The Ink Splat is our monthly activity letter filled with inspiration sparking challenges and resources guaranteed to inspire your creativity. In this Ink Splat, the book and author spotlighted is The Lost Years of Merlin by T.A. Barron along with an author interview! Submit a response to a challenge and you may have a chance to be published online! What are you waiting for?
The Challenge: Make a Splash
Imagine you are a droplet of rain falling from the sky. What happens next? Where do you end up?
Try using this new word in your writing:
Do you know what the verb strive means? Strive means to attempt or try hard. For example: Bobby is striving to get an A in math.
Submit your response HERE!
 The Lost Years of Merlin By T.A. Barron
When you think of any story with a magical twist one of the first characters you are likely to think of is King Arthur’s loyal friend and trusted wizard Merlin. What these stories rarely tell us is where did Merlin come from and how did he become the most powerful and memorable wizard ever? Well in this month’s Spotlight On pick, The Lost Years of Merlin by T.A Barron we learn just that! The Lost Years of Merlin is the first in a twelve book series. It is a 304 page novel and it is best suited for ages 9-12, but adults are allowed to read it too!
In The Lost Years of Merlin, we join Emrys a boy who mysteriously washes up on the shores of Ancient Wales, without any knowledge of where he has been, who he is, and how he got there. After he realizes that he will never find a home in Wales, Emrys embarks on a journey to the misty isle of Fincayra where he hopes to discover his true name, his home and the years of memories that were taken from him. It is only with the help of his newfound friends: Rhia the forest girl and the very small giant Shim that Emrys stands a chance of defeating the evil Rhita Gawr, understanding the true nature of his powers and saving the isle of Fincayra from the disastrous blight that plagues it. We know that he will eventually become the greatest wizard of all time, but how does he get there?
Buy The Lost Years of Merlin through Amazon here.
To visit T.A Barron’s website click here.
An interview with author, T.A. Barron!Â
Which character in this story do you relate to most?
T.A.B: My writing incorporates the subtleties of my own nature so, in some way, I relate to each character. Making characters come alive is one of the trickiest, but most important elements of writing. I usually take extensive notes about each character before I start to write, then expand that description as I get to know them better with every draft. When you see how they look in your mind, and can hear their voice echoing, then you’ve begun to know who they are. But it’s not until they lean close and whisper to you their innermost secrets—their deepest fears, their highest hopes, and their innermost longings—that they are truly real. And if they are fully real for you, as the writer, they will also be real for your reader.
There are not many origin stories focused on Merlin so exclusively, what ultimately led to this project and how long did it take you to actually start writing the story?
T.A.B:Â Ever since my days as a student at Oxford, I have loved the character Merlin-his richness, his depth, his appreciation for both the weaknesses and virtues of humanity. And his love for Nature, his greatest teacher. When I was researching Arthurian lore to write Kate’s undersea adventure, The Merlin Effect, I was struck by the fact that of all the thousands of stories about Merlin written over the past 1500 years, almost none are about his youth. He is the ancient wizard, the mentor of King Arthur, the co-creator of Camelot. But where did he come from? And what made it possible for him to become the greatest wizard of all times? That mystery got me going-although when I started out trying to fill in the gap of Merlin’s lost years, I had no idea what a big project it would be. Here you had this wondrous tapestry of myth about him, woven over fifteen centuries, and it had a big, gaping hole: Merlin’s lost youth. But the weaving needed to be delicate as well as bold; honoring tradition as well as original.
To make things even more challenging, I started out with a boy who washes ashore, with no home and no memory-the absolute opposite of a great, exalted wizard. For Merlin to grow in a believable way, from that humble beginning to his glorious destiny, required more than just three books. That’s why my original plan of a trilogy swelled to five books. And that’s also why it took me almost a full decade to write the five books of The Lost Years of Merlin.
Did you research for this story exclusively through the use of books and other mediums or did you also travel?
T.A.B:Â Extensive research is a must. If I as a writer am going to convince you as a reader to come with me to some fantastic place or time, I must first win your confidence. Your trust. The only two ways to do that are: first, to engage every one of your senses fully; and second, to do my research.
Long before I began writing The Lost Years of Merlin, I buried myself in all the Merlin lore I could find: Celtic myths, ancient ballads, the writings of T. H. White and others, even Shakespeare’s references to Merlin. I spent nearly two years reading texts about Merlin before I began to write The Lost Years of Merlin books. Starting with the ancient Welsh Mabinogian, I read the poems of Robert de Boron, the writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and as many Celtic ballads as possible. That’s just the beginning. Then, of course, I read more modern treatments such as The Once and Future King by T. H. White. My attitude was, if I was going to be so bold as to try to fill in the gap in Merlin’s lore about his youth, I had better know as much as possible about the rest of Merlin’s lore. Also, this process filled me with the richness of Celtic language and imagery, as well as the music of the old names. In the end, I created Fincayra and all that came with it, but I hope that these new threads still fit into the greater tapestry of Merlin myth.Â
And, yes, all of my travels have influenced my writing in one way or another – they have influenced me. The two most influential places have been Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, so full of nature’s wonder and beauty, and England (when I was a student at Oxford), where I first explored the land that gave birth to Merlin.
You use a very diverse vocabulary in your stories, but the story is written in a way that even if a child does not know the word they can infer its meaning by how it is used in the story. Was this intentional?
T.A.B: I believe deeply in the power (and also the poetry) of language. And I make a point of never “writing down” to young readers. As a result, my books are, I hope, both occasionally challenging and always fun, with lasting questions for the reader to ponder.
I always provide a lesson or example in my writing such as in The Lost Years of Merlin epic and The Great Tree of Avalon trilogy, Merlin is a real human being. He has struggles, sorrows, joys, and aspirations-and, hidden deep within him, a remarkable talent. Or gift. Or magic. In that way, Merlin is no different from all of us-burdened by the human experience while at the very same time exalted by it.
That is the remarkable metaphor of Merlin. This metaphor I truly believe lies at the very heart of the whole Lost Years of Merlin epic. Just like the young Merlin, all of us are washed ashore, half-drowned, at some point in our lives. All of us have hidden struggles-and hidden potential. And all of us, like the greatest wizard of all, have magic within us-and the ability to reach for the stars.
Thank you T.A. Barron!
For more advice from T.A. Barron click here.
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