Can contemporary, realistic fiction mix with fantasy?
The quick answer is: Of course! But the more difficult question may be: How?
How does one create a balance between realistic cities and settings verses making up a new and interesting world? Between believable and likeable characters verses amazing, heroic personas?
Are these elements mutually exclusive?
If you want to learn how to be a super hero, you need an alter ego, but alter egos are everywhere, not just among those with super powers. The protagonist in your novel, whether super or not so much, can have an alter ego, too. In fact, alter egos are a great characterization strategy.
One of my roommates and I started watching Downton Abbey last week, and within four evenings had finished the first two seasons and are almost all caught up. It’s a really engrossing show, for those of you who haven’t seen it, and Maggie Smith is a treasure (and a Golden Globe winner).
However, between the two of us, we were able to predict a fair number of the plot twists. It’s no fault of Downton’s writers, to be sure. When you consume pop culture, whether it be in the form of books, TV, music, or film, you’re bound to catch on to patterns in the storytelling.
A CENTRAL IMAGE: build one into your story and readers will love you.
What would Moonstruck be without its full moon? Or Moby Dick without its white whale? When you think of The Sun Also Rises, you think of Spanish bulls.
I have to credit Joe with suggesting the idea, just in time for writers plowing through NaNoWriMo. Seriously, it’s November 9, already. Have you hit a creativity wall yet?
Yes? Here’s a crazy idea: Adoption.
“My secret to writing is to never create at a keyboard,” says Thomas Steinbeck, the author and son of John Steinbeck.
You have to know something about your book before you begin to write your story. I think this is true whether you like to plot your novel before you write or not. You don’t need to know everything, but you do need to know something.
For those of you participating in NaNoWriMo, this is especially important. You don’t want to spend your first days plotting or doing characterization exercises.
