S.B. Stewart-Laing's Blog, page 31
September 3, 2012
On 'Getting It' Part II
One blog reader, Isme, left the following comment on my post on the importance of understanding social issues before one attempts to portray them in fiction.
There are several layers to this question; it also makes several assumptions about both writers and the ability to understand the human condition. To answer the surface question: No one is forced to write message fiction, or tackle Big Social Issues in their work. If you’re squeamish about an issue, or don’t want to do the research—that means really listening to people, educating yourself, etc,-- then don’t write about it. If you have a simple answer to the Issue—Racism is people being mean to folks who look different! Poverty happens to people who don’t work hard enough!-- you haven’t ‘gotten’ it. Social problems are hard to tackle because they are so multifaceted. Poorly researched, poorly executed message fiction does a lot of damage, because people learn from storytelling. I’ve discussed this at length in several other posts, but suffice to say that it’s better the clueless, cringe-making story be replaced with another forgettable mangst novel, or not exist at all, than be out there causing trouble. To address the larger implications: First, clueless fiction is not the exclusive territory of straight, white, educated men, nor is it what they would produce by default. That demographic has given us some excellent works of fiction. There’s also plenty of clueless message stories from people who should (in theory) know better—a prime example being clueless ‘feminist’ fiction written by women, who should have a firsthand understanding of these issues. No one is off the hook for increasing their understanding before writing, even about their own experiences. Second, the question presents a false dichotomy, which assumes that the ‘write what you know’ doctrine locks us into writing about our own lived experiences. If you are so lacking in imagination that you cannot write a character who is not a clone of yourself, or has experiences outside of your daily life, you should write a diary or memoir, or get a new hobby. The purpose of fiction is to give us an experience outside of our own. It may not always be easy to step outside of our ingrained ways of looking at the world and write from the perspective of someone totally unlike ourselves, but it is possible. And highly recommended. With research and empathy, I am convinced that anyone can write any character realistically, and explore any social issue in a sensitive and accurate way. Finally, you are under no obligation to write message fiction. No one will take your socially conscious cred away because you wrote a comedic sci-fi romance rather than an Important Novel About Poverty. It’s certainly much better to put a piece of enjoyable, entertaining literature into the world than a message story which gets its message utterly off course.
Should authors avoid dealing with serious issues such as racism if they aren't sure they will do justice to them?
On the one hand, it'd prevent lots of truly horrible stories (though not this one), on the other, the industry is already dominated by straight white males writing about worlds inhabited almost exclusively by straight white male.
There are several layers to this question; it also makes several assumptions about both writers and the ability to understand the human condition. To answer the surface question: No one is forced to write message fiction, or tackle Big Social Issues in their work. If you’re squeamish about an issue, or don’t want to do the research—that means really listening to people, educating yourself, etc,-- then don’t write about it. If you have a simple answer to the Issue—Racism is people being mean to folks who look different! Poverty happens to people who don’t work hard enough!-- you haven’t ‘gotten’ it. Social problems are hard to tackle because they are so multifaceted. Poorly researched, poorly executed message fiction does a lot of damage, because people learn from storytelling. I’ve discussed this at length in several other posts, but suffice to say that it’s better the clueless, cringe-making story be replaced with another forgettable mangst novel, or not exist at all, than be out there causing trouble. To address the larger implications: First, clueless fiction is not the exclusive territory of straight, white, educated men, nor is it what they would produce by default. That demographic has given us some excellent works of fiction. There’s also plenty of clueless message stories from people who should (in theory) know better—a prime example being clueless ‘feminist’ fiction written by women, who should have a firsthand understanding of these issues. No one is off the hook for increasing their understanding before writing, even about their own experiences. Second, the question presents a false dichotomy, which assumes that the ‘write what you know’ doctrine locks us into writing about our own lived experiences. If you are so lacking in imagination that you cannot write a character who is not a clone of yourself, or has experiences outside of your daily life, you should write a diary or memoir, or get a new hobby. The purpose of fiction is to give us an experience outside of our own. It may not always be easy to step outside of our ingrained ways of looking at the world and write from the perspective of someone totally unlike ourselves, but it is possible. And highly recommended. With research and empathy, I am convinced that anyone can write any character realistically, and explore any social issue in a sensitive and accurate way. Finally, you are under no obligation to write message fiction. No one will take your socially conscious cred away because you wrote a comedic sci-fi romance rather than an Important Novel About Poverty. It’s certainly much better to put a piece of enjoyable, entertaining literature into the world than a message story which gets its message utterly off course.
August 29, 2012
Platonic Relationships, Part II: Strange Bedfellows
Sometimes, we have to cooperate with people we wouldn’t necessarily pick—people who have very different worldviews or work styles, people with whom we have nothing in common, or people we consider jerks. While this gets a lot of play in comedies, and as a setup for romance, it’s used a lot less as a source of serious conflicts. On a macro level, this tends to happen with political causes. I remember when I lived in Seattle, several First Nations tribes banded together with an evangelical Christian group to lobby against allowing slot machines in grocery stores. I can only imagine what that joint strategy meeting was like. On a more personal level, there are random roommates (in areas with a high cost of living, people frequently have to join forces with complete strangers just so they can afford housing), coworkers, neighbours, friends-of-friends, or situations with a power imbalance where one party doesn’t have a choice except to be friendly to another. How the characters handle these situations can be very revealing, as well as complicating the main plot and providing opportunities for character growth. We may not love these situations in real life, but in fiction, they’re a gold mine. [image error]
August 27, 2012
Platonic Relationships, Part I
I’ve noticed in a lot of speculative fiction that there’s a low diversity in character relationships. In general, there seem to be the protagonist’s BFFs, some ‘friendly neutral’ types, and then the minor antagonists. The friendly neutrals pop up when needed and disappear when no longer plot relevant, and the BFFs do everything together pretty much seamlessly (except for the plot-mandated fights). Reality, of course, is more complicated. For example, my best friend and I have discussed on multiple occasions that we’d drive each other to insanity if we lived in the same house. Putting aside the fact our current locations are closely tied to our respective career choices, we have wildly different work and sleep schedules, different aesthetics, conflicting pets, different views on the thermostat…you get the picture. On the other hand, I once lived with someone whom I wasn’t buddies with—neither of us have kept in touch—but we had very similar schedules, priorities and tactics as far as running a household. Although we weren’t going to have a heart-to-heart chat, together we made an incredibly efficient team who kept the grocery budget balanced and the house clean (sometimes, I’ll confess, by steamrolling over the objections of some other residents, who felt that pop-tarts were an acceptable dinner food). There are also the more casual relationships, which form for a variety of reasons. People you bond with out of convenience, because you share an office or a class schedule or a commute or an apartment floor, even if you have little else in common. People with whom you share one common interest; the basis of your relationship is doing that activity together. People you’ve formed alliances with in order to accomplish a goal. People who are fun to party with, even though you know they’ll vanish like ninjas at the first sign of a crisis. People who act as mentors. People you mentor. Friends of friends. Friends of significant others. Friends of various family members. In short, your characters can have a lot of relationships which fall outside of the standard ‘band of best friends’ model. It’s interesting, it’s realistic, and it can be a good source of plot complications when the boundaries of these relationships get tested. [image error]
August 24, 2012
Chaos Theory
When characters have things all planned out, things can get predictable. Predictable is bad. The best way to solve this problem is to introduce an element of randomness. These characters can throw a wrench into the best-laid plans of your heroes and villains, and still seem organic to the story. The Contrarian: This person doesn’t have their own opinions on anything, but merely takes the opposite position to everyone else, no matter how absurd. Often the hallmark of someone who confuses being an independent thinker or a non-conformist with doing precisely the opposite of what the ‘herd’ is doing. The Contrarian can be a nightmare in any situation that requires a unanimous vote or a united front.The George Murray: A subspecies of The Contrarian, this person is highly intelligent and competent, but also allergic to authority figures, and will start playing the part of The Contrarian deliberately to mess with whoever is giving them orders. The Leeroy Jenkins: Has no concept of planning, patience or delayed gratification, and will dive headlong into their task without regard for the ‘big picture’. The Special Snowflake: This person has no use for colouring inside the lines, which can make them an excellent lateral thinker. But if faced with a task that requires following procedure or cooperating with others, they will run into major trouble. The Dr. House: What the George Murray is to the Contrarian, this person is to the Special Snowflake. The Dr. House is extremely competent, and insists on doing things their way because it will work. Unfortunately, this means trampling over rules, social niceties, and other people’s wellbeing, with no compunction about the resulting collateral damage. The Drama Hurricane: This person’s life is a soap opera, and when the plot gets slow, they stir it up again by deliberately creating conflict. The Troll: Also a subspecies of Contrarian, the Troll purposely takes absurd or inflammatory positions in order to annoy everyone else for their own amusement, often without a thought to the seriousness of the situation. The Chicken Little: Panics at anything, and behaves as people in a panic are wont to do. The Ditz: A few sandwiches short of a picnic, this person has a tendency to screw things up out of general dimwittedness. The Absent-Minded Professor: Almost the opposite of the Leeroy Jenkins, this person sees the big picture, but has a difficult time grasping the more mundane details. Is likely to forget critical basics. The Father Dougal: Lives in their own special world, which rarely intersects with the reality shared by the rest of the characters. This can make it nearly impossible to ensure their cooperation with even the simplest plans. The Curious Cat aka the Elephant’s Child: Cannot comprehend that some questions might be best unasked or mysteries unsolved. Count on this character to try the forbidden ritual, explore the creepy basement, or ask the cringe-makingly awkward question in an important diplomatic meeting. The Chameleon: This person changes their allegiance—and changes it enthusiastically—depending on their mood, their friends, or which way the wind is blowing that day. Not necessarily a traitor, but willing to trade in their supposedly sacred beliefs at the drop of a hat, which can make them impossible to predict. The I in Team: This character looks out for one person—themselves. Previous loyalties, positions, and promises will all go out the window if it serves their needs. Especially dangerous if their agenda is private, and their actions are inexplicable to the characters around them. The Neurochemically Challenged: Clinical insanity and/or heavy substance use means this person’s behaviour and perceptions do not resemble that of the other characters. This means their behaviour is unpredictable and irrational. The Loose Cannon: This person keeps away from Neurochemically Challenged status most of the time either by using appropriate medication or abstaining from the problem substance. Until they mess up their regimen, and unexpectedly revert to crazy. Bonus points if the other characters never knew about the problem. 
August 22, 2012
Author Interview: Tiger Grey
Tiger graciously agreed to be interviewed and give us all some more insight into the process of writing No Deadly Thing.
When developing the story, did you lead with the plot or the characters? Definitely character. I’ve been writing about these people for years, playing with their stories. They started out in a very different world, and I translated them to something realistic. I couldn’t have done that as well as I (hopefully) did without a strong basis in character. It’s like being an improv actor, ready to riff on a theme or an idea at any moment. A writer has to be like that with their creations.
When reading No Deadly Thing, I felt very much ‘in the moment’ with your characters. Do you have a particular technique for achieving that immersion while writing? I appreciate your comment about feeling in the moment with these people. I tried to think about how they all experience and process stress, for example, since they get the crap knocked out of them several times both physically and emotionally. Physical responses are something most people can relate to. But it has to be more than that because the character also has to be in contrast or compliment to their environment. The setting adds to the emotional color of a particular scene. That’s why most of us find brutal murder scenes creepier when they’re paired with jaunty music.
It’s a combination of factors. The character can have, say, relatable emotions, but if the character’s backdrop is a blank canvas the immersion can only go so far. Reading and writing are at their best multi-sensory experiences. I’ve always thought of it as layering veils. Each is gossamer thin and of a different color. Perhaps the embellishments are unique to each veil, and some are perfumed with black musk while others are scented with lavender. How the dresser chooses to pair these fabrics with one another defines whether the outfit is sublime or a disaster. I believe a novel should be likewise layered. It’s not only the wearer’s body, or the perfumes, or the embellishments. It is all of those factors, coming together to create something greater than its details.
Your prose has a very strong style. What authors or other storytellers influenced you in developing this? Honestly, I’ve always had a style that combined the stark and the lyrical, and I shoot for things that are cinematic. I notice I also have a sense of what you might call staccato timing,with the scene leading up to a dramatic or punchy end sentence. I tend to open things this way too, with a short and (again, hopefully) compelling lead in.
It’s funny though because as a kid I didn’t really read things that used that voice. I loved Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series, which has a much more lush and fantastical style than I do. I absorbed every Werewolf the Apocalypse rpg book I could get my hands on, and that was a little closer. Those works certainly had a huge influence on me as far as themes and the fact that I tend to write about gritty things like abuse. However, what inspires me most now is non-fiction, television, and movies.
That probably seems odd, that I would draw inspiration from a visual media for a novel. But certain shows and movies have taught me a lot about structure and how to tie plot threads
together. When I was mired in the second draft of No Deadly Thing I was also watching the first season of Dexter, and it occurred to me that I wanted the novel to be sort of like that. Something that could be a Showtime program. Episodic, willing to explore the dark side of human nature, visually arresting. The movie version of Let the Right One In deeply affected me as well. (Not the new remake!) There is an incredible sense of background silence in that movie. Things are coated in snow, muffled. There’s very little dialogue, comparatively. It makes the violent scenes that much more stark, because the environment isn’t cushioning the viewer with a hundred other little sounds. All you hear are screams, because everything else is so still.
It inspired me too because it wasn’t really about the supernatural elements. Those were just a method to tell a story, not the story itself. I tried to capture that too, that the magic is secondary to the characters. I got the idea of the novel’s chapters as a scattering of Polaroid pictures from watching that movie, since all the events in the film had a disjointed surreal quality that I loved.
The portrayal of Ashrinn’s culture and spiritual beliefs are very nuanced. How did you go about your research? Non-fiction played a huge role in my research. I read both
ancient and contemporary Persian/Iranian writings. I learned some
very basic Persian and I intend to keep studying the language in
the future. I read Persian poetry, Persian news, listened to Persian
radio. I studied the words of Zoroaster, and delved in to the Indo-
European language connections between cultures, and also the
mythical connections that bind so many people across the world.
The number of cultures that have a great flood story a la Noah’s
Ark is astounding. The virgin birth, the world tree, fire as a sacred
force, and being part of a divinely chosen people are also concepts
that have a deep root system in the collective unconscious. The
whole series is based around this idea in a way, that all worlds can
relate back to and are part of a world tree.
Interestingly as an Irish person I feel connected to Persian
cultural concepts and see some links there that I would really
like to write an academic work about one day. Flower imagery
and the importance of poetry immediately spring to mind.
Existing between modern day religious beliefs and old rituals
and superstitions. Symbols such as the stag and the serpent. That
helped me forge an emotional connection to what I was reading,
a very basic core I could draw from when writing about Ashrinn’s
struggles and beliefs.
I also listened to my friends, read blogs, and absorbed as
much knowledge as I could about what it means to be biracial.
Ashrinn is, like many urban fantasy characters, caught between
worlds on several fronts. In my social circle there are many people,
including me, who straddle this line in one way or another and I
learned a lot just from being quiet and listening to other people’s
stories. He’s a bisexual male which I think is a particularly invisible
population to belong to. He’s trapped in a life that raises questions
about what it means to be a man.
All of that is influenced by his upbringing and the
close relationship to his devout mother. Again, a focus on
intersectionality is, to my mind, what makes writing great instead
of passable. It cures writerly laziness and makes for characters that
breathe.
It’s also important to remember that on the big issues like
race, sex, and gender, there is no hive mind. Everyone who deals
with these concepts on a daily basis will approach their experience
differently. That’s the beauty of intersectionality. So I never took
one perspective as gospel. Instead, I studied and then infused the
work with what I felt was appropriate to the story. I am not telling
a story about what it means to be a bisexual biracial Persian male
in a way that everyone out there will relate to. I am telling the story
of this one man, who experiences those intersections in a unique
way based on his experiences, cultural impulses, where he lives and
so forth. I can only tell his story. Not everyone’s.
I think of it the way I think of science. Take a concept like
the science of why we fall in love. There is no single study that
will ever answer that question. At its best, scientific papers are
like contributions to a living whole, scales on a dragon that’s too
immense for any of us to truly, fully comprehend. I feel that way
about experiences. Every blog out there that captures a piece of
the Persian experience, for example, is adding to a greater whole.
This book will add to the urban fantasy genre, another scale on the
dragon. Hopefully it will be a particularly iridescent scale.
Oh, and if you’re a writer lucky enough to live in a city with
reasonable public transit, ride the bus. It will do more for your
work than you can imagine. Just listen to how people speak to each
other. I’ve been complimented on Jericho’s dialect and I really
owe it to this method. How do people from different backgrounds
choose their words? In Seattle there are so many diverse people,
who speak so many different languages and believe so many
different things, that a simple bus ride can teach me more than a
book ever could.
When developing the story, did you lead with the plot or the characters? Definitely character. I’ve been writing about these people for years, playing with their stories. They started out in a very different world, and I translated them to something realistic. I couldn’t have done that as well as I (hopefully) did without a strong basis in character. It’s like being an improv actor, ready to riff on a theme or an idea at any moment. A writer has to be like that with their creations.
When reading No Deadly Thing, I felt very much ‘in the moment’ with your characters. Do you have a particular technique for achieving that immersion while writing? I appreciate your comment about feeling in the moment with these people. I tried to think about how they all experience and process stress, for example, since they get the crap knocked out of them several times both physically and emotionally. Physical responses are something most people can relate to. But it has to be more than that because the character also has to be in contrast or compliment to their environment. The setting adds to the emotional color of a particular scene. That’s why most of us find brutal murder scenes creepier when they’re paired with jaunty music.
It’s a combination of factors. The character can have, say, relatable emotions, but if the character’s backdrop is a blank canvas the immersion can only go so far. Reading and writing are at their best multi-sensory experiences. I’ve always thought of it as layering veils. Each is gossamer thin and of a different color. Perhaps the embellishments are unique to each veil, and some are perfumed with black musk while others are scented with lavender. How the dresser chooses to pair these fabrics with one another defines whether the outfit is sublime or a disaster. I believe a novel should be likewise layered. It’s not only the wearer’s body, or the perfumes, or the embellishments. It is all of those factors, coming together to create something greater than its details.
Your prose has a very strong style. What authors or other storytellers influenced you in developing this? Honestly, I’ve always had a style that combined the stark and the lyrical, and I shoot for things that are cinematic. I notice I also have a sense of what you might call staccato timing,with the scene leading up to a dramatic or punchy end sentence. I tend to open things this way too, with a short and (again, hopefully) compelling lead in.
It’s funny though because as a kid I didn’t really read things that used that voice. I loved Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series, which has a much more lush and fantastical style than I do. I absorbed every Werewolf the Apocalypse rpg book I could get my hands on, and that was a little closer. Those works certainly had a huge influence on me as far as themes and the fact that I tend to write about gritty things like abuse. However, what inspires me most now is non-fiction, television, and movies.
That probably seems odd, that I would draw inspiration from a visual media for a novel. But certain shows and movies have taught me a lot about structure and how to tie plot threads
together. When I was mired in the second draft of No Deadly Thing I was also watching the first season of Dexter, and it occurred to me that I wanted the novel to be sort of like that. Something that could be a Showtime program. Episodic, willing to explore the dark side of human nature, visually arresting. The movie version of Let the Right One In deeply affected me as well. (Not the new remake!) There is an incredible sense of background silence in that movie. Things are coated in snow, muffled. There’s very little dialogue, comparatively. It makes the violent scenes that much more stark, because the environment isn’t cushioning the viewer with a hundred other little sounds. All you hear are screams, because everything else is so still.
It inspired me too because it wasn’t really about the supernatural elements. Those were just a method to tell a story, not the story itself. I tried to capture that too, that the magic is secondary to the characters. I got the idea of the novel’s chapters as a scattering of Polaroid pictures from watching that movie, since all the events in the film had a disjointed surreal quality that I loved.
The portrayal of Ashrinn’s culture and spiritual beliefs are very nuanced. How did you go about your research? Non-fiction played a huge role in my research. I read both
ancient and contemporary Persian/Iranian writings. I learned some
very basic Persian and I intend to keep studying the language in
the future. I read Persian poetry, Persian news, listened to Persian
radio. I studied the words of Zoroaster, and delved in to the Indo-
European language connections between cultures, and also the
mythical connections that bind so many people across the world.
The number of cultures that have a great flood story a la Noah’s
Ark is astounding. The virgin birth, the world tree, fire as a sacred
force, and being part of a divinely chosen people are also concepts
that have a deep root system in the collective unconscious. The
whole series is based around this idea in a way, that all worlds can
relate back to and are part of a world tree.
Interestingly as an Irish person I feel connected to Persian
cultural concepts and see some links there that I would really
like to write an academic work about one day. Flower imagery
and the importance of poetry immediately spring to mind.
Existing between modern day religious beliefs and old rituals
and superstitions. Symbols such as the stag and the serpent. That
helped me forge an emotional connection to what I was reading,
a very basic core I could draw from when writing about Ashrinn’s
struggles and beliefs.
I also listened to my friends, read blogs, and absorbed as
much knowledge as I could about what it means to be biracial.
Ashrinn is, like many urban fantasy characters, caught between
worlds on several fronts. In my social circle there are many people,
including me, who straddle this line in one way or another and I
learned a lot just from being quiet and listening to other people’s
stories. He’s a bisexual male which I think is a particularly invisible
population to belong to. He’s trapped in a life that raises questions
about what it means to be a man.
All of that is influenced by his upbringing and the
close relationship to his devout mother. Again, a focus on
intersectionality is, to my mind, what makes writing great instead
of passable. It cures writerly laziness and makes for characters that
breathe.
It’s also important to remember that on the big issues like
race, sex, and gender, there is no hive mind. Everyone who deals
with these concepts on a daily basis will approach their experience
differently. That’s the beauty of intersectionality. So I never took
one perspective as gospel. Instead, I studied and then infused the
work with what I felt was appropriate to the story. I am not telling
a story about what it means to be a bisexual biracial Persian male
in a way that everyone out there will relate to. I am telling the story
of this one man, who experiences those intersections in a unique
way based on his experiences, cultural impulses, where he lives and
so forth. I can only tell his story. Not everyone’s.
I think of it the way I think of science. Take a concept like
the science of why we fall in love. There is no single study that
will ever answer that question. At its best, scientific papers are
like contributions to a living whole, scales on a dragon that’s too
immense for any of us to truly, fully comprehend. I feel that way
about experiences. Every blog out there that captures a piece of
the Persian experience, for example, is adding to a greater whole.
This book will add to the urban fantasy genre, another scale on the
dragon. Hopefully it will be a particularly iridescent scale.
Oh, and if you’re a writer lucky enough to live in a city with
reasonable public transit, ride the bus. It will do more for your
work than you can imagine. Just listen to how people speak to each
other. I’ve been complimented on Jericho’s dialect and I really
owe it to this method. How do people from different backgrounds
choose their words? In Seattle there are so many diverse people,
who speak so many different languages and believe so many
different things, that a simple bus ride can teach me more than a
book ever could.
August 19, 2012
Book Review: No Deadly Thing
I just finished Tiger Grey's debut novel, No Deadly Thing.
No Deadly Thing is an intensely-character focused urban fantasy which follows discharged soldier Ashrinn Pinecroft. Sensitive to magic, he is struggling to reintegrate into civilian life with his wife and son when he is drawn into a supernatural conflict.
Refreshingly, the novel ditches the threadbare standards of urban fantasy and brings in a richly studied world based on Zoroastrianism and Persian folklore. The novel was a quick read-- the prose style is taut and flows quickly, and the characters are intimately drawn. It weaves together action, magic, and mystery with the subtle inner conflicts of the characters. The mythology and religion which underpins the action is handled with nuance and detail which speaks to a high level of research, and the reader is allowed a window into the main character's cultural experience. Highly recommended for those who like their action-adventure taken up a level in sophistication.
No Deadly Thing is an intensely-character focused urban fantasy which follows discharged soldier Ashrinn Pinecroft. Sensitive to magic, he is struggling to reintegrate into civilian life with his wife and son when he is drawn into a supernatural conflict.
Refreshingly, the novel ditches the threadbare standards of urban fantasy and brings in a richly studied world based on Zoroastrianism and Persian folklore. The novel was a quick read-- the prose style is taut and flows quickly, and the characters are intimately drawn. It weaves together action, magic, and mystery with the subtle inner conflicts of the characters. The mythology and religion which underpins the action is handled with nuance and detail which speaks to a high level of research, and the reader is allowed a window into the main character's cultural experience. Highly recommended for those who like their action-adventure taken up a level in sophistication.
August 13, 2012
Movie Review: Brave
A zillion people from my alma mater in the US contacted me as soon as the movie Brave was announced, asking for my Opinion As A Scottish Person. This past weekend, I went off to see it with the Gentleman Friend.
Verdict? I felt compelled to write a review explaining how this movie is Doing It Right. The Gentleman Friend would also like me to point out that the visuals were excellent. Beautiful backgrounds, lots of fun details, and spot-on animal animation.
The clothing and architecture was a big mix of time periods, but that wasn't essential to the story, so I didn't find it an issue, especially since it was otherwise very clear it was set in the late 6th century, and the landscape and politics and culture were presented well. Now for particular things I squeed over:
A realistic arranged marriage plot! Usually my biggest peeve with the arrange marriage/rebellious princess trope is that the focus is on the princess (usually the character is female, see my next point) getting patted on the back for flipping off tradition. No consequences ever occur besides the suitors pouting. Brave follows up on the consequences of refusing a political marriage-- in an environment where clan alliances are new and tenuous, Merida turning up her nose at her suitors can mean war. A rebellious princess minus sexism! Instead of the heroine whinging about being made to wear a dress, she's reacting to the pressure cooker that was being the eldest child of Celtic royalty. The nature of kingship as a semi-elected position is touched upon in a 'blink-and-you-miss-it' bit of dialogue, but the idea that being royalty means being responsible for everything, good at everything, and never screwing up ever is very much a driver of the conflict, not a spoiled princess wangsting about the superficial trappings of her role. A family-oriented plot! It's really refreshing to see a fantasy story with a young protagonist who cares about her relationship with her parents. In so many stories, the parents get shoved out of the way, either through death or by being obnoxious caricatures, so that the main character can be an individual. This story is--at its core-- about a loving family with internal communication failures learning to understand each other.
Verdict? I felt compelled to write a review explaining how this movie is Doing It Right. The Gentleman Friend would also like me to point out that the visuals were excellent. Beautiful backgrounds, lots of fun details, and spot-on animal animation.
The clothing and architecture was a big mix of time periods, but that wasn't essential to the story, so I didn't find it an issue, especially since it was otherwise very clear it was set in the late 6th century, and the landscape and politics and culture were presented well. Now for particular things I squeed over:
A realistic arranged marriage plot! Usually my biggest peeve with the arrange marriage/rebellious princess trope is that the focus is on the princess (usually the character is female, see my next point) getting patted on the back for flipping off tradition. No consequences ever occur besides the suitors pouting. Brave follows up on the consequences of refusing a political marriage-- in an environment where clan alliances are new and tenuous, Merida turning up her nose at her suitors can mean war. A rebellious princess minus sexism! Instead of the heroine whinging about being made to wear a dress, she's reacting to the pressure cooker that was being the eldest child of Celtic royalty. The nature of kingship as a semi-elected position is touched upon in a 'blink-and-you-miss-it' bit of dialogue, but the idea that being royalty means being responsible for everything, good at everything, and never screwing up ever is very much a driver of the conflict, not a spoiled princess wangsting about the superficial trappings of her role. A family-oriented plot! It's really refreshing to see a fantasy story with a young protagonist who cares about her relationship with her parents. In so many stories, the parents get shoved out of the way, either through death or by being obnoxious caricatures, so that the main character can be an individual. This story is--at its core-- about a loving family with internal communication failures learning to understand each other.
August 11, 2012
Book Release!
Book Two of the Forgotten Gods series, The Devil and the Excise-Man, is out next week! It will be live in print and ebook form on the 15th for the UK and Europe, and the 16th for the Americas.
Once again, our cover artist did something spectacular.
The book includes: the Wild Hunt, greyhounds, mad science, courtroom drama, and assassination attempts.
February 1746. The daione sìdhe have the run of what was once Great Britain as Scotland and England struggle to hammer out a treaty. On one side of the disputed border, the Jacobite rebels in Scotland have secured their nation's freedom, but are now faced with the task of learning to live alongside the supernatural beings which now roam the cities and countryside. In London, the English elite are fleeing to colonies overseas, leaving behind an increasingly desperate and loyal few to fight for survival against an enemy which seems to defy the very laws of nature.
Ina Bruce, an idealistic Jacobite propaganda writer, struggles to keep the public on the side of their new government. As the strange behaviour of the daione sìdhe erodes the crucial good will of the French and Spanish ambassadors, and a spy undermines her every step, her personal life begins to spin out of control. Meanwhile, Maxwell Thorley, already worked to exhaustion at London's Treasury and Excise, has begun to encounter strange beings that only he can see. When a mysterious Scottish doctor tells him that his visions are the product of magic, not madness, he is tempted into using his newfound abilities to help his country, even at the cost of his fortune, his family, and his soul.
As the stability of both governments becomes increasingly tenuous, a cadre of men in Westminster plot to destroy the nascent peace talks, a move which could solidify their hold on power-- or plunge the entire island into anarchy. But now that both sides have called on supernatural forces that they do not understand-- and perhaps cannot control-- it may already be too late.
Once again, our cover artist did something spectacular.
The book includes: the Wild Hunt, greyhounds, mad science, courtroom drama, and assassination attempts.
February 1746. The daione sìdhe have the run of what was once Great Britain as Scotland and England struggle to hammer out a treaty. On one side of the disputed border, the Jacobite rebels in Scotland have secured their nation's freedom, but are now faced with the task of learning to live alongside the supernatural beings which now roam the cities and countryside. In London, the English elite are fleeing to colonies overseas, leaving behind an increasingly desperate and loyal few to fight for survival against an enemy which seems to defy the very laws of nature. Ina Bruce, an idealistic Jacobite propaganda writer, struggles to keep the public on the side of their new government. As the strange behaviour of the daione sìdhe erodes the crucial good will of the French and Spanish ambassadors, and a spy undermines her every step, her personal life begins to spin out of control. Meanwhile, Maxwell Thorley, already worked to exhaustion at London's Treasury and Excise, has begun to encounter strange beings that only he can see. When a mysterious Scottish doctor tells him that his visions are the product of magic, not madness, he is tempted into using his newfound abilities to help his country, even at the cost of his fortune, his family, and his soul.
As the stability of both governments becomes increasingly tenuous, a cadre of men in Westminster plot to destroy the nascent peace talks, a move which could solidify their hold on power-- or plunge the entire island into anarchy. But now that both sides have called on supernatural forces that they do not understand-- and perhaps cannot control-- it may already be too late.
August 10, 2012
Coals and Pearls: On The Importance of 'Getting It'
It took me a while to write this post, mostly because my first reaction to Save the Pearls (and the blackface video promoting it) was utter shock. There are so, so many things wrong with the premise, and some excellent writers and bloggers have already done a good job of pointing out what they are. To recap: Recycled racial slurs? Yupp. Black people as beast metaphor? Check. Save the beautiful white woman from the oppression of black men? CHECK. White-privilege held up as some happy past which the main character longs for, and white extinction being a horrible nightmare dystopia? CHECK AND YIKES. Looking at Foyt's 'insights' on race in America is not recommended.
In the interests of actually adding to this discussion, I'd like to talk about the importance of 'getting it'. That is, when one wants to write message fiction-- which, in my opinion, all fiction is to some degree-- it is important to have a through understanding of the topic at hand. Foyt's problem is that she insists upon keeping a 'colour-blind' attitude, actively refusing to explore the past and contemporary intricacies of race relations, and picking up what she had vaguely absorbed from a position of privilege where she could afford to ignore them.
That said, it's not just a problem of privilege creating a bubble of oblivion. We all have a degree of myopia about our own experiences and perceptions. This means research. Not just gathering facts, but understanding what the facts mean to people's lives. For example, Ursula LeGuin's Four Ways to Forgiveness posits a planet far from Earth in which a dark-skinned equatorial people conquered the light-skinned people of the north. The stories occur after this world's civil rights movement. The situation is handled beautifully-- LeGuin explores how ingrained systems of racism eat away at character's self-image, taint every interaction, and shape the history of the world. People are racist not because they're stupid meanieheads, but because they have been taught from birth that they are superior.
Furthermore, in message fiction, complexity is your friend. You should really look into not only why a particular problem exists in our society (and your fictional society), but it's many manifestations, it's contradictions, the ways it has shaped society as well as reflecting it. Supplying easy answers isn't possible, and isn't your goal as an author. It's to open discussion, to challenge established patterns of thinking, and allow opportunities for reflection.
In the interests of actually adding to this discussion, I'd like to talk about the importance of 'getting it'. That is, when one wants to write message fiction-- which, in my opinion, all fiction is to some degree-- it is important to have a through understanding of the topic at hand. Foyt's problem is that she insists upon keeping a 'colour-blind' attitude, actively refusing to explore the past and contemporary intricacies of race relations, and picking up what she had vaguely absorbed from a position of privilege where she could afford to ignore them.
That said, it's not just a problem of privilege creating a bubble of oblivion. We all have a degree of myopia about our own experiences and perceptions. This means research. Not just gathering facts, but understanding what the facts mean to people's lives. For example, Ursula LeGuin's Four Ways to Forgiveness posits a planet far from Earth in which a dark-skinned equatorial people conquered the light-skinned people of the north. The stories occur after this world's civil rights movement. The situation is handled beautifully-- LeGuin explores how ingrained systems of racism eat away at character's self-image, taint every interaction, and shape the history of the world. People are racist not because they're stupid meanieheads, but because they have been taught from birth that they are superior.
Furthermore, in message fiction, complexity is your friend. You should really look into not only why a particular problem exists in our society (and your fictional society), but it's many manifestations, it's contradictions, the ways it has shaped society as well as reflecting it. Supplying easy answers isn't possible, and isn't your goal as an author. It's to open discussion, to challenge established patterns of thinking, and allow opportunities for reflection.
August 8, 2012
Athletic Endeavors, Part II: Refueling
Over the years, I've noticed that character's calorie and hydration needs for all kinds of hardcore athletic activities-- running around in armour, carrying heavy stuff for miles, hunting in the snow, etc-- seem to vary according to the plot and the aesthetics of the author. So I'm going to go all runner/biology nerd, and make a few points about energy (and H2O).
Water: this is THE most essential thing to think about. In a temperate climate, with minimal activity, an average-weight human can go about 4 days without water. If the temperature or activity level rises, this length of time can easily be halved. Even if someone isn't in danger of fatal dehydration, performance drops when someone is low on fluids. Body fat: Western society has latched onto the whole 'body fat is EVIL' thing to the point of forgetting that it serves an important function. It's the body's energy reserves. Although in some situations, any extra weight is a problem, if the character has to go for endurance, particularly in low temperatures, their padding may be a literal lifesaver. And although distance running or walking usually favour lean physiques, if your character has to go a long distance without food, they'll need that stash of fat. Food: Think about how many calories your character is burning, and how long they can go before they need to eat to avoid passing out on their face. Remember, muscle burns energy even if you're sitting still, so a buff character will need more than someone with less muscle mass.
Water: this is THE most essential thing to think about. In a temperate climate, with minimal activity, an average-weight human can go about 4 days without water. If the temperature or activity level rises, this length of time can easily be halved. Even if someone isn't in danger of fatal dehydration, performance drops when someone is low on fluids. Body fat: Western society has latched onto the whole 'body fat is EVIL' thing to the point of forgetting that it serves an important function. It's the body's energy reserves. Although in some situations, any extra weight is a problem, if the character has to go for endurance, particularly in low temperatures, their padding may be a literal lifesaver. And although distance running or walking usually favour lean physiques, if your character has to go a long distance without food, they'll need that stash of fat. Food: Think about how many calories your character is burning, and how long they can go before they need to eat to avoid passing out on their face. Remember, muscle burns energy even if you're sitting still, so a buff character will need more than someone with less muscle mass.
