WHAT ARE "BALLY GIRLS"?
Amazing acrobats, if you ask me!
Welcome to Monday Mermaid Musings where I talk about my new book The Mermaid Riot (Fire and Ice YA, March 19, 2024) and how much of the story was created. I hope you enjoy these tidbits as I hope to extend the conversation around the book beyond the mythology, lovely as that is most of the time.
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Monday, 10 June 2024
WHAT ARE “BALLY GIRLS”?
Amazing acrobats, if you ask me!
One of the things that I love about being a historical fiction writer is the research. History has always interested me; it fascinates me to see how much has stayed the same over the years.
The research for The Mermaid Riot led me to reading a lot about the history of the circus in America, but how did the idea of the circus come to me in the first place? Of course, I read as much as I could find about mermaid history, folklore, and the continuing modern-day fascination with them.
One of the first books I consulted was a gift from my sweet daughter Kitri titled Mermaids: The Myths, Legends, & Lore by Skye Alexander. I also read The Mermaid Handbook by Carolyn Turgeon along with the more academic treatments of the cultural significance of mermaids in many parts of the world throughout history. These books included African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry by Professor Ras Michael Brown and The Penguin Book of Mermaids edited by Cristina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown.
The Alexander and Turgeon books reminded me of the “Fee-Jee Mermaid” hoax perpetrated by the ultimate showman Phineas T. Barnum in 1842. I mentioned this here
By the time I was researching this story, I had seen the 2017 Hugh Jackman movie musical “The Greatest Showman.” While the mermaid hoax didn’t play a part in the movie, some of its themes such as accepting peoples’ differences and fooling a gullible public influenced plotting my book.
This is where I come back to why the circus plays a part in The Mermaid Riot. I love mermaids, but clowns and the circus in general cause an uneasy feeling in my gut. I capitalized on my own emotions here and projected them on the character of Tobi and built his character arc around that.
Also fascinating because I’m a dance historian and have written extensively on this subject, was the mention of “Bally Girls” in the research. This was the 19th century nickname, or mispronunciation of the French word ballet is more my guess, of the female circus acrobats who did tricks while riding or standing on the back of galloping horses. Dizzying thought, but they were typically girls with ballet training who wore traditional 19th century ballet costumes and slippers. To seal the deal, I once had a wonderful yoga student named Dallas who was an accomplished trick rider. Isn’t she beautiful and amazing?
This is all an example of how research, popular culture, and personal experience can combine with a single idea for a story and become a plot. Go “Bally Girls”!
In other mermaid news, I want to thank book friend LORETTA GOLDBERG for this wonderful interview about The Mermaid Riot on her blog. You can tell from the great questions that Loretta is an accomplished author and historian. THANKS, LORETTA!
https://lorettagoldberg.com/do-mermaids-exist-hundreds-of-people-in-1867-charleston-knew-they-did-they-believed-a-captured-mermaid-yearning-for-freedom-was-causing-the-storms-battering-them-joy-e-helds-enchanting-histori/
I like mermaids because they make waves.
Stay tuned for more background, how I twisted the so-called facts of the “mermaid incident” to suit the story, and how I applied literary license to write a fantasy novel about learning to believe what you’re told and when to question it.
~JEH
Resources
Alexander, Skye. Mermaids: The Myths, Legends, & Lore. Adams Media, 1012.
Bacchilega, Cristina and Marie Alohalani Brown, eds. The Penguin Book of Mermaids. Penguin Books, 2019.
Brown, Ras Michael. African-Atlantic Cultures and the South Carolina Lowcountry. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Turgeon, Carolyn. The Mermaid Handbook: An Alluring Treasure of Literature, Lore, Art, Recipes, and Projects. Harper Design, 2018.
The Mermaid Riot is a work of fiction inspired by a true event that happened in Charleston, South Carolina in 1867 which became known as the mermaid riots. Names, dates, and locations have been fabricated to accommodate the plot.
The Mermaid Riot by Joy E. Held is available in ebook and print form from online retailers. Read a sample and purchase here
https://www.fireandiceya.com/authors/joyeheld/mermaid.html
JOY E. HELD is an author, educator, editor, entrepreneur, and literary citizen responsible for this site and its contents. She is the author of
Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2020)
Writer Wellness Workbook: A Guided Workbook and Journal to Accompany Writer Wellness: A Writer’s Path to Health and Creativity (Headline Books, Inc., 2023)
The Mermaid Riot (Fire and Ice YA, 2024) Young Adult Historical Fantasy
She writes spicy historical fiction under a pen name.
She is the winner of multiple writing and book awards:
West Virginia Writers, Inc. Annual Writing Contest, Honorable Mention, Novel, 1998.
New York Book Festival, Honorable Mention, Writer Wellness, 2020.
Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Finalist, Writer Wellness, 2021.
Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, Member of the Year, 2020.
Northeast Ohio Romance Writers of America, First Book Award, 2020.
She is an adjunct faculty member in the Southern New Hampshire University Online MFA Creative Writing.
She is a proud graduate of Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA with an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction.
She is a member of The Authors Guild and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Joy is the founder and CEO of My WRITEDAY Subscription Box for writers and readers.
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I love the new book cover. It’s got a haunting charm that demands attention.