely different direction, and although other authors have described exactly that experience, it was a surprise when it happened.

I remember as a child being so immersed in a story I was completely lost to anything going on around me. And it still happens. If the television or radio is on while I'm reading, or someone speaks to me, I've no idea what's been going on. Being interrupted is like being dragged reluctantly from another world. That kind of literary oblivion is a wonderful feeling - for the reader, at least; it might be exasperating for the other person!

My parents encouraged me to read, and I read all sorts: from Enid Blyton, Mary Norton (The Borrowers), Paddington, Kästner's Emil and the Detectives, Streatfeild's books, starting with the wonderful Ballet Shoes, and Alcott's Little Women series to Father Brown and The little world of Don Camillo ... And they stand the test of time - I've dipped into them regularly ever since - they're my literary version of comfort food!

In retrospect, I think Edith Nesbit's series about the Bastable children may well have been an influence, although it's only just occurred to me, and certainly wasn't in my mind when I wrote The Memors. The first I read was The Wouldbegoods, where the children do their best to be good (funnily enough), and fail over and over again. But she also wrote Five children and It, The story of the Amulet, and The Phoenix and the Carpet, where amazing magical things happen. Even as a child you do know they could never happen in real life, but those books, like Harry Potter today, encourage you to think that they just might.

Reading fires the imagination, and advice I've heard again and again is, if you want to write, read.

DC: You’ve written The Memors with a 9-to-12 age-range primarily in mind. I know it could be read by older youngsters - or even by adults - but did you find any particular challenges in writing for that difficult-to-get-at audience?

HC: The Memors is my first attempt at writing a story for any age from child to adult, and I was so new to it that I just wrote the sort of story I think I would like to have read when I was 9+. It did help that my background is in speech therapy, so I have studied child language development - at least, that's my excuse for slipping fairly easily back to the language of childhood!

I did want to make sure that the vocabulary I used was age-appropriate, and I'm lucky to be closely associated with someone who's something of an expert in that field! So ... you checked the book for vocabulary that might be too old for my audience. Then, after we'd had some feedback from a university teacher in Armenia, and her students, all the words and idioms that could be tricky for EL learners abroad were pulled out and turned into a companion glossary. Any words and idioms which don't appear in the list of defining vocabulary at the back of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English were glossed, and that vocabulary was also used for the glosses. I don't think this kind of glossary has been done before for a children's novel, and I’d be interested to hear of any parallels.

Other challenges? I was anxious to try and avoid gender bias in the book. I'm sure girls had their moments in Enid Blyton's adventures, but my overriding memory is of the boys doing the dangerous stuff and the girls (with the possible exception of George) being rescued, and providing a wonderful tea from their rucksacks afterwards. And, even earlier, with the Janet and John young reader books, John got to climb trees and wash cars while Janet stood at the bottom of the tree looking pretty in a smocked dress, and then helped Mummy bake cakes. Nothing wrong with baking cakes, obviously, but I didn't want my female character to be sidelined by the boys - and there's only one of her to two of them, so she had to be strong.

One of the trickier aspects of the writing was avoiding calling the children 'children'. Young people apparently don't like it. I allowed my adult characters to refer to 'children' occasionally, but did my best to find ways around it in the general narrative. And it's not so easy when you're writing a story about three of them!

DC: So will there be a sequel?

HC: I'm not planning a sequel to The Memors, but I am writing another book, and one of my favourite characters, Bob Holpweed, pops up again. In The Memors he's a bumbling, easily led man who just can't help getting into trouble. In my new story, The Mirrinth, he's as accident-prone as ever, but has developed a bit more backbone.

The Mirrinth is another techno-fantasy, and when I look at the piece of technology on which I've based it I think, yes, that might just happen.

Please check the Methodology and Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teaching Advanced Students course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the CLIL for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.