blog post 3 - real & imaginary
Where is the novel set – is it a real place?
The Curlew’s Eye is set in the Top End of the Northern Territory, south of Darwin – but not in a real place you could find on a map. I was writing in the landscape where I live, so what I describe – trees on fire, cycads sprouting fluorescent green fronds, fierce thunderstorms and awesome clouds – they’re real. But I’m not using actual places or locations. Where Greta takes you is imaginary, a collage of elements.
Likewise, the small town of Lightstone has very similar features to various rural towns – but it’s not real. As in a dream, we can recognise the likeness of buildings or landmarks, but they’re in the wrong place or have a different shape and colour. Readers might think – I know this place, I know where I am… and then, Whoops! No I don’t! What is this otherworld?
I wanted the sense that you could be driving up the highway, and see a dirt road you’ve never come across before. If you turn onto it, the road will take you to Lightstone and its surrounding bush blocks, and characters waiting to welcome or challenge you. But once you drive out again, the bush will creep across that gap with tropical vines, paperbarks and fig trees. The road you thought was there has vanished!
‘To me it’s a beautiful form of resistance to engage in making fiction for its own glorious power of making up an imaginary world…’ Cate Kennedy, launching The Curlew’s Eye [https://www.karenmantonauthor.com/new-page-1]
cycads rejuvenating after fire; photo by KM
Reflections
Sometimes I wonder if we’re so steeped in memoir and daily news, we’ve forgotten how to read fiction…
Do you think readers try to connect fictional characters and worlds with real places and people in a writer’s life? What do you think is going on there? Do you think it’s a particular interest now (compared to readers in other times) & why?
What do you love about fiction versus non-fiction? Or vice versa?
Do you like a book that relates to your real world on a physical as well as psychological level; or do you prefer to be transported into another realm?