Write what you know, they say!

It’s said that it’s best to write about what you know-

Not being a Kid of Kernow with magical powers, I soon realised such advice was going to present me with quite a challenge!

So, the next best thing I could do was write about who I know or at least some of their traits & steal names of loved ones for place names etc.

That is how my two main characters, Mossy & Kismet were named.

When I created the first Kid of Kernow character, I wanted a pretty little girl’s name for her& had always thought my Mum’s name, Molly, fitted that bill rather nicely.

However, when I saw what I’d written in amongst the opening chapter “Like the moss that softens the jagged rocks & makes them habitable to all creatures……” I decided that beacuse my character has ethereal qualities that she may very well have taken her name from the Earth she found herself upon, plus…. my lovely Aunt & Cousins’ surname is Moss! And so Mossy was duly christened.

Her pet Raven was named Kismet after our pet black cat because they share exactly the same traits. A heightened sense of self-importance, they are both know-it-alls, loyal & if I’m totally honest, rather lazy!

The place name Puddleglenn – well, that’s nothing to do with puddles & Glenn (our son), lol, but I was never going to spell it ‘glen’ was I, when everyone in Kernow knows it’s ‘glenn’ ?😉

Glenn-bobs however- is made up & is what I used to call Glenn as a little boy. In a further book in the ‘Kids of Kernow’ series ‘glenn-bobs’ are strange little plants that grow in Puddleglenn & taste rather unpleasant- a mix between brocolli & what you think a daffodil bulb might taste like! 🤢 ( Please DON’T ever try & find out what a daffodil bulb does actually taste like will you? They are very poisonous!)

The little boy in ‘Magical Mossy in Boscastle’ who Mossy helps to overcome his fears is called Oli.

He isn’t family, but his name is featured as a long held promise to a little boy I mentored in my days of working in a primary school in Lincolnshire . When I told him I was moving to Cornwall to write stories, he begged me to name a character after him …..&so I did! I always keep my promises! I wonder if he’ll ever find out?

Lastly- my Mum, bless her, now aged 96 with Dementia & very poor mobility. She loved to write poetry in her younger years & I have ‘borrowed’ one of them to appear in a sequel to book 1. I’m certain she’d love to know that one day a poem of hers was read by more than just her family. I’d love it too.

‘ In a dark velvet sky

the moon rides high

her silvery hue to display;

small twinkling stars

are scattered around

promising they will stay.

Still is the night, no sound is heard

until the early dawn

when the song of an awakening bird

heralds in a bright new morn

From the Eastern skies

the sun will rise

as slowly it climbs to its height;

so bright is its glow reaching cold Earth below

bringing warmth and comforting light.

When day is over and magic is done

when evening is drawing nigh

it’s a sad farewell to our lovely sun

for darkness is filling the sky.

Have you liked Mossy’s own FB page yet, all about kindness? She believes that all humans are full of loving kindness which is why they are called ‘Humankind’.

or, indeed the Kids of Kernow FB page where I post about Kernow, children’s mental health & the importance of reading etc.