Juliet Marillier
Juliet Marillier
Juliet Marillieris a New Zealand-born writer of fantasy, focusing predominantly on historical fantasy. She was educated at the University of Otago, where she graduated with a BA in languages and a Bachelor of Music. Marillier taught music at the high school and university levels and has also served as a choral conductor and opera singer. In 2009 Marillier was diagnosed with breast cancer...
NationalityNew Zealander
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth27 July 1948
character journey stories
First person allows deeper insight into the protagonist's character. It allows the reader to identify more fully with the protagonist and to share her world quite intimately. So it suits a story focused on one character's personal journey. However, first person shuts out insights into other characters.
book two advice
My advice to aspiring writers of fantasy trilogies or series is that each book needs two main plots. There's the 'big story', the over-arching grand plot of the entire series, and there is the complete-in-itself, one-book plot.
running character thinking
Third person allows a deeper exploration of the relationships between characters. We can see their misunderstandings and hear what they think about each other. We can create a more complex structure with various story threads running parallel.
powerful weapons most-powerful
The most powerful weapon is hope.
heart quality impossible
Hope is such a tenuous quality. To feel it and then to be denied what one most longs for ... Better, surely, not to hope at all, than to open the heart to a hope that is impossible.
moon sky sun
He and I…we share a bond. Not love, exactly. It goes beyond that. He is mine as surely as sun follows moon across the sky. Mine before ever I knew he existed. Mine until death and beyond.
dark light evil
There is no good or evil, save in the way you see the world. There is no dark or light save in your own.
quiet-people voice answers
With respect," said Red, and his voice had gone so quiet people hushed each other to hear him, "my tale is yet unfinished; you should hear me out. And it is her answer I have come to hear, not yours.
brother taken heart
She had sacrificed her childhood to save her brothers; she loved her family above all else, and her spirits yearned to return home once more, to the wild forest and the land of mystic tales and ancient spirits whence he had taken her. That was the place of her heart, and if he loved her, he must let her go.
suffering found-love found
As for me, I had found love, and that was a gift worth suffering for.
suicide father views
I do not view suicide as wicked, just terribly sad. There is only one death, but it is like a stone cast into a pond - the ripples stretch far. Such an act must leave a burden of sorrow, guilt, shame and confusion on an entire family. A natural death, such as my father suffered, is hard enough to deal with. A decision to end one's life must be still more devastating for those left behind. I cannot imagine the degree of hopelessness someone must feel to contemplate such an act.
lessons difficult stills
Trust can be a hard lesson; hope still more difficult.
girl writing men
Why should I be polished and improved like goods for sale? I might not even want to marry! And besides, I have many skills. I can read and write and play the flute and harp. Why should I change to please some man? If he doesn’t like me the way I am, then he can get some other girl for his wife.
betrayal gestures glances
I thought of betrayal and how it came so easily - in a word, a glance, a gesture.