Walker in images

Images are hugely important to me as a writer.  I see scenes in my head and then just let my hand write them down, trying to translate what I see, hear, smell, touch into words.
So Pinterest, a place where you can 'pin' images is a huge boon to me as a writer.  It's a place where I can pull together all the images that inspire me.  And, even better, I can show you a little of what's inside my head when I write.
So, do check out the board for Walker here.  It will show you a little of the wild Exmoor countryside that beats at the heart of the book.  And some vague ideas of the animals.  The people?  Not so much.  I know exactly what they look like but I suspect that, if you read the book, you would rather have your own idea.  Because that is part of the magic of reading, isn't it?

Anyhow, here's a little taster...

Trees are central to Walker.  I love this image - with the roots as important as the foliage.  In shamanism, the shaman will often use a tree as a means of accessing the upper and lower worlds - the upper by climbing up the branches of the tree; the lower by winding your way down through its roots.

This image reminds me of the Lady of the Deer - a strange creature, so wild she has almost become part of the land.

The Ferish are my 'fairy' folk - fierce warriors who have had to 'slide sideways' to keep out of the way of modern mankind. This image sums up their proud demeanour perfectly. Shame you can't see the tail. 

The great stag. The 'health stalker'.  Exmoor is synonymous with the wild red deer who roam freely over its moorland and wooded combes.

Why the Ferish speak Anglo-Saxon

I absolutely love the Ferish – the tough warrior Fairyfolk of Walker. Exmoor has a lot of legends about fairies but I knew from the start that my fairies weren’t sweet little Tinkerbell types, no sirree.

Something that really fascinates me is the idea some scholars have that the fairyfolk, or fey, were really a race of creatures who had once lived openly on the land but were driven into hiding by invading races of people. In most accounts these people are small, even tiny (like the common image of fairies) but I wanted something far more arrogant and fearsome for my story.

I imagined that, if Ferish were to exist they would be pretty angry with what was being done to their world. Having been driven further and further into the wildest places, they would react with horror, anger and aggression if anyone threatened their last fastnesses.
They sprang pretty well fully-formed in my imagination. Apart from the tails. A writer friend of mine, Cheryl, said they needed tails and I realised immediately that she was right.

Why Anglo-Saxon?

The Ferish can speak modern-day English but their speech is littered with words and phrases derived from Old English, or Anglo-Saxon. I like to think that this was the common language in use when they last had any major dealings with humans.
It is a strong language, quite guttural sometimes, and very warlike. So it suits them perfectly. I think the words I’ve used in Walker are generally pretty clear from their setting – and often I have given a translation. However, here are some of the more Ferish words used in Walker, along with their meanings.

aesc (or aex) - axe
aesc-holt - spear
aetwindan – to escape
aglaeca - monster
aheawan – to cut down
bana: slayer
bancofa - body
bearm: tree
behat - promise
behatan – to promise
berypan – to strip
besmitan - to infect, defile
bestrypan – to plunder
bord-weall – shield-wall
byringnyss: burial
cystig – excellent
cyth - homeland
daegred – daybreak
deofol – devil
diormod - brave
dolh-wund - wound
dolich - stupid
eorthe - earth
faestenn - fortress
faestenn-grith – place of safe haven
fether-homa – feather form
freondschipe - friendship
gar-gewinn raed – council of war
getheodniss - alliance
gisl – hostage
heft-ned - captivity
meowle-bana – girl slayer
raed – council
sithfaet – journey
slaep – sleep
stan - stone
steorfa – pestilence
wuduholt - forest
wulf - wolf
wyrd - fate

btw, this picture is not of the ferish...it's actually an image from the second book in the series....