Writer's Notebook - Children of Morwena

Welcome readers and writers of any age who love narrative. These are small samples of the ways in which this novel can be used as a tool for teachers and learners.

Firstly – a few ideas on the techniques used by writers.
Secondly - a suggestion for using the subject matter of the book to generate further ideas and to encourage a creative approach through the act of writing.

These and similar activities based on Children of Morwena work well with gifted upper primary students; secondary students; beginner fiction writers (adult and post secondary students); and as a stimulus for writer groups.

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Inside Information for Readers (and Hints for Writers)

The title: Morwena – meaning wave.
Morwena refers to a myth about the founding of a city. She is the mother wave whose children were washed up on her shore.  She is the giver and taker of life.

The blurb on the back of the book will give you an idea of the story: when Morwena is washed away by a tidal wave in the aftermath of a single strike against Westland, Leila is separated from her siblings, Andre and Bonnie. In time we learn the fate of all three along with their cousins and other children and teenagers who are evacuated from the city.

Point of View

Why a first person narrative?

I wanted the intimacy of this kind of voice in a story in which the inner life is vital to the choices made by the characters caught up in a life and death struggle. It is not so much what happens to each character that drives this story but how he/she responds to those events and how it shapes the person each become.

Who tells the story?

This narration is told by Leila Keiva as a young woman looking back on a two year period. Leila uses information from other characters and witnesses to fill in the gaps in her own knowledge for example in Chapter 12.

Little sister, you had your feather quilt to keep you warm, but no voice, not even the words that said your name…
Bonnie didn’t know she was in a refuge for young children… I would learn this from the woman who had worked in the refuge and from Tyke, the boy we called the Insect Collector...p. 81

Plot and Narrative Structure

The story progresses in linear fashion drawing on the tradition of fairytale which is the frame for quest stories in which a variety of secondary characters (good and bad fairies) either help or hinder the protagonist’s journey of self discovery.

Setting

Why the future and why an imaginary land?

I wanted to draw on my knowledge of landscape, the world and its history without becoming bogged down with the bias of known politics and prejudices which can distract one from the underlying issues.

In creating such a world, I used a familiar landscape which made the setting real for me and then imposed imagined changes both positive and negative. 

Characterization

Each of the central characters takes on a life of his/her own. As writers we do not always know what we do… it is an intuitive process. But one must keep writing for the character to grow. In earlier drafts it is easy to be distracted by a character who is not needed for the purpose of the story.

In this story there is a large cast of secondary characters, each with his/her role.
Alrica, the wolf woman, the Moccasin Maker, the Lady of Ice and others marking the protagonist’s journey can be seen almost as a part of the setting.  Most are symbolic figures that reflect difficulties of young people trying to exist in the adult world which includes people intent on using them for their own gain or gratification.
 
Themes are multiple involving the individual and society as a whole. This is a story about love and belonging- one’s right to have a place in the world.

Writing Exercises

• Search through a name book with names and meanings or find in the relevant section of a good dictionary with a section on names.
• Find a name and a meaning that appeals to you and make up the title for a narrative
• Use the meaning as a stimulus for creating your own narrative with a matching theme that means something to you.  
• Jot down ideas and develop a few main characters who share a common problem based around that theme.
• Write a first person narrative.
• Write a blurb for your narrative without giving away too much of the plot.

Read chapters 1-4
A Family; A City; A Ship, A River.
 
Keeping in mind everything you know about Westland, create a character who is a member of a group other than a Hardy, for example a mud skipper or a night scrounger. Build up a picture of his/her life, looks, interests, manner of speech, attitudes, ambitions, talents and memories.
           
Write an imaginary interview with the character and his group about their lifestyle and attitudes. Present as a feature for a newspaper or magazine or write a narrative from your notes with a beginning, middle and end.