A full month of posts is a long time, so today you are getting a 'what I see from my desk' post. Of course, the first thing I see from my desk is my desk. My brand new, lovely, oak desk. It is cute. It has cubby-holes. I feel very productive sitting at it.
I have watched the sneak peak for Supernatural several times since I sat down here 50 minutes ago, and done no writing.
Perhaps the desk alone will not be enough to get me writing.
Ah, well. That can be a tomorrow problem.
For now, I am going to blather on about my bookcase and its contents. On the bookcase next to me, I can see a collection of essays on Modern Irish Drama, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, The Colour Purple and A Problem for the Baby Ponies (I assume I have the My Little Pony book left over from when I was much younger, but we can never be sure.)
The bookcase on my other side has books by Garth Nix, Pullman and Cornwell. It has The Innocent Mage, Wizard of Earthsea and a book about having A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down (that one is hilarious and I strongly recommend it.)
I am, perhaps, lacking in history books or books on economics, but I do have books on a number of other topics.
My point, I think, is that I have quite a range of books. I don't 'just' read fantasy. I have literature, kids' books, women's commercial fiction, crime fiction... Somehow, though, when I sit down to write, I always end up with a fantasy element.
I wonder why this is?
Some part of me thinks that any story is better, richer, more meaningful for the addition of a dragon, a troll, a pixie...something beyond the ordinary. Ordinary is dull. It is normal. Normal can take a running jump off a cliff.
This doesn't stop me enjoying books which are sans fantasy or SciFi, but I seem to veer away from writing them. I started a story where a woman is drinking a cup of tea, and a giant dragon's eye started peering in at her from the window. It just happened. Don't make me write about a world without something supernatural or...more. Because some part of me does see it as more.
I wonder if I really think 'real life' is paler, or if I just can't express the beauty and complexity of the world without using magic as a metaphor.
Or maybe I can just imagine really cool special effects when my writing is inevitably turned into a big budget Hollywood movie.
Thats why I can't watch TV soaps like Corrie et al. They're normal. I live normal everyday. I want abnormal, fantasy, fiction. My mind wants to escape the norm, whether its TV, movies or books.
ReplyDeleteLong live dragons!
I am now rather jealous that I do not have a desk, with cubby holes, for writing. Maybe one day. I'm with you on the genre thing. My bookcases contain everything from textbooks (which I do read for fun) to children's books to literary fiction to genre fiction. The one thing you won't find is Mills and Boon; not my cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, everything I write ends up with a speculative element in it somewhere, even if I hadn't intended to include one. It's the balance between the mundane (in the sense of, of this world) and the speculative (slip-stream, horror, fantasy, supernatural, preternatural, fantasy, sci-fi etc) that I find endlessly fascinating.
To me the world does contain the potential for any of those elements to break out at anytime. I really am writing the world as I see it or see its potential. If real life is more colourless then I'd rather not know. I like my version better ;)
And I still want your desk...
Well, you can have it. It's mine. But you can come and visit and see the desk, so you can envy it up close. :)
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