Soaring High

THE SHACK

Plumbing the nature of God is a hazardous adventure but Wm Paul Young has attempted to do this out of his own pain. The results are a book – an allegory which pulls you up smartly.

We were told this was a book not to be missed. The sudden shift from the mundane everyday life of an ordinary father into another realm of understanding is breathtaking. Some plots from Christian authors can be contrived but his writing comes from deep experiences.

Now the problem arises – should I write another episode or say goodbye to my ‘friends’. There was always a hint that Mary didn’t have long to live. I don’t think I want her to die in my books.

My teen novel on the Scilly Isles is nearing completion and it should be going to the printer well before the end of June. I feel I have achieved an improvement in writing since the second book of the trilogy. Now that we are on the third book I have to say a ‘goodbye’ to the characters I have grown to love and nurture. Goff, the central one, was called so to immortalise my uncle, Godfrey Taylor, who went down with his ship in 1940 attempting to bring food to us in England. But for these brave men we might have experienced siege situations.

I was fascinated by the Scilly Isles when we visited in 1981 and 1991. Islands are of interest as closed communities. If I had my way I would have gone again and again. There was no end to the experiences on these islands. Just a few examples: the Scilly divers, active over wrecks in the summer, the Bishop Light, visited in calm seas, the pristine beaches on outer islands, the storm waves at Hell Bay, I have worked on them and more as the novels develop. I suppose my account could be considered history but I feel the Scilly Isles will not alter substantially. They were so pristine. I tried to make my physical account of the islands and their histories as correct as possible. I checked and rechecked by literature which I had collected. Then I imposed an active plot which would appeal to early teens. All characters are pure fiction. Not even Goff resembled my uncle because I hadn’t known him. All I knew was that he was a caring person and my character of Goff was like this. I set up the character of the impulsive Howard for contrast. Others slotted in.

What about the first book? This was at the beginning of my experimentation. The trilogy shows the development of my writing. It occurred to me that people bringing kids to the islands would like to have a little story to illustrate the parts of the islands that they could discover. There was plenty to interest them there. They travelled all over the inhabited islands. So I invented a plot with characters named after members of my mother’s family. This was a sort of lucky dip of names and they appeared in the other novels. Except the chauffeur later, Benson, who seemed to become a very popular character with the readers. He did not appear until the second book and had a heroic personality all of his own. I developed him further. True to form, no one ever hears his first name. The first book was a more thorough description of the islands as they appeared to me then – almost a travel guide for kids.

This is a strange spectrum of disorientated behavoir. our family have experienced the far end. This caused a breakdown in normal family life. i would like to hear from other people who have come up against it and collect information on what really worked. I’d like to hear from people who have found some relief through treatments and people who have theories as to the cause of this condition.

To be fair, I wouldn’t like to suggest a cause for autism. I have a strong leaning toward one theory which i would like to follow up for the sake of babies yet to come. Although in very scientific language which needs explanation in parts – It seems to fit with the background information which I have gathered over the years from conflicting articles. It seems to fit in with my nursing experiences and with the basic biochemistry I learnt in University of Western Australia. For years i have been chasing every scrap of information on human physiology. This theory does fit. This is why the sale of these books (apart from the RSCM one) will go toward relief for families of the autistic.

   When I started writing I was putting on paper what I had learnt about the Scilly Isles. I had contributed to some anthologies before that and had attended Women Writers of Western Australia. Many ideas were aired here but I found, after a while, I became too pressurised to continue. I’ve always enjoyed inventing plots and characters. It was quite easy for me to become fascinated by the Islands. With a degree in Geography in the University of Western Australia the interest grew. In those days the Islands were so pristine…so varied in character… so abounding in wild life. There wasn’t much said about preserving the environment except on the Islands.                                                                                                           

   You can imagine my motives were mixed. I wanted to imortalise my step uncle who had given his life in the war. For this reason I called my hero Goff, (Godfrey when he became a famous doctor).  I took the name of his brother for Howard and there is no likness in this character. Any other names which appear in the tale are purely fictional and resemblances to persons living or dead were coincidental.

   I have got the third of the trilogy, The Golden Eagle Series, prepared and it will be published by my birthday in May. My learning curve is well illustrated by the three books. The Golden Eagle, the first book, was factual on the islands.

   The second shows the crew of the said boat visiting one of the crew who lived in Western Australia. I like the plot of this one. i thought it worked out well. I thought the characterisation could do better.  I called it A song at Rainbow’s End but changed it to The Secret Rainbow. I thought this would appeal to young people as it was a strong anti-drug message.

   The third in the trilogy which I am now combing through, disecting, scrutinising and criticising is The Golden Spiral. I have made a special effort to bring out the strengths and weaknesses of the characters. So now i must get back to work.  Barbara

I start blogging in trepidation. I want to say quite a lot about my writing and how my books grew because it is so important to me. As I progress, so I learn. My first book on the Scilly Isles was written with a very different slant. I was awed by the variety and interest on these islands. I could make a list but I am sure to leave something out. I really envisaged an island guide for children visiting. Just to show them how much there was to be seen. And it grew! In fact to make them follow I devised a small plot. It wasn’t much but it was to keep the interest flowing. Then i thought this is fun. I fell in love with the varied characters. I think I chose too many and had to cut some out in future books. I choose names at random from our ancestors. Perhaps they should have been more up to date. Names do seem to appear having missed a generation. I made two visits to the Islands and collected a lot of information, travelling as far as i could. When the waters were calm we went to the outer islands. We watched the great tankers appear over the horizon and realised they were already on a set course. We watched the Bishop Light sweep across as darkness fell and we returned home tired from days out on quiet beaches. Characters were not developed at that stage, it mostly scenery. Spectacular scenery under and over the waters. We were sampling from all the inhabited islands. Nesting birds had to be protected in places. Just talking about birds brought in the subject of migration from across the Atlantic – a super fete. All this was 25 years ago. History in the making. If you choose to read The Golden Eagle remember it was written in order to get some wonderful islands recorded for children.

   This is quite a new experience. Writing my own blog and just a little intimidating. I shall survive. From the first of February I intend to write once a fortnight mostly about everyday life in Western Australia. Here we come under the postal address of Perth but we are closer to Fremantle and find that an inspiring city just at this time of year. A holiday atmosphere prevails – ships come and go. Sails are hoisted and swimmers take to the water. They say that the warming of the Indian Ocean has attracted sharks – mostly they cruise up the coast in the darker weeds of Guage Roads. A swimmer was killed by a white pointer over the Christmas break diving for crabs and this does not seem to deter folk who swim in the shallows. Sharks are very fond of the waters beyond Garden Island.

We give you Barbara Good, author of books for children and for adults; The Golden Eagle, The Secret Rainbow, The Golden Spiral, Golden Spirit Land, Served with Joy, Slice of Life, and as yet unpublished, Boofie, the Saucy Friend.

Some are books of poetry and some are children’s adventure stories, all have Barbara’s cheery lilt.

In this blog, Barbara will introduce you to her books, and her thoughts on her many varied interests.

Barbara Good, poet and author