Much of Mary in her characters

Press, 8 September 1976, Page 16

Much of Mary in her characters

Anyone who has read; any of Mary Stewart’s i novels before meeting the author is quite likelyj Ito think: "Haven’t we! I met before?” I The reaction is natural; I enough. Mary Stewart isj ivery much like some of the! I lovable characters she writes! about — those warm andfriendly folk of hers, easy to! talk to and full of fun. They! are genuine, believable > people; big in the bes sense of ihe word. Il is easy to imagine Mary! Stewart ai home with her cats, tending old-fashioned |roses, pottering about with! I paints or sitting down at the! piano, doing, the kind of; j thing her characters do to’ i relax. “Whatever you are writing about, your own con-! cents, interests and some-1 thing of yourself must come; out in fiction," Mary Stewart! said on a brief visit to Christchurch yesterday. BEST SELLER She is in New Zealand to help her publishers (Hodder and Stoughton) promote her latest romantic thriller, "Touch Not The Cat”, al-! ready top of the best-seller; 1 I list (novels) in’ the United; > Kingdom and Canada and | iNo. 4 in the United States. ‘ "It is a sunlit view of! i English countryside in the! I early summer,” she said off the book, “and, I feel, satis-!' (tying to read.” I Mary Stewart once des-li cribed writing fiction as ai; i"dynamic thing like having!'

;a baby.” She is certainly: ( most meticulous about prd(ducing a book. She usually! Moes four drafts of a novel; 'from notes on ideas and j characters to the polished: (form, most of which she (reads aloud to herself acting! through the dialogue to; make sure it sounds natural. She does not divulge! (much about a book when: people ask her: "What are! i you writing on now?” ; “The essence of a book isj I not just the plot or what it' (is about.” she said. "It is in the treatment of the whole and in the way you process! the material in ur mind. If you discuss your ideas you 'find they dry up.” This author collects a tremendous amount of material ifor a book that the reader! (never Sees. She makes fam-! ily trees for her characters,' for instance, to ■ keep track, of them all. “You have to know far more about a book than is! ever put down, to be famil-l iar with it,” she said. Mary Stewart has written; 16 books, including two his-i torical novels and two children’s books. All have “hit; the jackpot.” She is the kind! of person who will go on and on writing. She gets restless if she is not jotting, down notes for a book, typing chapters of polishing up. j There are days when she finds writing an awful chore:! others when a story races; away. But she is never lonely;! her two cats (“the young! thugs”) keep her company.! They act as paperweights'

land are very reluctant t move when she wants t .write where they are sittim "And they love the typewr ; ter; they think it is suci fun.” GARDENER Her favourite relaxations from writing are gardening . and playing the piano. Her 'blue-grey eyes light up when asked about her roses — I old-fashioned roses that are ; strongly scented and often .rather prickly. “Moss and' musk roses — ! I won’t have any that don’t 'have scent," she said. (Her deep love of roses was pretty obvious to anyI one who read “This Rough Magic”.) She grows orchids in her ! little glasshouse, paints por- ! traits of animals, and tames ! turtle doves and squirrels at (her home in Edinburgh. Born a vicar’s daughter in , County Durham, Mary had (successful careers at school and university, both at work and at sport. She has been (described as “formidably talented” by an English woman interviewer and “she’s a dear” by a literary man who met her for a few minutes in Christchurch yesterday. On this, her second visit to New Zealand, the romantic novelist has brought her husband to see country for himself. He is Sir Frederick Stewart, a distinguished geologist, "having a look round Rotorua”, as Lady Stewart put it. Later during their tour of New Zealand they will visit some of Mary Stewart's relatives in Kaitaia.