It’s been two weeks since ‘The Arben Bridge’ was released on Kindle and I am so very grateful for the response so far. Admittedly I am yet to sell millions of copies but those that have read the book and given feedback have been overwhelmingly supportive. I’m currently attempting to format the paperback so hopefully that will be on its way very soon!
I must be honest, trying to think of new ideas for blog posts is something I am struggling with. I want to stay current and interesting as well as promote the book without being super contrived which is really hard! For someone who works in marketing and likes to think they have a way with words, selling myself has never been my forte. However, while scrolling my various social media apps trying to think of a new topic I thought some of you may be interested in how I developed the city of Miraylia as it’s so central to the plot. Don’t worry, there won’t be any spoilers! Firstly, I’d really like to tell you how I came up with the name but I’m afraid I can’t remember! I spent a lot of time putting random bits of words together to make new words and using Google translate to look for these words in other languages, too. Like a lot of the book I tended to just make decisions that felt right to me, which is what made the whole writing experience so enjoyable in all honesty, and one day I said ‘Miraylia’ and it stuck. I also think it looks ‘pretty’ as a word and I struggle to write stories when I’m not absolutely certain that a name fits in with the piece (don’t even get me started on how long it took to name the characters…) Anyway, as the book is a fantasy fiction and somewhat of a tribute to the mythologies of Wales and its language I also wanted something that I felt could fit into this language. Whether Welsh speakers agree or not is another thing! In terms of its look this was surprisingly clear very early on. The initial idea for the book was the result of a dream I had; I saw a row of guards lined up on an ancient bridge all seemingly disappearing into thin air (if anyone would like to tell me what trauma this relates to, please feel free) and, I don’t know about you, but I often get a ‘feeling’ from dreams and this one was giving definite bohemian vibes. When I first started writing my characters and plot lines, despite not having visited these cities, I thought that the buildings of Budapest, Barcelona and other famous European cities would be a perfect fit and so I started trawling through Pinterest straight away. I wanted this city to have windy cobbled streets, multicoloured buildings, vibrant markets and all the romantic imagery of a European city from yesteryear. I also wanted the reader to imagine that the city had the potential to be a sight for the supernatural and these types of cities have always evoked a sense of fairy-tale magic to me. I was later lucky enough to visit both Barcelona and Budapest as well as Vienna and as soon as I began to explore I knew I had been on the money. I can’t say I know anything about architecture but I fell in love with almost every building I passed in these cities; even the Aldis in Vienna are a work of art. A close friend of mine who has read the book said she also pictured Edinburgh and I think the paved streets and old timey buildings would be a perfect fit in Miraylia. I found creating a fictional city not only fun but completely liberating; I allowed myself to create a place that I’d like to live in and there were no rules in how it looked or functioned unless I enforced them. I cannot speak for other writers but I do think that when you’re creating something you have to put a piece of yourself into it otherwise you won’t know how it works or feel passionate about it and if you’re not passionate how in the hell are you going to keep writing about it? For example, even though I haven’t marked out a map of the city and named every residence or shop in Miraylia if you were to ask me if X or Y existed there I would be able to give you an answer with absolute certainty.
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