life, On writing

The little moments of life that sneak into your writing. Like ninjas. But nicer.

writing in cafeThere’s one of those little sayings ‘You know you’re a writer when….’  And sometimes that feels exclusionary, like “Well, I don’t always look up murder sites in crowded cafes but I think I’m still a real writer Susan”, but I think everyone who writes ends up putting parts of their daily life into their work. You can’t help it sometimes. Those little moments or feelings sneak into your creative mind like friendly ninjas and go “Oh hey! have you seen me? I’d look pretty good in your WIP don’t you think?”.  And they do say to write what you know, so…

A little while ago I was running late for work. Traffic was horrendous. I had dropped my son off to his Granny after a long commute and was hoping I’d at least get to school before the first class. I drove down the side road and turned into the main road only just slowing, not stopping completely at the stop sign. Habit I think – mostly because there was never anyone there. That day there was a cop on a motorbike. The red and blue lights flashed, the siren went, and with a sinking feeling in my stomach I pulled over. Continue reading “The little moments of life that sneak into your writing. Like ninjas. But nicer.”

Musings on Fiction and Tropes

I still choose the Chosen One

I’ve been watching Wynonna Earp and thinking about the whole Chosen One trope. I love it. I know it’s a bit problematic at times (what with it’s occasional overtones of privileged saviour and the tendency to jump over plot holes) and prone to cliche and suffering from a case of the Mary Sues, but it has always spoken to me.

It must speak to others too because there’s an abundance of examples to choose from. Films like The Matrix have their Neo, and Star Wars attempted to make Anakin a chosen one (I reserve a little judgement on that one). Harry Potter is all about the Chosen One, although it plays with it in various ways. Many of my favourite TV shows centre on a chosen one – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Once Upon A Time, Merlin, and now Wynonna Earp.

As I prepared my lists of Chosen Ones, it struck me that they all, with the possible exception of Merlin and Arthur, and maybe Luke Skywalker, are reluctant saviours. At least at first. Usually they grow into their role. Emma Swan ends up merging who she is with her role as saviour, and Wynonna Earp gets antsy if she thinks she’s being left out of the action.  Once we’re made important it’s hard to back down from that. Especially once we accept that we’re actually doing some good too. Continue reading “I still choose the Chosen One”

Musings on Fiction and Tropes

Making the usual unusual – how I fell for Paranormal and Urban Fantasy

When I was young there wasn’t much urban fantasy to choose from. I remember the delight of Which Witch (a story I recently read to my own children), and a multitude of children’s stories about witch schools (all pre-Hogwarts and all of which I desperately wanted to visit). I was an avid reader of Maurice Gee and Margaret Mahy, and The Changeover and The Halfmen of O were perennial favourites. I’m not sure I would call The Halfmen of O urban fantasy so much because, like the Susan Cooper Dark is Rising sequence books and C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, children leave the real world here and are whisked off to a magical realm. The magic happens elsewhere.

 

I loved magic. I so wanted it to be real. When we played witches at school I was always the witch. Except that one time they said someone else could be the witch. I wasn’t happy about that. #notstillbitter #okayjustalittle Continue reading “Making the usual unusual – how I fell for Paranormal and Urban Fantasy”

Musings on Fiction and Tropes

Why I still love a good old quest Fantasy

fantasy the ring

“I’m going on an adventure!” cried Bilbo, and we went with him.

 

Quest fantasy as a sub genre includes tales that have a basis in the old Greek epics, fairy tales, and the mythic hero’s journey. There is a quest, a journey to achieve or retrieve something. Books I particularly equate with this genre are the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, and the Dragonlance Saga (particular favourites of mine growing up). The Arthurian myths also often have an element of quest fantasy, particularly those relating to the search for the Holy Grail.

 

The internal struggle of the character whilst undergoing the literal quest means that the character undergoes a quest for knowledge and self-betterment. The Wizard of Oz involves a literal journey for Dorothy to defeat the Wicked Witch of the West and return home to Kansas. Her internal journey is recognising that she was always strong enough and brave enough and kind enough to win over evil, and that ‘there is no place like home’. Continue reading “Why I still love a good old quest Fantasy”

Musings on Fiction and Tropes

Who wants to live forever?

child questioning immortality

My son has just started listening to Queen, and the other day I heard one of the songs they did for the soundtrack to Highlander: ‘Who wants to live forever’. Got me thinking. Would we really want to live forever? What would it do to us to live forever?

Okay for starters, there are quite a few people about whom I shudder at the thought of them living forever. I’m not just talking about the really evil people… .Does that make me a bad person? That does make me a bad person. Geoff from accounting is fine. Really.  But it’s a valid thought – If we lived forever, would we want to be around the same people forever? Would they start to really bore us? In fantasy fiction you often have elves or other immortals who have all lived for well over 1000 years and they all know each other. You’d surely get super tired of the same stories, again and again: Continue reading “Who wants to live forever?”