Meandering

Young writers are always given advice that I think is kind of wrong. You know the kind of advice I mean. Plot beats, character types and arbitrary complications. The plot has to be propelled like a Hollywood movie.

This is something I’ve been resisting lately. You know I’m such a rebel. I’m building worlds without kings and armies. Resources are shared, not hoarded. Women can hold leadership without it being a big hairy deal.

So maybe it isn’t a surprise that my plots are different, too. No high-speed rockets here. I meander between characters and leave space for the reader to think. In some ways, we can tell the story we want to tell, but the reader might read things into it we have no knowledge of and can’t predict. Call me delusional, but I think writers can trust the readers figure out what’s going on and what it might mean.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” (This quote is often attributed to Ghandi but it actually originated with a teacher, Arleen Lorrance.) Writers and other artists have the unique opportunity to do just that. The USA is a mess right now, in so many ways. Literally, legally, emotionally, we are all struggling. But I, as a writer, can identify things that could be done differently, and I can write about those things in the framework of a story. I’m pretty obscure, but you don’t know who will pick up your book. So maybe I can introduce ideas (the way Lorrance did) that eventually filter through and become part of people’s thinking.

At least, that’s my hope in being such a rebel and writing about worlds without capitalism or patriarchy. Eventually, I hope, you’ll all meander along with me in The Warlock’s Army.

Hey, I’m a fantasy writer. Let me dream.

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