Daring and escape from reality is what drives Linda Davies' new work of fiction – Sea Djinn. A fine piece of prose, Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary discovers that it is just the beginning. There are three more to come.
"The evening call of the Muezzin drifted out across the water like a melancholy lament to the dying of the day, but still Finn surfed. Only when night had fallen and the other surfers had departed with a friendly 'goodbye' did Finn drag himself reluctantly from the sea. He shivered and pulled on his T-shirt. The shamal had eased off, but the wind was still blowing strongly. He supposed he should go home.
As he turned to leave, a shape in the foam caught his eye. He saw a wave rise up, lift something with it, and then in a fountain of spume and moon-slivered water, the thing disappeared. He waited, heart racing, convinced that his imagination was playing tricks on him. Then the water calmed before the next wave broke, and there in the shallows, looking directly at him, was a kind of man. Only it wasn't a man, not like any he had seen. Below the man's shoulders and torso, where the man's legs should have been, there was the sleek, powerful, grey body of a dolphin – a truly enormous dolphin.
'Hello,' said the man creature.
Finn stared back, disbelieving his own eyes. Then he smiled. He had never quite believed in the world sold to him by adults. A world where there was no kingdom of the unknown. He had always hoped that there was more ...
'Hello,' he managed to say. 'Who, I mean, what are you?'
The creature chuckled, a deep, musical sound, like water gurgling over pebbles. 'My name is Triton. I am many things.'"
***
A tiny extract from Linda Davies' first book for children, Sea Djinn published by Jerboa Books, it speaks volumes about the author's sense of structure, evocative and polished prose that leaves you with the feeling of plunging headlong into the fantasy world of djinns – those exotic mythical marine creatures. This story is the first in a series of four that Davies plans to write on djinns.
We will dwell more on the book, but first, let's look at Davies' creative style.
If her books paint a landscape of fantasy, magic and out-of-the-ordinary, it is only because she draws greatly from her own well of experiences. A qualified investment banker, she has written five fiction bestsellers that have investment banking as the base for the story to build on. But a couple of very traumatic personal experiences inspired her to venture into the world of fantasy. While in Peru some years ago, she was caught in a cross-fire by a militia but she managed to escape.
Then, in 2005, after she moved to Dubai with her husband Rupert Wise her three children, Davies, along with and her husband and an Australian friend, were seized on the high seas as they sailed close to Abu Mousa Island. Their catamaran Sinbad was seized and they were incarcerated for 13 days. Fortunately, they were released.
The ordeal had a devastating impact on the family, but as a writer, her mind held the experiences which would one day be part of her book. Sea Djinn's central character is a young boy who discovers that his parents have been kidnapped by sea djinns.
It's not only her extraordinary life experiences which have inspired Davies to write fantasy tales but also her desire to be close to her children – Hugh, 9, Tom, 7 and Lara, 3 – by writing fiction they would enjoy.
"I wanted to write a book for my children," she says. A fan of Harry Potter books, Davies loves conjuring up tales that simmer and boil as her imagination turns up the heat. She talks about what made her write Sea Djinn, "As an investment banker, I wrote issues related to that field, all fiction, but based on a premise I knew.
"But now that I have given up banking, live in a place that enriches my imagination and have three kids, I am completely lost in their world. It's weird how the story came to me. I was walking on the beach on my usual evening stroll when I came across a shell, which had a design that looked like it had a map inside it. That triggered my thought: 'What if this really was a map to a lost, secret kingdom with exotic sea creatures?'
"I thought of sea djinns because I am very fascinated by them. I had done some research on these creatures and found out that there is a mention of them in some books.
"My story revolves around the good and evil sea djinns and a war among them. They are imbued with special powers that help them metamorphose into anything – man, rock, smoke and fire ...
But this fantasy tale took six months to find its shape.
Elaborating on the craft of her fiction writing, Davies says: "I buy many books, do a lot of research on the 'net, take notes and since I have the discipline of being an investment banker, I sit down to write at least three pages a day. On one of the weekends, I actually managed to have four hours to myself when I wrote about eight pages that day and that was really satisfying. The world I create is so strong that I see the images and then I translate these into words."
Drawing from her own childhood
As a child, Davies spent a lot of time by herself, riding a horse and daydreaming in a little village in Scotland. "My father would tell me stories from the Mabinogion, the great book of Welsh legends. He would also read out a lot of Oscar Wilde's stories to me." Those vivid memories of childhood have helped her slip into the fantasy world of fairy tale creatures easily.
Davies thinks it is important to have a healthy dose of magic in life to be able to face the real world. "I think it is wonderful to create a fantastical world of magic. We are so grounded in the real world that I feel it is incredibly liberating to write about it. Despite so many elements, the core of the story remains as the struggle between good and evil. I feel it is nice to get away from reality. I think kids too want to get away from various aspects of the real world. Fiction seems safe with the triumph of good over evil."
Writing style
Unlike other writers of fantasy fiction, Davies does not believe in flowery language and practises thrift like her favourite writer Graham Greene. "I think Greene is a very economical writer. I prefer clarity in my style with fairly pared down language and images that are not too vivid ... all with a strong narrative style. I love the art of story telling."
Nothing is left to chance as Davies toils over her work. She usually writes ten drafts. "The first draft is just getting the idea down. Then I roll on the idea, pare it down quite a bit
and fill in the details. The second draft is basically ironing out the inconsistencies in the story and third, fourth and fifth draft is improvisation on the story and the language. It is quite an intense process."
For the Sea Djinn, she followed the same process and finally
got her husband and boys to read the tenth draft and carefully noted their reactions. "They are my very vocal critics. Through them, I can see what will work and what won't."
