Riverstones

So where do I begin?  I wanted to write a novel but when I sat at my computer the thoughts wouldn’t come together. I had an idea that was germinating but it wasn’t flowing onto the pages, so the idea stayed in the background percolating in my coffee pot of a brain.  It wasn’t until I had an ear operation and as I was coming to from the anesthetic  I had the most amazing dream, a dream so clear I felt as if I could touch the wood paneling on the walls of the hotel.

At first, I thought Riverstones was Meg’s story, but Meg’s mother, Mary had such a strong voice she refused to be ignored and quickly took over as the main character.  The book has been an elephant pregnancy, I’ve lived it for years and I’ve been on a journey with my characters as they came to life. I wondered how they would behave in the different circumstances they faced but they faced adversity bravely and I’m proud of them all.

It was a family adventure when I first visited Skippers with my brother-in- law Allen, sister- in-law Lois and my nephew, Bevan. We drove into Skippers Canyon in Lois’s 4 wheel drive jeep it’s a harrowing road that is not for the fainthearted. We stopped at Long Gully, the site where Riverstones is set, the remains of the hotel’s chimneys can still be seen. Once there, I immediately realised some scenes of my novel had to be reworked.  Some of my brother-in-law Allen’s suggestions were helpful, some realistic and some fantastic, as we paced out where particular aspects of the story could happen.

That night we camped by Skippers by the old schoolhouse. The following day we set off to find Bullendale to get some idea of the pioneers journey and check out old relics.  I’ve never been good at directions or taking them, we walked for six hours, crossed the river at least 80 times and did not find the ghost town Bullendale.  Had we kept walking I was convinced we would end up in Hokitika. I have yet to see Bullendale but next time I go in, I’m taking the maps Allen bought me, which should at least save the soles on our shoes.

The family connection continues with the covers for Riverstones (updated) and Sticks and Stones being provided by my cousins daughter, Melissa Morton and my nephew, Bevan Hartley, respectively. The landscape scenery in the South Island is phenomenally dramatic and has a persona of its own, my thanks to the young ones who tramped to these dramatic spots. My friend Kelly Woods took the photo on the cover of Scattered Stones, she couldn’t remember where she took this lovely little stone cottage which is so representative of the early settlers dwellings, we later found it was a cottage just up from Ophir (Blacks)  on the Ida Valley-Oamakau Road.  Central Otago is a place steeped in Gold Rush history and there would have been many such dwellings in the area.

I’ve spent hours at libraries, looking up Papers Past, and visited the Lakes District Museum in Arrowtown several times trying to get a feel and knowledge of the past so the novel would be more authentic.  I hope I have achieved that.  During that time, I discovered so many incredible stories I wanted to write them all, but couldn’t, and so I concentrated on Mary’s story and with her whispering my ear, Riverstones was born.