My
5th book is out next week - yet I'm getting to use the #debut
headline all over Twitter. Why? Because
my first four books were science fiction, whereas Waters and the Wild
is my first (but not my
last) fantasy. Which means I get to have all the fun!
There
are challenges to writing both genres. Not all fans of my
military-esque Space Opera books will
want to read my fairy-fuelled roadtrip through the Antrim Glens of
Northern Ireland. To counter that, however, a lot of people who might
have wanted to try out my writing find science fiction, as a genre,
less appealing than fantasy and are looking forwards to reading one
of my books for once!
I
thought I'd explore what I love about writing the two genres, where I
struggle and where I intend to
go with this weird assortment of books.
What
I love about writing fantasy.
Firstly,
no physics. I am not a scientist. I manage okay with plants and the
biology side of thing (I have
a gcse in there somewhere, and an A level). But physics, chemistry
and I parted company very
happily at age 14. Which means sf research hurts my brain but fantasy
is easier - not least because
I worked in a 12th century castle for a few years. As soon as I decide to
use a castle as a setting
that will be very useful, I'm sure....
Playing
with mythology. A lot of what I write is based in Ireland -
particularly the frozen North of the island. Now, Irish mythology is
wide and interesting, and not averse to being played with. I really
love that. In Waters and the Wild I play with changeling mythology,
bring in the legend of Ossian and Tir-na-nog, and adapt all that to
the modern world. I use landscapes that haven't changed in years,
that carry the feel and knowledge of the land, and rip through them
with my contemporary story.
And I can do that because mythology is just that - stories that have
been passed down. Like the
recipe for Irish stew there is no right and wrong, just one way or
another.
Being
really, really spooky. Fantasy is great for creeping fear. It's
fabulous for slow build and dark shadowed
corners. And I love that sort of writing. So, for general creepiness
and the delight of knowing
a reader might want to leave the light on for a while, fantasy is
huge fun to write.
Which
isn't to say my sf isn't scary and dark. The metal walls of Inish
Carraig, that mould around to imprison
people, are pretty memorable. But it's a different sort of darkness:
my fantasy has things that
can barely be seen in the corner of your eye; my sf your worst fears
made real.
So,
why, then, if I like fantasy so much have I written lots of sf (and
intend to write more)?
Sf
is huge fun. It is escapist. It is visual. It has no limits (if you
ignore the physics). It is bold and loud
with blasters and space ships. For sheer
shove-the-story-down-and-have-a-blast there is nothing
better.
Which
brings me back to my first musing. Will readers who have liked my sf
enjoy my fantasy?
That's
the worry and challenge.
Mostly,
I think they should. There are certain things standard across both
genres for me:
Expect
characters who feel real, and expect to be held close to them. Not
just the lead characters, but
the secondary ones too. Expect them to have their dysfunctional
moments, and for the narrators
to not always be honest.
Expect
to walk on the darker side of life. I don't do fluffy bunnies and
sparkly unicorns. Waters might
be the darkest book I've written to date (hard to tell!) in feel and
tone, if not horrific events. Whilst
not full-on grimdark, it should cause the odd shudder in the reader.
Expect
to have questions. As in Inish Carraig my characters don't entirely
know what is going on around
them and I don't step back to tell the reader the wider world. If
that wrong foots people, I'm not
sure it's a bad thing. For sure, it's the thing that I do.
Above
all else - Waters and the Wild is as much a Jo Zebedee book as any of
my sf is. The feel, the
pace, the cadence - they all complement my earlier work. If you pick
up a copy, I hope you come
away with that sense that, otherworldly as opposed to spaceworldly
though Waters might be, it's
still my world, in my words, and in my style. I do hope readers enjoy
it.
Jo
Zebedee writes sf and fantasy, sometimes in her space opera world of
Abendau, sometimes on the
streets of her native Northern Ireland. She blogs at
http://jozebwrites.blogspot.co.uk
and has a busy life
with work, kids, pets and, somewhere in the chaos, a long suffering
husband.
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