"They are imaginary characters. But perhaps not solely the products of my imagination, since there are some aspects of the characters that relate to my own experience of a wide variety of people"
About this Quote
Mahy is doing a quiet two-step around the romantic myth of the solitary genius. Yes, her characters are “imaginary,” she grants, but she refuses the implication that imagination is a sealed room. That “But perhaps” is the tell: a small, polite hinge that swings the whole statement from author-as-god to author-as-listener, absorbing and recombining the world.
The intent is partly defensive and partly generous. Defensive, because fiction writers are forever asked whether a character is “based on” someone real, as if invention is a disguise for gossip. Mahy answers without betraying her sources: her characters aren’t one-to-one portraits, yet they aren’t weightless inventions either. Generous, because she credits “a wide variety of people” as co-authors of her inner life. Experience becomes a kind of communal archive she draws from, not a private confession.
The subtext is a theory of realism that fits her work: the most convincing “imaginary” people are composites, built from observed contradictions, odd phrasing, stray acts of courage or pettiness. She’s arguing that authenticity in children’s and YA literature doesn’t require autobiographical exposure; it requires attention. The imagination, in her framing, isn’t escapism but a processing tool, a way to transform social texture into narrative.
Context matters: Mahy wrote from New Zealand, often against the assumption that “small” places produce “small” stories. By invoking variety, she signals range and permeability - an author shaped by many encounters, not just one autobiography.
The intent is partly defensive and partly generous. Defensive, because fiction writers are forever asked whether a character is “based on” someone real, as if invention is a disguise for gossip. Mahy answers without betraying her sources: her characters aren’t one-to-one portraits, yet they aren’t weightless inventions either. Generous, because she credits “a wide variety of people” as co-authors of her inner life. Experience becomes a kind of communal archive she draws from, not a private confession.
The subtext is a theory of realism that fits her work: the most convincing “imaginary” people are composites, built from observed contradictions, odd phrasing, stray acts of courage or pettiness. She’s arguing that authenticity in children’s and YA literature doesn’t require autobiographical exposure; it requires attention. The imagination, in her framing, isn’t escapism but a processing tool, a way to transform social texture into narrative.
Context matters: Mahy wrote from New Zealand, often against the assumption that “small” places produce “small” stories. By invoking variety, she signals range and permeability - an author shaped by many encounters, not just one autobiography.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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