We chat with award-winning children’s author Melvin Burgess about Loki, which is his first adult novel and a bold and witty retelling of everyone’s favourite trickster.
Hi, Melvin! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Sure! I’m English, I live in the beautiful county of Yorkshire in the Peninne Hills, where I keep bees, garden for wildlife and … well! I have a very pleasant life, thank you very much! I began writing professionally over thirty years ago and came to fame with my book Junk, published as Smack in the USA. Since then I’ve written many books for teenagers and children. LOKI is my first book for adults, and I can tell you, it was a real liberation! I had such fun writing it.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I fell in love with books and stories in general very early on. My parents used to read to me every night, which I think is an enormous boost to a love of reading in a child. A love of writing came after that, which I suppose it usually does. I was not a good student at school – I was far too dreamy, getting lost in my own thoughts all the time. I found it difficult to concentrate on things I wasn’t interested in (a problem I still have!) But I loved reading and writing, everything about it—how stories unfold, the rhythm of words, the way meaning snakes around sentences in such a fascinating way.
In the UK back in the day we used to have the 11+ exam at the end of Primary school, when you were aged 11, and whether you passed or not decided whether or not you were a clever kid who would go to Grammar school, or a dumb kid who would go to Secondary Modern School. I was a dumb kid. I remember writing an essay for a teacher at my Secondary Modern. It was in the form of a diary, with the story unfolding with each daily entry. I thought I was being clever, I was convinced I’d get a 10/10. But no. She refused to even mark it because I hadn’t actually answered the brief in my essay. She was teaching us speech marks and in my diary entry, there were no speech marks at all. She was completely uninterested in the tory itself, how it was told. All she wanted was the work to fit the brief. Not much encouragement there!
Fortunately we moved house and I got a much more enthusiastic teacher there who praised my work to the skies. I think it was at that point, secretly (I didn’t dare tell anyone!) That I first conceived the idea that I might one day write books of my own.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading!
The Wind in the Willows, without a doubt. My parents read it to me at home, then I read it to myself. Then I took it into school and the teacher read it to the class. I just adored that book!
Your latest novel, Loki, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Is he telling the truth?
What can readers expect?
Much has been written about Loki, and that’s no surprise because he’s such an attractive character, despite the fact that he’s so obviously an untrustworthy shyster. We might perhaps call him something of a populist …? In real life, who wants it? But in fiction, that’s such a great mix.
Basically, Loki is of the opinion that he has been misrepresented in the old myths and legends, and he’s taking this opportunity to retell them from his own POV. You can expect Loki to big himself up, and to poke fun and worse at the other gods, who have, according to him, blamed all their mishaps and mistakes on him and taken the glory from all the good things he’s done. Loki is irreverent, often scandalous. He’s no respecter in any way of purse or person. His language is often dreadful, his boasting shameless. But he’s full of life, knows how to tell a really good story, is often hilarious and, above all, he is a god. You can expect to be taken on a truly magical ride, up to the heights and down to the darkest mysteries with Loki as your guide.,
What inspired you to explore Norse mythology and specifically delve into Loki?
I’ve always loved mythology and the Norse myths are the ones that speak to me the most. I first came across them in a book called Tales of the Norse Gods and Heroes, by Barbara Leonnie Picard, a book I read over and over again. I fell in love at once. I’ve wanted to use those stories in my writing ever since then. Some years ago I wrote a pair of books, Bloodtide and Bloodsong, based on the Volsunga Saga, which is, in my opinion, the best of the Viking sagas. Those stories are about the fate and fortunes of Volsung family, who were much loved by the god Odin. But the gods themselves are another matter, and I’ve been thinking about how I might portray them ever since.
Why Loki? I think I’ve explained something of that above. You have to love a trickster, someone who has such a silver tongue, who can talk the hind legs of a donkey, always raises a laugh, is always entertaining. And all the time there’s that knowing dark side of him, grinning at you from the shadows. A good liar always convinces you that they’re lying for you, to your advantage. It always comes a shock when people realise that he’s been fooling them, too, all along. Loki is someone prepared to risk all to get what he wants… or is it what he believes in? You can never quite tell with someone like him.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
The difference between myth and legend is that myth is arises out of religion. I think we forget that. We usually treat myths in much the same way as if they were just folk tales, but they have far more weight than that. Myths should of course be good tales well told but more than that, they should have something of the glory and mystery of a religious experience about them, something ecstatic and dreadful. They should give us a taste of the numinous. There are one or two areas in Loki where I’ve tried to approach that, when Odin sacrifices himself to himself, hanging on a tree, and when Loki transforms himself into a mare to lure away the wonderful stallion, Svaðilfari. Perhaps also when he speaks of love. I’ve done my best to show that side of him, too.
All in all it was a really entertaining book to write – Loki is such an interesting character. I just hope I’ve done him justice.
This is your first published adult novel! Was there anything in particular that sparked the shift?
I’ve written many books for teenagers. I’ve always thought of YA as writing about being that age, rather than for people of that age – it’s more authentic and true to it’s subjects that way. But after so many books, I feel as though I don’t have any more to say about it. I’ve covered so many different aspects of adolescence … drugs, sexuality, body image, friendship, education, you name it. I can’t see much more I want to cover. Also, I’m 69 now. I’ve not been a teenager for fifty years! Long time … So now I think it’s time to write about other things and leave teens to people still within striking distance of that time of life.
You’ve had books published over the last 30 years. What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned as a writer?
Don’t stop would be the first one. Overall, it’s the people who just keep at it who get there rather than the ones who apparently have the huger talents. Writing is a hard thing to do, you need to practise it to get any good, regardless of how much talent you have to start off with. But if you do put the hours in, you have a very good chance of getting there. So put the hours in!
The same thing goes not just for an entire career but also for individual books. Books can and do occasionally just fall off your finger tips and emerge at the end with very few re-writes like perfect little angels, but usually it take a lot of work to get it right. Learning how to approach your work from different angles so that you’re always engaged with it through many re-writes is something we all need to learn. So be patient!
Having said that, sometimes, no mater how hard you go at something, no matter how many re-writes you do, it just never comes right and the work has to be abandoned. Writing is tough. You need a skin like a rhinoceros at this game!
Finally, have fun. Try and surprise yourself. Be prepared to experiment and break the rules. When it works, it really is like flying.
What’s next for you?
Well, I have another Norse one off with my agent at the moment – this one in the voice of Volson, the smith, who becomes a god – in my version, anyway. I have a children’s one I want do, for younger ones this time, and then back to a long and very difficult piece I’m doing based on a well known character from Dickens. I shall say no more!
