School project morphs into Celtic novel

Despite its Celtic mythology background, the new book by St. Albert writer Bronwen Strembiski, did not start out of some genealogical study of her own Welsh roots.

"I would love to say yes, but it's actually my son's book," she said of her new book Thresholds, noting that she wouldn't have been inspired in the first place if it weren't for the young boy's school project.

"He was doing a writing assignment that he wanted help with. Of course, his story, like any kid's, didn't have the middle so I was trying to help him. As with most things in my life, I kinda took over. It grew and grew and grew from there."

The story revolves around an abandoned 12-year-old Celtic boy named Andreas who is trying to figure out where he belongs in his culture and what he is meant to do with his life. Along the way, he discovers he has magical powers, referred to as Magik.

"He realizes that he's alone and doesn't have Magik so he's unprotected. He's never left his homestead so he's kind of freaking out: what do I do and where do I go?'"

Thresholds takes place at Samhain, the ancient Gaelic festival at harvest's end, a time also marking the beginning of the dark season. While trying to steal some food, Andreas is discovered by a girl named Delanie who is actually a member of a band of thieves.

The band adopts Andreas as one of its own and through his adventures and misadventures with the thieves, he learns that he actually comes from a very significant Magik family. This gives him power and responsibility just as evil is about to make the world a darker place.

The author said that she can't help but write since she has been surrounded by books her entire life.

"I read a lot of crossover books. Right now I'm reading Allegiant. I read the entire Harry Potter and Hunger Games series."

She said that she worked hard to make sure that Thresholds is far more character-driven than Hunger Games is. That trilogy, she said, is all about plot but didn't actually make you interested in the characters.

This young adult fantasy story is based somewhat on Celtic mythology as set in the Middle Ages.

"I would say, 'very loosely' set on it," she corrected.

There's a kingdom and a castle, dragon, a journey, fairies, a labyrinth and a Great Oak. It's a story of the great hero, the outcast and outsider who triumphs, becoming king.

The real triumph is Strembiski's. She spent about 18 months researching the story ("and actually playing some of my son's fantasy games just to get a feel for things") and the same amount of time writing it. She's no linear writer, she admits.

"I don't write from A to B at all, at all, at all," she emphasized. "Sometimes I know B before I know what's happening in the middle. A lot of times I actually start backwards and work more towards the front. I'll have chapter 7 written before chapter 3."

"I think for me the hardest balance was shortening the story, believe it or not. I wanted to give so much detail around the smell and the sense, everything. When I read, I want to be able to smell things. I tried to do that with my book. Then I had to shorten it down to make it more interesting to teenagers because they're not going to read through all that same amount of detail that I might. For me, the character development was actually probably the most important part of it. I wanted people to relate to them."

Since it was her son Sebastien's assignment in the first place, she gives him a fine credit for his contributions to the book.

"I dedicated it to him. It's about his idea and his kingdom. Every time I needed a new character, I would talk to him about it first. He was very involved in the whole process. If you ask him now, if he's read the book, he'll say, 'I wrote it.'"

Strembiski is all about books for children and teens. She was only 16 when she wrote her first novel. She has also produced a few other children's books with the help of some local schools. She gets all of the students from a class to each contribute a picture based on a paragraph that they are provided. She then compiles the pages and binds them to present back to the contributors. The next one of these sessions is booked for Muriel Martin Elementary in January.

She even had a Grade 6 Keenooshayo class review Thresholds before it went to print. A lot of the students' feedback resulted in changes in the book.

Since much of the young adult and teen lit audience has a built-in anticipation of more stories with the same characters, she hinted that she is already at work on the sequel.

"It was not planned by any sense of the word. One of the girls who reviewed it, I actually ran into her at Safeway. She said, 'I was just wondering how the sequel was coming.' I'm like, 'Sequel?' She said, 'Yeah. Aren't you writing a sequel to Thresholds, so we know what happens?'"

Launch

For her Dec. 6 book launch, Strembiski will be setting up at what she calls "my corner," the inside nook of the Starbucks franchise inside the St. Albert Chapters. This coffee shop and one of its Canmore counterparts is where 75 per cent of the novel was written, she said.

"Chapters was wonderful," she said, remembering her 18 months of research into history, Celtic lore and mythology. "It was like a free library."

The event runs from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.