Shiela Branson

The Story Behind the Story: a Journey of Mystic Proportions Shiela Branson

Publisher Marketing: From the get-go the writing of 'They Are My Song' was a mite odd. Upon giving a Voice to Sidhelagh, one of the characters, in order to provide a first-person account of the big paintings that this project was SUPPOSED to consist of, author Shiela Branson was a bit taken aback when not only Sidhelagh but Danann, Mamm, and all of the others 'insisted' on having a say - The art project turned itself into a book - and the Characters took the bit in their collective mouth were off and running the whole show. "Mostly I felt as though my role consisted simply of being a recording device for these Characters. It was kind of hard to keep up with them. A scene would get written, right? And then the Characters' Voices would bring in elements that were unexpected, changing the whole tone of the scene and in the end, the entire meaning of the book itself." As the research became more fascinating, Shiela found herself developing first an unanticipated respect for these people of the ancient days, which quickly became almost an awe. Unprepared for the validation of some of the details she THOUGHT she was making up out of her head, and even more by the confirmation of details that the Character Voices just seemed to pop into the story (she left them in although they didn't make much sense to her) Shiela was getting a little spooked by the whole thing. "I'd write in something that I figured was nothing but creative writing; then, while researching something completely different, up would pop an archaeological report or an ancient manuscript and I'd be sitting there - stunned at what I was seeing." The shock factor hasn't really subsided. "No matter how many times it happens, it's still a little spooky. When I got through with SONG and started on the Mamm Books, I thought the whole thing would get more 'normal' - but it's still happening." 'The Story Behind the Story' is a collection of blog posts and personal journal entries from the time of the writing of 'They Are My Song', together with photos of the 'learning experience' of first-time attempts at portraying people for this primarily landscape and/or abstract artist. When the people who had been going through this time with her began asking for more information about the 'strange coincidences' that kept turning up, Shiela decided to publish a book rather than try to explain it all again and again. "I was going to write a narrative but realized that the original sources might be better than trying to re-cap it all. So I gathered them together, most of them, and this book is the result." Contributor Bio:  Branson, Shiela Shiela Branson, born in Texas and now living in North Dakota USA, is enthusiastically indulging the Younglings of Dunnottar, who want their OWN books. The younglings want to share their adventures, both real and pretend, and Shiela is ready, willing, and able to let them! 'Introducing the Younglings of Dunnottar is both exciting and terrifying. They're wonderful Characters whose development has been intriguing to watch - but I'm never sure what they're going to be getting up to next!' In this introduction, excerpts from the 'Mamm Books' of the series THEY ARE MY SONG are presented as a means of getting to know the younglings a bit before leaping into their OWN books. Their home is long ago and far away unless you happen to live in or near Scotland, and even then it's still long ago ... Dunnottar in the 200s-400s AD is a different world from ours. Still, younglings will be younglings, and the Younglings of Dunnottar are as imaginative as any other generation. 'I can't wait to find out where (and when) they're going to take me. I can just hear them shouting at me over their shoulders as they run off to heaven knows where or when for another adventure: HEY! KEEP UP ... IF YOU CAN!'