Sandy Fussell

Last Updated April 2007 Sandy Fussell

* I am afraid of polar bears

* I have a pet tree frog and two Burmese cats

* My biggest secret is - I giggle when I run

"Stories are light," Gregory the jailer told Despereaux, "they save you from the darkness." The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

This is the diary of my new project - Mexica Runner. Started Dec 2006 and aiming to complete June 2007. Where did the idea come from? I was thinking about frogs (I like frogs!) and the picture in my mind was an Aztec style motif. Then I thought I'd like to write something set in Aztec times. And that's when I met Atl, who was hanging around inside my head. We're writing this one together.

13 Jan	The frist chapter is complete and workshopped. The second chapter is bubbling...
31 Dec	I think I have learned most of what I need to know. Religion, clothing, food, flora, fauna, climate. And the calendar. Fascinating stuff. I think I will make Atl born in the Year Ocelotl. I like jaguar imagery.
5 Dec	It's that moment of validation - when I know I'm on the write track because the fiction I am constructing turns around and validates itself. It happens every time. This time I decide Atl will run from Tenochtitlan to Tarasca, chased by a member of the Aztec Temple Guard. And timed for the feast of Toxcatl when the Spanish turned on their Aztec hosts. Then I find this actually happened!!! The Aztecs sent a runner to Tarasca to ask for help!!! I'll have to blend fact and fiction here because the Tarascans chopped off the messenger's head and I don't want that to happen to Atl. I already have the story's end in mind. I always have the first paragraph and the last paragraph early on.
3 Dec	Tarasca is perfect. A fortified hilltop city. Aztec enemy stronghold - close but unbeatable. Atl is now a slave from Tarasca.
2 Dec	Atl refuses to run through the forest to the coast. He says its boring. Not a good start to a novel so I am reasearching geography and vegetation zones and I have drawn a map. I've plotted out how far two children could travel in a week on foot. I think we're going to Tarasca
1 Dec	It's research time! Right now it's hard work. Tracking down anyhting and everything I might need. Reading like crazy. But I know when I'm halfway through the chapters I'll look back and think this was the easy part! I had a general idea about a boy running through the jungle, chased by the Spaniards. Set after the Spanish conquest. I didn't have to research far before I discovered the conquest was a very casual affair (the Spanish had already entered the city as guests), there was no jungle and if the Spaniard chased Atl - how would they converse? He can't speak Spanish and they don't speak Mexica! Not the makings of good dialogue.