Blog Chain: Why I Love Speculative Fiction (in pictures)

Topic from Michelle McLean: 

What elements in your favorite genre make it your favorite? For instance, if your favorite genre is romance, what elements do you like in a romance story? A tortured hero? A spunky heroine? Steamy love scenes? Sweet romance? If your fave genre is sci-fi, what elements do you love the most (the characters, the science, the possibilities?), etc?

My favorite genre is kind of an umbrella genre: 

It's speculative fiction. 

This spans widely between sci-fi, dystopia, fantasy, paranormal, and just a touch of magical realism. What do I love about it?

List time!

• hello, it's magic! Or science stretched to the limits of imagination. Either way, it's a heck of a lot cooler than what generally goes down at the 7-11... or Circle K.

Something is afoot at the Circle K.

• symbolism. Contemporary and literary novels can also have symbolism, and it's done really well by those genres all the time, but nobody does symbols like speculative fiction does. There's just so much freedom to run wild with them (A Wrinkle in Time). Sometimes it's downright allegorical (C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien). Love it!

Wrath of the Ents (Lord of the Rings)

Inner courage and beauty (Chronicles of Narnia)

The Old Ones, wisdom (A Wrinkle in Time)

• larger-than-life conflicts really force me to suspend my disbelief and let me get completely lost in the story.

• unfamiliar settings, often exotic and/or terrifying. The setting also often provides the main source, or an additional source, of conflict (see above).

Peeta Mellark in the Hunger Games arena

Diagram of the ship Godspeed in Across the Universe
(it looks spacious, but you can't ever leave!)

• character diversity - speculative fiction gives us an opportunity to delve into sensitive subjects like racism and other forms of prejudice in a safe place where the reader doesn't feel judged by the author. Many of my favorite books deal with these kinds of war-scale conflicts between groups who hate each other just for one shared trait, like a certain magical power (Beautiful Creatures) or descent (Star Trek, Twilight and Harry Potter), or maybe the district they were born into (Hunger Games).

Statue in the Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter)

Star Trek - know your alien races

• gadgetry! Yes, I'm confessing. I'm something of a gadget geek. Whether it's science fiction, futuristic dystopian, or even steampunk and fantasy, there are often gadgets of some kind or another involved. A holly wood wand with a phoenix feather core (Harry Potter), a pill that erases only traumatic memories that have just been shared (Memento Nora), automatons that may or may not be trying to kill you (Soulless), a well-designed spaceship that doubles as the claustrophobic setting (Across the Universe).

Couldn't resist adding my favorite doctor with his sonic screwdriver

Plush pill (this one won't make you forget)

Holly wood wand with phoenix feather core

These automatons look murderous

These are the main reasons I love speculative fiction, which is why I love working for Month9Books! It's all speculative fiction all the time, and in my favorite categories: MG and YA.

What's your favorite genre, and why?

Next stop by

 Christine Fonseca's blog to see yesterday's blog chain post, 

and check out Demitria Lunetta's tomorrow.

Also don't miss the BLOG TOURS going on right now for Sidekick: The Misadventures of the New Scarlet Knight and Pity Isn't an Option (both tours linked at the top of my sidebar as well). There are giveaways involved!

Max's Big Deal Debut: THREE PARTS DEAD

So not only did Max Gladstone win one of our very first Mystery Agent contests over at Operation Awesome (what seems like ages ago). He also worked his butt off and got a two-book deal with TOR! TOR! That's no small potatoes. So when he contacted me to let me know his cover had been revealed, I was thrilled just at the thought of his book becoming a real life book (we writers are all Pinocchios at heart).

Imagine my elation when I saw HIS COVER!

Add it on goodreads

Isn't it GORGEOUS?!! We were honored to be a very small part of this book's journey to publication.

Blurb:

A God has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart. 

Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot. Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help is Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead God, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith. 

But when the duo discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and the city’s slim hope of survival. 

Max's exciting steampunk fantasy debut is featured on Operation Awesome today so head over there to squee with us. 

Why I Prefer Fantasy

Pic from this site

Why do you write in your genre?

I've been pondering this question lately and I've come to this conclusion:

I don't like reality. That is to say, I don't like other people's ideas of what my reality should be. When I read most YA contemporary literature today, I'm thrown back to high school. Not Forks High School where something interesting and creepy was going on at the Cullen's house in the woods. No. My high school, where the popular kids who dictated the school's fashions, music, and dance themes were so far removed from my taste in fashion, music, and dance themes that I felt like a social outcast. Why would I want to feel that way again?

Exactly. And that's why I don't read a lot of contemp YA. It's also why the ideas that pop into my head tend to be about a much more interesting high school than my own where freedom of thought may not have been the norm, but it was the exception for one girl or one boy who knew the world was bigger than the inane social rituals of a bunch of shallow people.

Yeah, I was that girl in high school. And that's why I write fantasy for young adults. I want to build worlds where anything is possible and you aren't restricted by your wardrobe. I want characters with something more weighty to consider than whether to take Trig or AP Pre-Calc. And I don't want my books to be all about teens getting drunk, having sex, and basically behaving in a way that's as foreign to me now as it was when I was 15.

I'm a snob about contemp YA. I'll be the first to admit it. I just flat-out prefer fantasy and sci-fi. Take one look at my bookshelves and you'll understand that. It doesn't mean I don't ever enjoy a contemporary novel or realistic historical fiction. In fact, there's one YA contemp that's so unique, I can't wait for it to come out.

But it does mean I'll probably never write one.

If you're a contemp writer, why do you prefer it to fantasy? (I stand ready to take notes.)

If you're a fantasy/scifi writer, what are your reasons for eschewing the 'real world'?

Why Do We Love Magic?

Oh, Magic. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

1. (You thought I was joking about the counting, huh.) Escape. Movies, music, books, and plays about magic take us out of the mundane world and allow us to escape momentarily into a better (in some ways) world. There is still evil and intrigue, but that's part of the magic, too. And the evil can be defeated.
2. Metaphor and theme. We love the metaphor involved in a magical story--the way a person with a goofy name can stand for all that is wrong in the world, or maybe they stand for a principle like, "Self-interest always backfires," or, "People who wear pickles on their feet will never find true love". Any story can have metaphor, but I enjoy the obviousness of themes in magical stories. This layering makes a seemingly cute story turn out to be truly meaningful. 
3. It's Shiny. Maybe this should have been my first reason. We love the shiny pictures magical stories paint, like Harry Potter being chosen by his wand in Ollivander's Wand Shop or a magical golden ring with a glowing inscription. Lots of money is made on merchandise that helps kids (and adults) relive these moments. Myself, I'm still heartbroken that Quidditch is not an actual game. If I could pay to fly on a broomstick whilst dodging bludgers and scoring points, I would seriously save my money, no matter how much it cost. (Nasa, are you listening?)
4. Rules. This one is less obvious, but still a big reason we love magic. There are rules, usually clear-cut rules with predictable outcomes. Since real life is a messy grey blob where the good are sometimes punished unfairly and the wicked get away with murder, it's nice to believe for a few moments in a world where the wicked are always punished and the good, while sometimes misjudged, always triumph in the end. In magical stories, if you follow the rules, you will win. 

 Okay, I ran out of steam on the counting. This is why I've never been able to count sheep to fall asleep! :-)

I'd like to hear from you, and maybe we'll continue our counting sans the pesky numbers! Why do you love magic?

WINGS by Aprilynne Pike: my review

As promised, I am here to discuss Aprilynne Pike's fabulous debut novel, WINGS! By the way, the long-awaited sequel, SPELLS, is available from Amazon, here.

As for the first book, WINGS: I bought this book the second I saw that it was recommended by Stephenie Meyer. If you click on Ms. Pike's name above, you can read on her blog about her journey to publication. She actually got a personal referral to agent Jodi Reamer via the famed Twilight Saga authoress. But things weren't all roses and daisies on her path to publication. It's a very fascinating story that aspiring authors and readers alike will enjoy.

Now on to my review of WINGS! Let's use a point system I just made up. Five points for anything I particularly liked. Ah, heck, why not 10?

• 10 Points for a M.C. who homeschools, and loves it.
• 10 Points for a very sweet boyfriend-type.
• 10 Points for a hot, passionate boyfriend-type who creates a love triangle for Laurel.
• 10 Points--no, has to be 50 Points--for completely original story premise and plot. Even reviews and descriptions read before the book did not give away the startling twist of who the protagonist really is.
• 10 Points for vivid descriptions of the bad guys that made me cringe...yes, actually cringe.
• 10 Points for creating high stakes and the question of survival, not only for the protagonist, but also for people she loves.

Well, that's 100 Points, so I should stop.

I'll just add that Aprilynne Pike really pulled me into her world by the end of the novel, so much that I was thinking about it long after I closed the back cover over the sneak peek of the sequel. If I hadn't broken my bank buying The Red Pyramid and a slew of other best-sellers at Barnes and Noble, I'd probably be out picking up SPELLS right now. As it is, I must force myself to wait.

If you have read either book, please feel free to join my monologue in the comments below! (No spoilers, please. Some of us haven't read SPELLS yet.)

Next Read: IF I STAY by Gayle Forman: "What would you do if you had to choose?"

Update: end of March 2010

Still revising Empty Vial, and learning more about the publishing industry and all its little cogs. I now believe that my third book (Empty Vial) is YA fantasy science fiction. Apparently, that's the new word for "soft" science fiction. But if I could specify it to death, I would call it YA neuroscience fiction. It's really the only label that fits 100%. I also now realize why, when somebody convinced me my work must be literary (because it had to do with the mind), agents turned and ran when I labeled my MS as literary science fiction. Apparently, very few agents work with "literary" anything. Good to know. Some of my favorite industry blogs are Nathan Bradford's agent blog, and one he recently linked to: http://www.pimpmynovel.blogspot.com - VERY helpful!

My fourth work (work-in-progress, really) is middle grade fantasy of the superhero/super villain variety. I'd be more specific, but I really like my premise and--although it isn't perfectly original (it was actually inspired by a favorite movie)--I don't wish for the market to become saturated before I finish it. So I'll write about it when it's agented. Count on it.

As for the Empty Vial project, it still needs a lot of work. It's been out for submission before, rejected around 8 times, and I hope it will be out for submission again soon. But I am NOT going to jump the gun this time. I need to get it industry-ready. I have also decided that nanowrimo projects aren't so easy to revise into working novels. I have limited experience, to be sure, but it's been surprisingly difficult with Empty Vial to take my stream of consciousness, first person ramblings and turn them into a tightly plotted story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It's still not there yet. I have a very supportive group of family and friends reading for me. They are wonderful and usually tell me when something is way off in my work. Of course, it would be nice to have an industry professional reading my stuff, offering advice, etc., but I'm not rich. I don't see us being able to afford a real editor until after my first book is on the shelves for a while, ironically.

I'm off to write chapter 4 of mysterious new project, and revise chapters 8, 9, 10, etc. of the last one. Wish me luck. As Margaret Atwood said, "...there's no free lunch. Writing is work. It's also gambling. You don't get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but essentially you're on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don't whine."