Blood Red Road is written in such a unique dialect. Can you tell us a little bit about the origins of this dialect? And why you decided to write the book as such?
I know that books written in anything other than standard English can be a challenge to readers. Some people can’t see the point of it, others disagree with dialect in books as a matter of principle or just can’t get on with it. I can understand all of these objections. The way some characters speak in this book is not in any way meant to be a specific regional dialect of Canada or the US or, indeed, anywhere else.
My first attempt to write this story used a third person narrator with quotation marks for dialogue, and proper punctuation and sentences. Generally, I’m very much in favour of such things. But the faint whisper of the story that was plaguing me – a girl living in some future time and place searches for her kidnapped brother – remained stubbornly out of earshot, like a fuzzy radio signal. I couldn’t find my way into the story until I found Saba’s voice. I tried one thing, then another, working at it on and off for three years or so. Then, one day, as I stared at my blank screen, she started to talk and I just wrote down what she said. It was the voice of a girl who has spoken with very few people in her life, who is illiterate and has little sense of history or the wider world. She began telling her story, directly, plainly, in her own way, using her own words. I didn’t make the decision, not consciously anyway, to write in dialect. She made it for me.
Whatever you want to call it – dialect or voice - I hope that it gives a rough and tumble, muscular, feel to the book that’s in keeping with the story and the characters. English is a robust, constantly changing, kick-you-in-the-guts kind of language and it’s reasonable to assume that people living out of our time would speak in a different way to us. My exploration of language is modest, to say the least. If you really want to see what can be done with dialect in a future world, read ‘Riddley Walker’ by Russell Hoban.
There are strong family dynamics within Blood Red Road. Were any of the sibling relationships drawn from personal experience? Do you have brothers or sisters?
I have two younger sisters. We have a close relationship now, but when we were growing up there were all the frictions and tensions that you might expect with three strong-willed girls in the same house. I don’t think they’d mind my saying that. We had fairly regular skirmishes punctuated by the odd pitched battle.
The film rights for the book have already been optioned. Who would be your dream cast for the movie?
I don’t have one. I’d like to see young, as-yet undiscovered actors take the lead roles. They’ll need to be lion hearts, bold and strong and fearless. For the rest, there are so many wonderful character actors of all nationalities that any casting agent would be spoiled for choice.
Who are some of your literary influences? Current and those you enjoyed reading when you were a teen?
My first and greatest literary influence is the movie of ‘The Wizard of Oz’. As far as books go, I was an early, undiscriminating reader and haunted both my local and school libraries. I was hungry for books, I devoured them. Libraries provided boundless food for my imagination, shelves full of ideas and thoughts and possibilities. I’d quite like to be buried in a library, there among the stacks. ‘The Secret Garden’ and ‘Treasure Island’ were early favourites, which I still love. When I was growing up, there wasn’t much in the way of teen fiction so, from children’s classics, I went straight on to the great 19th century story tellers - the Brontes, Dickens, Eliot and so on. My reading material was never vetted. As a consequence, I read many books that might be considered inappropriate for my age, but it did me no harm at all. Quite the contrary, in fact. I still read widely, but on my bedside table at the moment are Raymond Chandler and Lee Child.
Why do you think post apocalyptic fiction has become so popular with teens these days?
My teenage years were coloured by Cold War paranoia and propaganda and the spectre of imminent nuclear catastrophe and I spent sleepless nights worrying about it all. Young people today will have to deal with the problems caused by climate change and an over-populated planet. They’re going to have to be resourceful, cooperative, imaginative, humane and innovative. They are and will be all of these things, but big challenges lie ahead. Philip Pullman says that, ‘stories entertain and teach. They help us both enjoy life and endure it. After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world. Without stories, we wouldn’t be human beings at all.’ I think that might be why teenagers are reading these books.
Can you tell us anything about your next book?
Not much, I’m afraid. I’ve just finished the first draft, so I’m only beginning to understand what it might be about. But it’s a direct continuation of the story started in Blood Red Road.
Photograph © www.benjaminharte.co.uk
A Q&A with Moira Young, author of Dust Lands: Blood Red Road
