Celebrating A Diversity of Worldviews

By Maggie Faire

I am an author who writes across several genres because I love looking at the world and its problems and resolutions through different perspectives.  As Maggie Faire I write Young Adult Urban Fantasy. My current series, The Forest People, is about a young woman who is a human chameleon. She has grown up with “normal” parents and because of her condition has been sheltered from the world. It first manifested at birth, but then becomes uncontrollable during puberty. Isn’t that when everything is uncontrollable? J  An important part of her journey is to discover why she has this curse (her view of it) and how she can learn to live with it or use it to her advantage.

Thank you, Judith Ashley, for asking these questions to make my discussion easier!

Why YA? I know you write for adults so why add YA?

The simple answer would be that I’m crazy. Most people don’t think a grandmother should be writing YA and of course I love to disprove whatever “most people” think.J  A better answer is that YA, unlike most adult genres, reader expectations are not as prescriptive in the genre rules. This allows authors much more freedom in incorporating a wider range of topics, protagonist experiences, and cross-genre stories within any one book.  I think that is also why so many people, both teens and adults, love reading YA novels. Did you know that 50% of YA readers are between the ages of 35 and 50?

Also, YA is primarily about the coming-of-age story—that time in life where a young person becomes an adult and has to figure out who they are separate from their parents, their peers, and form a real sense of “self.”  I personally believe that we all go through this who-am-I-really stage at several times in her our lives. Certainly, the move from child to adult is the expected one. However, I think anytime something changes (marriage, death, divorce, finding or losing a job, retirement) we go through some type of re-evaluation of who we are, what we want, and what we are contributing to the world.

The other thing I love about YA books is the emotion. When I remember back to being between the ages of 12 and 19, I remember that every decision seemed life-changing and potentially the end of the world as I knew it. By putting my YA books in a fantasy world, I can truly make the real end of the world a possibility that is all on this young adult’s shoulders. It heightens the emotion and allows me to exploit themes in a different, more exciting way than I can in some of my adult books.

What, if any, message are you sharing with your readers in your stories?

I think the hardest thing to learn in life is that there is both good and evil in the world and, whether we admit it or not, we are all capable of both. It is not so easy to identify what constitutes evil and what that means to how we live our life. Is evil a supernatural entity like the devil? Is it a conglomeration of all the bad we do that somehow becomes something more than the sum of its parts? Is it something that we can define by specific ways we treat people or animals or the things in our life? There is a lot of grey between the two polls of good and evil; and I think it is pretty easy to slip toward evil little by little. And that slippery slope becomes more dangerous when things aren’t going our way, when expectations for our daily life aren’t being met.

In my series, evil is a somewhat ambiguous concept that becomes manifest in an entity called the Abaddon. This name is taken from the Hebrew translation for “place of utter ruin, desolation, or destruction” and is personified as the angel of the abyss. In the series, the Abaddon also creates some real environmental consequences for the Forest People who live in the land of what we might call Faerie or Myth; and when it seeps into the human world it is manifested through behaviors of greed and power. Teens are very interested in the good and evil tug-of-war and I wanted to delve into that in both an existential and practical way in these books.

What are the easiest and most difficult aspects of writing for this age range?

I don’t find the age range more difficult than writing adult books. I simply find it different because the protagonists are younger and, therefore, bring a different level of experience and expectation to solving problems. Writing YA protagonists requires me to revisit that time in my life, or my children’s lives, and recall the emotions and feelings of that age. Fortunately, by casting my protagonist as an outsider, both in the human and fantasy world, I am not tied to knowing the latest jargon, language, or pop culture references that teens experience today or may experience in the future.

The most difficult part of this series is the world-building genre. I’m building a complex world with different races, religions, cultural practices and rules that are unlike the ones we know—yet have some characteristics familiar to us so readers aren’t completely lost. Memory is no longer a strength I have, so I have lots of notecards and what I call a “world-building bible” that is my reference for my character and creature descriptions, rules, practices, religions, relationships to each other and to the human world, etc. Believe me, I have to refer back to that reference almost daily because it is so huge.

Fortunately, I have 3-5 wonderful beta readers for this series. They are between the ages of 14 and 18 and they love a variety of YA books and particularly paranormal or fantasy fiction. These teens are unrelated to me, so they have no problem telling me where I’ve gone wrong or right, and whether they think things are believable or not—interesting or not. This is critical for me. When I release a book, I feel confident that it will work for a good portion of teens in this age group who read fantasy or urban fantasy.

Thanks for letting me share the space here on Romancing the Genres. Tell me, what do you look for when reading a fantasy or urban fantasy novel? If you write in the genre, I’d love to hear your answer to the question of WHY.

About the Author:

Maggie is the author of 18 published books, as well as more than 30 short stories and numerous non-fiction articles. She is also the founder of Windtree Press, an independent publishing cooperative. Her adult fiction spans romance, suspense, and SF titles under the name Maggie Jaimeson. She writes YA Fantasy under the name Maggie Faire.  Her non-fiction titles are found under Maggie McVay Lynch.

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Who Is My Hero?

Hi, I'm Pippa Jay, author of scifi that engages the emotions. When I saw the topic for this month's posts, I went blank. Hero is a word overused in the modern world and often for things I don't regard in the least bit heroic. I see it used a lot for sports personalities, for example. Frankly, I don't see a footballer as a hero in the true sense of the word. Someone kicking a ball around a field for 90 minutes or less for several grand, often shouting abuse and spitting? Not heroic. Someone who runs 26.5 miles in a rubber rhino suit to raise money for charity? Now that's heroic!

Hero (from dictionary.com):
noun, plural heroes
1.
a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
2.
a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal:
He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.
3.
the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.
4.
Classical Mythology.
a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity.
(in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability.
(in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.

I've never really had an iconic real life hero or heroine. Is that bad? To me, it's the unnamed and often forgotten day to day heroes who deserve recognition. The ones who risk their lives in the emergency services saving others, and helping to keep us safe, like the ambulance crew who rushed out to me when I had a panic attack while heavily pregnant and suffering from a chest infection. The carers and the teachers. The volunteers who work at shelters for the homeless or for injured or abandoned animals. The soldiers who fight to defend those who can't defend themselves. Those who stand up for the rights of others despite the abuse or physical attacks. Hundreds of people whose names may never be known.

But in my small, everyday life, my husband is my hero because there are some days when he saves my sanity if not my life. He's the guy who, three months after first starting to date me, stayed by my side and held my hand when my mum died when I was just nineteen. He's been there through three pregnancies with me, including medical complications and an emergency Caesarean with our first child, and one miscarriage. And even though when I first started writing and he thought it was just a pipe dream, he's now the one that gives me a hug when I have my bad days and reminds me how far I've come and what I've accomplished.

He might not fit anyone else's definition of a hero, but he does for me, and he provides the background inspiration for so many of my own fictional heroes who would do anything for their loved ones and family, and heroines who would do the same.

7th May, 1993

Real Life Hero

Vivienne Lorret

There are so many amazing individuals that I could honor with our topic this month: real life heroes/heroines. I’m grateful for our service men and women, firefighters, police officers, and soldiers who risk so much to keep us safe. Medical professionals work tirelessly to care for us. Teachers sacrifice their time and, more times than not, their own money to educate us. Everyday Good Samaritans act without thought to help those in need.

In fact, there are so many heroes among us that we could fill millions of web pages just telling their stories. For my blog post, however, I’m going to write about one of the first heroes I’d ever met: my optometrist.

I met Dr. K when I was in elementary school. During those first two years, I was a fair student. I excelled in art and music class. I loved listening to Mrs. Cain during library hour. But math, reading, and English were hit or miss. Sometimes I was on fire and other times… not so much. In addition, I spent more time with my nose against the dimpled cinder block wall than I did outside, enjoying recess and the mysteries of tetherball.

My kindergarten and first grade teachers listed “Has trouble paying attention in class” on my report cards. But what none of us knew at the time was that I couldn’t see. Life beyond ten feet from me was this hazy, watery world of color smears and indistinct shapes. I thought everyone’s world was just like that. I thought everyone memorized where things were in order to navigate and paid close attention to the inflection in people’s voices (all the better to know if you're about to get in trouble).

It wasn’t until even my squinting couldn’t help me see the chalkboard that someone figured out why I was such a sweet :) but wayward child.

Soon after this observation, I received my first pair of glasses. They were heavy, sliding down my nose all the time, and so thick that the outer edges created a rounded, fishbowl effect. But the important part was, I could see.

Up until that day, I hadn’t known that I couldn’t see. I’d adapted to my 8-crayon world. I walked to school every day. I opened the combination to my locker. And I even sat in my assigned seat, complete with my name on a tape strip above the pencil trench. I hadn’t known that a 96-crayon world awaited me.

I remember stepping outside Dr. K’s office, preparing to walk home (thankfully, it had been a straight shot and only 10 short blocks away). I’d been more worried about whether or not to push my glasses up my nose with a single finger to the bridge in the middle, or with a pinch at the temple. It wasn’t until I’d taken a few steps that I noticed something remarkable.

Trees. Rows of trees lined the street and each of them filled with leaves. Five-pointed leaves, too, not fuzzy shapes all smushed together on branches. And when the breeze stirred them, there was a different silvery color underneath. Not only that, but there were veins, like those on my mother’s hands. As I walked, I saw that the grass was an even different shade of green. So were the tall, unkempt bushes in front of the scary house that I always rushed past, breath held, heart in my throat. And it was all so beautiful, so heaven-sent that I knew Dr. K was either an angel or someone very special. Perhaps both.

My hero helps people see. He’s near retirement now, but his office is still in the same place. The same paneling covers the office walls where the lighted letter cube awaits my ability to read the bottom row. Outside, those trees and the scary house are gone. But each time I have an appointment with Dr. K, I always remember that first day when I realized everything I’d been missing. The day of my own miracle. It’s something I’ll never take for granted.

_{~USA TODAY bestselling author Vivienne Lorret loves romance novels, her pink laptop, her husband, and her two sons (not necessarily in that order ... but there are days). Transforming copious amounts of tea into words, she is an Avon Impulse author of works including: Tempting Mr. Weatherstone, The Wallflower Wedding Series, The Rakes of Fallow Hall Series, The Duke's Christmas Wish, and the Season's Original Series. For more on her upcoming novels, visit her at www.vivlorret.net}

Real Heroes and Heroines: Teachers

by Kristin Holt

I won the parent lottery. My parents read to me.

I won the first grade teacher lottery. I'll never forget Miss W's patience and kind explanations to my questions, including, "But how do you read so quickly?"

If you can read, you can learn anything.

Literacy rates in the Old West were lower than in education-focused New England.

1. Old West parents were more worried about harvesting the crop than their children's 100% attendance in one-room schoolhouses. In New England, well-to-do fathers saw their sons into high school as a preparation for college.
2. While the working poor of New England often did not need basic literacy skills (cotton mills and factory jobs), neither did most western pursuits: miners, railroad construction workers, and hired ranch hands.
3. Nineteenth Century Americans knew they needed a basic education. Without the ability to read a bill of sale or contract, swindlers had the advantage.
4. Old West Education often ceased at 8th grade--though a good percentage of students stopped attending before then. Whether orphaned or pressed into the work force, education, for many, proved to be a luxury.

TEACHERS are real-life heroes. Whether in a one-room schoolhouse on the dusty streets of an Old West town or in today's crowded classrooms, the work teachers do in building the future, investing in hope and possibilities and opportunity qualifies them as heroes.

Did you have a teacher who made all the difference for you?

Hi! I'm Kristin Holt, author of Sweet (wholesome, "clean") Romance set in the Victorian-era American West. Mail-order brides, small-town love stories, bonds strong enough to withstand significant challenges, and love to last a lifetime.

My engineer husband of nearly three decades rolls his eyes at my romanticism and fondness for happily ever afters. But he agrees with me--growing old together has been a beautiful journey. Given the opportunity, I'd do it all over again...and I'd still choose him. (Our 28th wedding anniversary is in two days, March 17th.)

I love hearing from readers. Please post a response here or stop by my website and say hello!

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In Search of a Hero!

By Marcia King-Gamble

www.lovemarcia.com

The dictionary defines heroes as men admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

In romance novels, the hero is the main male character in the book. He is usually bigger than life and gorgeous, (at least he is to the heroine) and he usually comes with baggage. This is where conflict comes into play. And he is flawed, but by the end of the book, he changes in remarkable ways and the heroine is the only woman he truly wants. By then he’s climbed a mountain to get her.

A recent survey lists the qualities women found to be most endearing in heroes. Surprisingly, at least surprisingly to me, the number one quality a woman is looking for is protectiveness.

Even today, women still want their men to take care of them. This doesn’t necessarily mean she’s looking for her knight in shining armor, or she sits at home waiting for him to bring in the bacon.  This is about emotional support.  And as one woman puts it, “What it comes down to is a hero's ability to make the woman feel cherished, and safe, without doing anything that would qualify for a restraining order.”

Second up, he needs to be intelligent. Smart men turn the ladies on.  It’s not about qualifying for Mensa; it’s what led up to his success that makes him so appealing. Intelligent men have curious minds. They are eager to learn new things, and that includes finding out everything about the woman who has his attention. Smart men make their heroines feel important, cherished, respected and loved.

A sense of humor comes in third.  We all love to laugh, and laughter in a man who doesn’t take himself too seriously, is particularly appealing.  When times get tough, break out the sense of humor.

Our hero has to be in control. Note, I did not say controlling.  This is a man able to make decisions. Some may call him alpha, I call it taking the lead, and going after what he wants, both personally and professionally. There’s nothing sexy or attractive about a namby pamby man.

Generosity of spirit is another big turn on.  And that’s not about buying the heroine, diamonds or furs. It’s more about providing her with the things money can’t buy. It’s about his willingness to give of himself and share thoughts and feelings with her. In other words it’s called selflessness. 

And surprise, surprise, it’s definitely about sex. At least 62% of readers want it hot and steamy, and this is where all the qualities of the hero tie in. In matters of the bedroom, proactive as the heroine might be in getting him there, the hero needs to take the lead. He’s protective of the heroine in bed, and despite how kinky they get, he makes her feel safe and cherished.

He’s also intelligent enough to know how to please a woman. This is not all about Neanderthal sex. Me Tarzan you Jane. You will submit. He takes his time making her feel special and really wanting him. He’s smart enough to know the sex will be off the charts this way and they’ll both feel fulfilled

.  

The hero breaks out his sense of humor. His sense of adventure comes to the fore when things don’t go smoothly. If they fall out of bed,  he laughs with her. If his leg cramps when they are in a compromising position, despite his discomfort, he makes fun of himself.  He’s in control and generous with his attentions.

Not so surprisingly, and as mentioned before, he’s flawed. He’s human after all.

Take Zach Mayo, our lovable hero in the oldie but goody, An Officer and a Gentleman.  It took him a while to come around, but come around he did. Women also fell in love with Jack Dawson in the Titanic because he took care of the heroine though he died in the end. Both were Cinderella stories, and although the second ended in tragedy, both celebrated love in its purest form. Both are reminders that men and women are made stronger by loving each other. 

Over the years women’s roles have changed as they have taken on more “manly responsibilities,” yet sensitive, take charge men with the characteristics of  heroes, still reign.

 http://amzn.com/B019RYLW24

Who are your modern day heroes and why? 

Is it someone like Alexander Neale, survivor of a personal tragedy, and the hero in my book, Just You?   Or is it the person you’re with?

 I’d love to hear the qualities  you've found in your hero. Please comment.

Romantically yours,

Marcia

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