it's a deep secret and a wild sharing...

"Already Harry knew her story was unsharable, though she had started it with the vague idea that she might write it wonderfully well and have it published some day, but once begun the story had twisted and changed. Suddenly her true life was lived in the moments when the tip of her pen met the white paper."

The Tricksters - Margaret Mahy



One of the things that makes Margaret Mahy so wonderful is that life-long wisdom she brings to remembering being a child...


I spent yesterday puzzling out a new heroine's passion.
It usually doesn't take long to know what someone does, what their art is, because that is part of the character for me. But something about Jackson was hiding--I knew she was an artist, that she's gone into a more business-like major because she doesn't feel that art is viable.

In a scene coloring itself into my head, she was hiding something. Just her pictures seemed a little obvious. That she's wanted to be a dancer? The other lead asks her, "Why do you hide everything you're passionate about?"

Everything? How many things is she hiding? I asked myself.

Rather randomly, just looking around while not thinking about this, it occurred to me that if she wanted to make comics, that would be a thing she might consider silly, but was an outlet of her talent for drawing. If she really wanted to tell stories, but felt that wasn't her strength.

And now I get to wonder about what it means to the story to have this rather heavy character-question posed.

Why do you hide everything you're passionate about?