Eggs or Live Birth?

I belong to several on-line groups of artists. I was once involved in a “fairy wing” discussion on a sculptor’s site. The discussion was about where fairies wings were located anatomically. It seemed to me the correct answer would be, “Anywhere you want them. It’s your fantasy.” But, then they got into how a fairy has babies: eggs or live birth and was it like a sea horse?

They could totally suspend belief to accept little flying people, in our world, but they drew the line at where the wings went and live birth or eggs. Everyone had their own idea of what was “correct” and good, logical reasons why. I began to take the whole issue a bit more seriously.
I, for one, feel that a fairie's wings need to be between the shoulder blade to balance the body weight. Maybe I’m just a klutz, but if I was hanging by a harness and it wasn’t at shoulder blade level, I would probably be upside down most of the time.

I’m not too far into Terry Pratchett’s, Color of Magic, but I want to totally believe in a world that resides on the back of a turtle. By page one hundred and twelve, I'm not sure what the laws are, but I'm pretty sure he has them. This may be the worse example I could give, but hey it's a really fun book.

Readers will suspend their belief for your world, as long as you make your rules and stick to them; or make the world so wild they just don't care anymore. These rules do not have to be complicated, just logical.

Think of all the things we need in our world and how would your magical world handle it?

EXAMPLE:

Food: In Harry Potter’s world, J. K. Rowling does now allow food made out of thin air. Her characters are, however, allowed to take food and enlarge/multiply it. That is but one of her rules.

So, start with your world, from brushing teeth in the morning to getting into bed at night, and decide the rules you need to create to make your magical world believable and stick to them.

A discussion of Eggs or Live Birth anyone?

Are there real people in your book?

I am sorry, that I have been gone so long from blogging. I have had a touch of the flu here, as well as working with my camera (it is fairly new). I need to really have it down as I am taking wedding pictures, for my niece, in two weeks. I did her mother's wedding photos, oh so long ago.

But, back to the book, I wonder how you 'see' your characters.

Are your characters based on real people?

My book is set in a fantasy world but I definitely use real people for inspiration. Sometimes it’s just a face in a magazine, sometimes an actor and occasionally, I am inspired by someone I know.

As a portrait artist and some-time doll maker, I have always collected photos of interesting faces. I search through this file for faces that say they belong to my character. Usually, already have a good solid description of their character first and use the picture to make them come alive for me. I am a visual person.

One character in my Middle Grade novel, was giving me trouble. I had a description, but for some reason I just could not “see” him. He was a wooden character; without a personality. I decided it was time to find his face.

Nothing in my file fit, nothing spoke to me. It was a voice that finally did it. And, readers of my personal blog Savanvleck’s Weblog have my permission to start laughing, but this is how it happened.

I was watching that extra disc of information that they put in the Lord of the Rings I and III, and other, movies. I was making some notes and not watching it really, just listening and I heard my character speak. I looked up to see they were interviewing Viggo Mortensen. His every day, non-acting voice, was the voice was my character. It was the first time I had heard his calming tone and my charcter came alive and said, "This is who I am." I finally found “the” face.

The really odd thing was that when I went into my character charts to see if I needed to update his description, the only thing I had to change was his eye color.

I almost always have a picture for my character, even if it is a sketch, and a lot of the personality quirks of my three protagonists fit the three boys in my house; obviously real people. Which, is not surprising as they were the inspiration for the story and, in some ways, it is their story.

"What if ......"

I think I have lived in a fairy tale world, since I was born. I am often happier being “in” a book than in life and I love to lose myself in a movie. I hate when the lights come up in the theatre. Living in a fantasy world has made it so much easier to come up with ideas for novels. Of course, this is the same woman who once, took a marker and drew out all the pictures I saw in the wood on the bathroom floor. It was the subflooring mind you.

I do look down a lot at things and my mind see pictures that others do not. I often hear, when I point them out to others, “HUH? You see what?”

A story for me needs only a “What if …” My mystery started with “What if a gorilla was kidnapped.”

My YA novel began with “what if…” and an event in my life.

I’m not filling the “what if…” in right now, as it is central to my plot and, I think, so much fun for a fantasy that I want to save it. Hopefully, soon, I will put up the book flap copy that I propose, and it will be in there.

This YA novel, also started from my life and the three boys I am raising. It involves three brothers traveling from their “not so great” life in the human world to a realm that has lived alongside humans since the beginning of time but humans being who they are refuse to acknowledge them. I have used stories told in the history of most cultures. There are always tales, around the fire, of other life forms, from giants to fairies. I have also used a lot of Native American mythology.

So, if you are every sitting there wondering, “What do I write about?” just ask yourself “What if…?” OR, you could try drawing on the bathroom floor.