F is for Friendship

April 6, 2013 by sharonsant

Biggles couldn’t have survived the Congo without Ginger and Algy, Harry wouldn’t have defeated Voldermort without Ron and Hermione (what do you mean, spoilers? Where have you been?) and Jacob wouldn’t have made it to Astrae without Luca and Ellen (what do you mean, you’ve never heard of the last three? Where have you been?). The best stories have amazing friendships at the heart of them. I could totally mention Merlin and Arthur here, but see how I resist the urge?

Nope, it’s no good, there’s a photo coming up…

Ok, so that boil’s lanced. Pretty, though…

Why are these friendships so epic? What makes these people risk everything for each other? Why am I writing this post as it’s quite clearly running away from me? It might have something to do with the fact that I really wanted to use F to swear, but, you know, it’s not allowed. As I pondered this I asked my daughters why they thought friendship was important in stories. My oldest suggested that there would be no interaction for the protagnoist without friends.

‘But,’ I pointed out, ‘what about his enemies? He’d interact with them.’

‘Sure,’ my little one agreed, ‘but he/ she needs friends to help him do whatever he needs to do.’

Maybe it goes back to the bravery thing. Who cares about a hero that’s so invincible he doesn’t need anyone else? There’s no admission of fear or weakness, no call for help to prove his vulnerability. That’s boring. Every hero needs a helping hand once in a while, and he’s more interesting for it.

So F is for friendship. My favourite thing in all the world.

E is for Elijah

April 5, 2013 by sharonsant

That’s Elijah Thackeray. Hero (of sorts, some might say anti-hero) of my upcoming novel Runners. Awww, come on, you didn’t think I was going to go through all this A-Z challenge without squeezing in one or two posts about my own books, did you?

This is a little known fact (and one I’ll probably regret divulging) but the muse for the character of Elijah is actually his Hollywood namesake, Elijah Wood. I wrote Runners in 2007 and at the time was in the throes of a Lord of the Rings obsession. Before you run off screaming ‘fan fiction’, just wait! I say muse, not reproduction. I liked the way he looked, the name seemed perfect for my character and it was easy to visualise him when writing him. This makes me a thieving, tricksy little hobbit, right? But I’m fairly certain that the Hollywood Elijah is nowhere near as big a pain in the ass as my Elijah is! Elijah Thackeray is someone you find yourself wanting to slap at the start of Runners. Probably for a good way through the book too. Will he grow into the kind of person who saves the world? Maybe.

I told my friend and editor all this, and now she says she can’t read it without seeing a teen Elijah Wood in her head. I’m not entirely sure if this is a good thing. But I don’t mind if you’d want to indulge in a little Elijah love. He is rather awesome. Here, knock yourself out!

D is for Dystopia

April 4, 2013 by sharonsant

The Oxford dictionary says that dystopia is: an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. The opposite of Utopia.

That sounds like a perfect place to set a novel. And it seems lots of other people agree too. I’ve been reading blog posts and reports for a couple of years now about how agents and publishers are sick of getting dystopian novels landing on their desks. Since The Hunger Games, we’ve gone dystopia crazy.

I hate to burst that bubble, guys, but we’ve been dystopia crazy for years. Think The Time Machine (it’s in there, honest), think Nineteen Eighty-Four, think Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid’s Tale.

We’ve always loved dysptopia. And from what people tell me whenever I mention that I’ve written a dystopian novel, we’re still hungry for more. Of all the upcoming books I’ve publicised, Runners is the one that has caused the most excitement. Yet the niggling doubt is still there that nobody will be interested when the book comes out. What if the blogs and reports are right? What if we’ve all moved on to magical flying monkeys or vampiric were-donkeys? Then I guess I’ll just climb back into my box and spend my days reading it to myself. I can at least pretend that I made it to the party, right?

Like Harry Hill says (it’s an English thing, stick with me) there’s only one way to find out…

C is for Chaos

April 3, 2013 by sharonsant

Chaos is what this A-Z challenge has become for me already. And we’re only on C!

Secretly, though, I love chaos. I’m never happier than when I’m up against a deadline, or a project is driving me insane because I can’t make it work or I’ve got too much to do. I thrive on nerves. I love spontaneity and unpredictability. Secretly, my brain is a world of chaos all the time. It’s a miracle that anything I do ever gets finished. I can’t help flitting from task to task like a little project butterfly.

If you’ve ever seen the video to Fireflies by Owl City, then you’ll have a pretty good idea what the inside of my brain actually looks like (forget all that hippocampus and synapse stuff that you read in biology). And if you haven’t seen it, here it is (the video, not my brain.. although they do look the same. Did I already say that?).

The letter C also stands for cheat. I’ll make it up to you with a real academic post for D, honest….

B is for Bravery

April 2, 2013 by sharonsant

Bravery comes in all shapes and sizes. There’s the big Prince Arthur sword-wielding warrior variety, and then there’s the quietly-in-the-background-doing-magic-under-pain-of death Merlin variety. That example was completely random and had nothing to do with any sort of Merlin obsession whatsoever. Nor was it an excuse to include a beautiful photo in this post. Honest…

Sometimes bravery is nothing more than stepping out of your front door when you feel like the whole world is against you. Or self-publishing a book when you’re terrified that, at best, no one will want to read or, at worst, they’ll read and then tear it apart in a scathing review.

However it comes, you can’t have a hero without it. The most boring heroes I’ve ever encountered in a work of fiction are those with no fear. How can you be glorious and courageous if nothing scares you? How can you command the respect and awe of others if you’ve no terrors to overcome. There’s no emotional risk in that, even if the physical risks are still present, and emotional risk is what moves the receiver of the story.

Eleanor Roosevelt said: ‘Do one thing that scares you every day.’ I love that advice.

So, be scared, dear reader, be scared so that you can be brave. Step out that door, wield that sword, flash that magic. Put your book out if the story burns to escape the confines of your mind. Give us the tale of your terrified hero, the one that will face their fears and be all the more glorious when they finally do.

I, for one, can’t wait to hear it.

A is for Alternate Reality – It’s day one of the A-Z challenge!

April 1, 2013 by sharonsant

Scratch beneath the surface of reality and there’s some pretty weird stuff going on. Take quantum physics, for example. I don’t pretend to understand it fully, but I know that the microcosm seemingly flouts the laws of the macro in ways that are mind-blowing. Yet it’s all part of the reality that we think we know. I love that idea – that in an apparently ordinary setting, extraordinary stuff can be happening. I love the juxtaposition of domestic and fantasy worlds, ordinary people and magical powers. It’s why I love to read magical realism texts and stories with a slightly skewed reality. Many of my favourite TV shows and films, such as Misfits and Being Human, employ the same tropes. Even The Doctor likes his fishfingers and custard! Shakespeare had it pegged it when he wrote that famous line in Hamlet:

‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’

So you can imagine how much I love things like parallel worlds in literature, and why I often end up writing them myself. To be honest, most of my family think I inhabit one all the time anyway! But I just can’t look at a situation without seeing something surreal in it. Even if you ask me to write a work of realism, I guarantee that at least one of the characters will have some weird idiosyncracy. Either that or they’ll develop a super-power while putting the recycling out. Then again, I seem to get powers of invisibility when our recycling needs to go out…

And before I go, a huge thanks to Arlee Bird, whose name begins with A and who also began the A-Z challenge. Cheers, Arlee!

A to Z blogging challenge 2013

March 27, 2013 by sharonsant

Ok, so I said I wouldn’t do this because I don’t have time, etc, etc, but then fellow blogger, Rebecca Bradley (Murder Down to a Tea) persuaded me that it was a good idea. I may not be so fond of her once April is over!

The idea is that you post for each letter of the alphabet every day (except Sundays) during the month of April. So watch me crumble, guys. Point and laugh as I unravel trying to keep up with the challenge and still work on manuscripts. But at least check out the posts first.

As you might expect, A is up April 1st. I’m thinking Aliens or Agents. Maybe I could write a post that proves they are one and the same? Ok, maybe not…

Check out the challenge for yourself or sign up here.