Interview with author Avellina Balestri

First of all, thank you for allowing me the chance to get to know more about your

book and writing!

You’re most welcome, Jacqueline. Thanks so much for agreeing to interview me.

Can you share the synopsis of your book?

Saplings of Sherwood is a Robin Hood retelling novel which is the first in a series called

The Telling of the Beads. As the initiating volume, it is something of an origin story

which chronicles Robin Locksley’s childhood and teen years, roughly from the time he is

5 to the time he is 16. It also follows two other perspective characters, Roger Cavendish

and Marian FitzWalter, two neighbors of Robin with very different impacts on his life.

The main plot focuses on the tension between the Saxon House of Locksley and the

Norman lords surrounding them who lust after their lands and seek to take them down.

This will deeply impact Robin's development and eventual transformation into the Hood.

What first sparked your interest in Robin Hood?

I have been a Robin Hood enthusiast from around the age of 5 or 6 when I first watched

Disney’s Robin Hood cartoon, which became my favorite and which I can still largely

quote from memory. I also grew up on the Richard Greene series from the 1950's, and

watched the classic film version with Eroll Flynn and the Disney live action version with

Richard Todd. As I grew older, I took a real interest in the overlay of history and legend

that Robin Hood embodies. I think a primary reason that Robin Hood appealed to me,

and continues to have universal resonance, is because it is a topsy-turvy parable that

subverts our expectations, putting the last first, and the first last.

I have started the book and noticed that, while technically it is a re-telling, you

appear to focus more on the actual legend and historical aspects. What kind of

research did you do for the book?

I did my best to lean into a grounded historical narrative, while still capturing the major

themes and exploring the various components of the legends. It does seem like these

days, among retelling, there is something of a hard split between "gritty realism"

historical takes, often with the goal of myth-busting, and the highly fantasized versions

that seem untethered to the real world. I'm trying to bridge the gap between them and

offer something fresh that takes both history and legend seriously. I’ve been a British

history nerd from a very young age, so I’ve been reading on the subject pretty much for

as long as I can remember. All that research I did in the past about medieval England,

mostly for my own enjoyment, is coming to the fore in my historical fiction.

Did you find it difficult to shift through what could be actual facts and which lean

more toward the Hollywood writing?

Hollywood has definitely had a hey-day in terms of retelling classic legends and

fairytales, and Robin Hood has been chief among them. Typically, they tend to be fast

and loose in terms of historical authenticity when representing periods of the past, or

even maintaining continuity with the spirit of source material when retelling legends. For

me, the most important thing was to try and represent the era in a manner that felt truly

“lived in”, with characters who reflected the beliefs and social norms of the world they

inhabit, instead of forcing them to act out a modern morality play. I have certainly taken

inspiration from various aspects of movie and television representations, but always try

to go back to the source material, rich with both the merriment and melancholy of the

medieval ethos, to lend it all more bite and substance.

Do you believe Robin Hood really lived? And how did that impact your writing

this book?

I believe that Robin Hood is a composite character, based on many historical and

mythic figures who made their way into British folklore down through the centuries.

These include Anglo-Saxon and Welsh freedom-fighters in the aftermath of the Norman

Conquest, exiled nobles who participated in the Baron’s Revolt under Simon de

Montfort, and outlaws of every stripe that populated medieval England. He has lived

many lives, and continues to live many more. There is a saying that “Robin Hood dwells

in all the forests of the world”, and I think that captures his universal quality best. He is

always there to challenge us, to turn our world upside-down, to go against the current.

He is the embodiment of the British rebel streak, the prince of the wilderness that still

acknowledges a king over him. It is this tension that still manifests itself in the British

constitution, symbolized by the doors of parliament being slammed in the face of the

royal messenger before the monarch officially opens the parliament.

What was the hardest part of the book to write? Which was the easiest?

The hardest part of the book for me to write, and then edit, was definitely the romance

between teenage Robin and Marian. I am not a naturally good romance writer, so it

required heavy editing after I re-read the first draft. I ended up scrapping whole

chapters, which is something rare for me, as I have a tendency to recycle most of what I

write. Most readers have given me the thumbs up on the current version, so apparently

all that hacking was worthwhile. To a lesser extent, I also struggle with action

sequences. My good friend and editor Adeel Ahmed had to help me choreograph

several such scenes, and I am very pleased with the way they turned out in the end.

The easiest parts of the book for me to write were the areas dealing with the religious

faith of the characters and the religious culture of the period. I enjoyed getting to

compare and contrast an earlier pagan belief system with the newer Christian one that

has been gradually transforming the way characters view the world and live their lives.

What sort of things do you do when you need writing inspiration?

Music is very important to me in terms of getting in the mood of whatever I’m writing. I

have created various playlists of songs that fit the project and play them while typing

away on my PC. Artists such as Loreena McKennitt, Karliene, and Heather Dale

(among many others) have been deeply influential on me when entering into the

emotional current of Robin’s world. I also sought out music that tried to recreate the

sounds of the period, using earlier forms of our language such as Old English and

Middle English and also various French dialects and Latin hymns. This was in order to

get a sense of both Saxon and Norman cultures, mixing and merging, sharing as a

unifying force the guidance of Mother Church.

Do you have any advice you would like to share with other writers who plan to

write retellings/historical fiction?

My advice would be to have a healthy sense of respect for the era and culture you will

be representing, and not to patronize the characters or their way of seeing the world.

Empathy is key, and remembering that our ancestors were just as human as we are,

and there are countless universal realities we all share. Dehumanizing our history and

other-izing our predecessors is unfair to them and to us. This is especially true of stores

that come out of the Middle Ages. Too often, the era is reduced to mud, blood, and

manic depression instead of portraying the truly vibrant cultures that flourished in the

period. I think it is important to remember that true realism includes both darkness and

light, and the best stories are able to look at both unflinchingly, yet in a way that

celebrates the light piercing the darkness.

Which character was easiest for you to write? Hardest?

I think, in some ways, the answer is the same to both questions: Robin Hood. On the

one hand, he is the easiest character for me because he is so much a part of my

psyche for so long, representing something ethereal and grounded at the same time, an

imaginary friend of sorts from my childhood who is not merely imaginary, but an

embodiment of a particular land and also of so many universal aspects of the human

experience. I think I inevitably poured out a bit of myself into my depiction of Robin,

which is as it should be, given that he remains an ever-evolving composite character.

But on the other hand, trying to balance this deeply personal type of expression with a

respect for the complex historical context and varied nature of the source material takes

some effort. You realize, with some reverence, that you are bringing to life a character

who has been spoken and sung of for hundreds upon hundreds of years, and that some

aspects of the legend go all the way back into the mists of time. You find yourself

intimately connected to so many storytellers who have come before you through this

chain of transmission (and embroidery!), and you can only proceed with a certain

amount of fear and trembling to keep faith with what has come before while making it

fresh, alive, and your own.

What part of writing is most difficult for you? (Descriptions, dialogue, etc.)

I have always enjoyed writing dialogue more than descriptions, and it is part of my style

to remain fairly sparse in terms of describing what a room looks like or what people are

wearing unless it somehow pertains to the plot. In fact, I tend to grow weary when

descriptions drag on too long in other historical fiction works. As much as I love Sir

Walter Scott, he is a good example of this, tending to describe every scrap of clothing

even minor characters are wearing for pages on end. I am an extrovert who greatly

enjoys mixing and mingling with people, both in person and online, so my inner Chatty

Cathy enables dialogue to flow freely from my pen. I have a great deal of fun introducing

different characters to one another and having them share different aspects of

themselves and their backgrounds in conversation.

Do you have any favorite lines/quotes from your book?

I have quite a few, but this line from Robin perhaps sums up the the story of England as

it is depicted in the narrative best:

“Yes, despite everything, I astonish myself by daring to hope. Marian gives me that

hope. There is so much good to be found in England, for we are all her people, no

matter our rank or fortune or lineage. Surely it is our choices that define us, no matter

which side our sires fought on at Hastings field.”

And this line from Robin captures sums up another major theme in the story, which is

the contrast between pagan and Christian worldviews:

“Woden was willing to hang upon a tree to prevent the end, yet all his efforts were in

vain. I would rather worship a God who would make a fool of Himself for love, hung from

a tree so that sinners might be granted pardon and peace. He has gained a victory that

cannot be overturned.”

Lastly, where can readers find your book if they wish to read it?

You can find Saplings of Sherwood for sale in both kindle and paperback formats on

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Telling-Beads-Book-I-Saplings-Sherwood/dp/B0BQDQ2ZZY

You can also find Saplings of Sherwood on Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75264444-saplings-of-sherwood

Leaving reviews for the book on both platforms greatly helps me in terms of

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