The Legend of Gelert (and where ideas come from)

Today is World Book Day and normally I would be in a school or library somewhere talking about books, reading and writing. This year is different of course, so I thought I would write something here about being a writer and getting ideas for stories. 

Ideas and inspiration can come to you at any time - though not always when you are sat at your desk. Sometimes you need to go out and about in search of inspiration. Seeing new things and visiting new places is a great way to feed your creative mind. Sometimes a walk in your local park or along a public footpath is all that's needed - but sometimes you need to go a little further. 

My book 'Gelert the Brave' was published in August last year. The story of Gelert is a famous and much loved Welsh folk tale. I have heard people tell the story a few times and I thought it would be nice to write my own version of it for young readers to read and hopefully take it to a wider audience (although it's very well known in Wales, it isn't as well known everywhere else). I was very keen to make a good job of the story as I knew how much people in Wales loved it so I wanted to make sure that it was as accurate as it could be. I could have just read another version of the story and then re-written it, but I wanted to do a little more than that. So I decided to do a bit of research...

Early one morning, Vicky and I set off to visit the beautiful village of Beddgelert, in Snowdonia. Legend has it that this place is named after the famous dog, Gelert. (Beddgelert translates to 'The Grave of Gelert'.) Beddgelert is a very popular tourist attraction and thousands of people visit each year so that they can see the place where the legendary dog is buried. It was damp and cloudy on the day of our visit so thankfully it wasn't too busy.

Walking along a pathway that would take us
to Gelert's grave we spotted a friendly cat sitting by the churchyard... he seemed to be looking out for something and I couldn't help wonder what it might be. An idea for a story popped into my head 'The Graveyard Cat'. Now what do you think that could be about?

Beddgelert is a beautiful and atmospheric place. It was very peaceful - just the thing you want to fill the creative part of your brain.

Gelert was a brave and faithful hound, the favourite of of Prince Llewelyn the Great. One morning, when the prince goes hunting, Gelert can't be found, so, sadly, the Prince goes off without him. When he returns, the Prince mistakenly thinks that Gelert has done something terrible. The story has a sad ending and a strong message - but I'm not going to tell you any more than that. I will let you read about it for yourself.

The place where Gelert is buried is marked with a stone. The prince wanted to make sure that everyone would remember how brave he was. 

The flat stones you can see in front give a simple account of the story of Gelert - one in English and one in Welsh.

Further along the path is a statue of Gelert himself, standing guard in the ruins of an old farmhouse or farm building. 

 

 I am sure that I could have got all I needed to write the story by simply reading about it, but going out and seeing things for yourself definitely helps. The more you see and experience the better your writing will be. Every place you visit gives you ideas for settings for your stories. Your own imagination can conjure up amazing things and the things you have seen, felt and smelt adds to it. Do you think you could write about how it feels to walk in bare feet on the sand if you had never done it yourself?

Doing research for a story can be a lot of fun - not only can you look on the internet, but you can read other books on the subject and visit places for yourself. All of these things will help to give you ideas and keep your imagination topped up.

This is a book I bought whilst at Beddgelert. This was very useful as it told the story of Gelert and also gave information about the place itself. 

After visiting Beddgelert, reading the book and doing some research on the internet, I was finally ready to start writing. I wrote the story three or four times before I got it the way I wanted it - but there were still a few more little tweaks and changes to be made after that. It takes a while to get it right.

The illustrations for the book were done by a wonderful illustrator from Budapest called Janos Orban. It's always exciting to see the illustrations as they really help bring the book to life.

If you want to read about Gelert and find out why he is so brave, you can borrow the book from your local library or buy it from Amazon (or order it from your local book shop).

Perhaps you could write your own story about a brave pet.

What sort of pet would you choose?

What would your pet do that is brave?

(perhaps it helps someone).

Let me know about your brave pet story... I'd love to hear from you.