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These are the Newsletters I have written so far for Writing.com. |
| As one of your Fantasy editors, my goal is to challenge you to think outside the KNOWN and to help you inject your tales with fascinating facts while jagging left and right through troublesome frolics and teethe-writhing dilemmas. Perhaps we can help each other to safely jog through these twisty turns of radical thought, alternate viewpoint, and dynamic detail. Come! Let’s head down the Path of Dimensions, untextured by any earthly array. In other words, let’s drop out of reality for awhile. Shall we?   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Food That’s right, the topic today is food. You write fantasy/science fiction stories, correct? Imagine that you’re in a new world, an alien world, a world that has almost no commonality of foods.  How would your fruits look, smell, and taste? What shape would they be? Where would they grow?  Personally, I thought the definition of fruit was: a pretty delicacy that developed on a tree after flowering and growing big, juicy, and, hopefully delicious enough to pick. But that isn’t so. Berries are fruits, and I’ve never seen a strawberry that hung from the branches of something tall, big, and barky. I’ve heard that squash is a fruit, too, which confuses me because zucchini may be tasty but it isn’t sweet and juicy. And we all know that nothing beats watermelon, a fruit that very definitely should not hang from any tall-limbed trees! Imagine the splat when one of those came down!  Alas, thoroughly mystified, I looked up the word in good old, Wikipedia. Unfortunately what I discovered is something I dare not write down in the Fantasy Newsletter. It would be far too shocking for my readers.  (For the curious of mind, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit and checkout the section on Fruit Development, but I’m warning you, it may make you blush!)  Now, back to our subject. What kind of fruit would you find in the kingdom or the planet you’re writing about? Would your fruit be pear-shaped, oval, or elongated cucumber-shaped? Would it be purple, green, blue, or pink? Would it be fuzzy like kiwi or hard as a coconut? Would its size be as large as the tropical Jackfruit (see article for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit) or small as a kumquat? Is it squishy as ripe persimmons, sticky and wrinkly as a date, or rough-textured as pineapple?  When tasted does your creatively designed fruit bite the tongue or spread a smile? Is it acidic or sweet, tart or sour, salty or tasteless? There are so many choices for you to choose for that interesting novelty you’re just about to feed to your main character or villain. So describe it! Give it its own chapter in the book. Make one of your characters mad about the fruit. Use it in a new sport. Let it be part of a mating rite (a marriage ceremony) or a birthday custom. Allow that fruit to be the necessity for good fashion, a reason for travel, a religious festival, even the cornerstone of a musical event. But wait! What kind of seeds are found in your imaginary fruit?  Are they poisonous like apple seeds? Would a collection of them produce death or simply make its consumer act like a catnipped kitty? Does one spit out these seeds or swallow them? How large are those seeds – as small as the almost invisible strawberry seed or as big as an avocado pit? If you plant those seeds, what would you need to do to make them grow? Is it necessary to set them on fire or soak them in water? Or does your fruit even bear seeds? What kind of reproduction could that fruit you’re holding, slicing, segmenting, or about to bite into practice? Ah, I can picture you holding that fruit (or seed) just a smidgeon too long. It sprouts, green growing needles shooting out in all directions park themselves right into your hand, and you and the fruit meld into something not quite juicy, delectable, or enjoyable to see. Ack! Which brings me to another question you must seriously debate. What kind of magic is found in your fruit? What evil witch might cackle as you start to savor that drippy, luscious softness? (Just ask Snow White the dangers of certain fruits.) What is this imaginary fruit’s history? ( Remember Eve and the evil apple? And how all males must now wear Adam’s apple). Tracing such stories can possibly wind you up into a flurry of intriguing tall tales. What if Johnny Nappleseed voyaged by ship to plant his seeds on alien planets?  What if William Tell used a Zillerwaller on the head that he aimed at? What if the students bring Nickerapples to their teachers? What if Shakespeare wrote that some fruit is certainly rotten in Denmark or Castle Molar? What if the Banana King on his mission to bring bananas to new worlds accidentally brings Terran tarantulas which mutate into creatures with more than eight legs and fangs longer than our average day arachnids’? Or maybe, the seed inside the fruit you’ve just thought up is the principal diet of fairies or dragons? Is eating one a rarity, a danger, an expense somewhat in the range of eating an endangered truffle?  But supposing you’re not creative about thinking up new alien fruits. Then studying about Earth fruits might be the key to your alternate fruit launch. For instance, did you know that tomatoes were originally thought to be poisonous? Known as wolf peaches, they grew (I love puns, don’t you?) quite a reputation. The French called tomatoes pommes de amour which translates as love apples because they believed them to be . . . (censored). Read all about this interestingly wicked French fruit at: http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/tomatohistory.htm Wait. Stop. Back to this fictional fruit you’re thinking up. There are more questions to come: What are the dangers of this fruit you’re writing about? When can it NOT be eaten? (Think of mussels, which are often poisonous during the warm months of red tides .) What tragedy developed from the use of your fruit? (Is it true that the headless horseman actually wore a Bunnybuckle Fruit on his head instead of a pumpkin?) Thus, you begin to see that delving into food can be highly fruitful to the seeds of your creativity. Now, journey forth to eat that fig (while wearing nothing more than a single fig leaf, of course) or perhaps munch on a few pomegranate seeds (but do remember how much trouble that got poor Persephone into -- and she supposedly only nibbled six or seven of them!) P.S. I wonder if they have a saying in the kingdom of Belpeior: Masticating a Zelfa Fruit each day will surely keep the doctor away? (Be sure to write an adage for your mythical fruit.) P.P.S.Although I’m plum out of ideas now, I bet if I listen to the grapevine, I can have a peachy time blowing raspberries, complaining about sour grapes, and going nutty as a fruitcake. But since I’ve just put a cherry on top, I’ll make like a banana and split. See you next month! Orange ya glad?  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A fairy tale told by dragons:
Take a journey into a strange, dark fantasy world where an assassin struggles to change.
Have you ever wondered what flying dragons looked like? Here’s a lady who can describe the scene as if she had really witnessed it!
What if an alien is a real hunk of a beast? Sorry, this one is not for children.
This is the first story I’ve ever read that contained alien ice cubes!
This is a strangely mysterious story; a girl wakes up in a tree.
This is one of mine – a stranger arrives in town, and he’s not wearing a stitch of clothing . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ July Comments Smee  Innocence. Purity. An interesting topic. I think part of the reason for the modern movement away from such past ideals is because they have become cliches. More and more you see new authors striving for that twist on an old idea, something novel and different to attract readers. The pure virgin princess is a tired, overused idea beneath the relatively unventured waters of these more modern alternatives. There's also the growing awareness and concern of characters becoming Mary Sues. Someone so pure and innocent they practically glow with golden delight doesn't come across very realistic and can make the character seem comparatively shallow and uninteresting. Quirks and flaws seem to be the current fashion for making 3D characters, and these don't fit so easily on pillars of purety. Just some thoughts :) You are right. Sigh. However, it does seem to me that a character that has too many quirks, too much nastiness, or a grossness that implies she/he is halfway to becoming the villain is not going to win heroine/hero character of the month. I find that when I can’t like a main character, I stop reading. Is that just me? Ertia Blan  Is your point here that people in books are too pure? Because that, I agree with. Half. Many characters are excellent in modern-day books, although yes, a lot of the time they are too good. Selfless. Generous. Happy. They stick up for their friends and beliefs. People aren't like that. I think a great example of a complex character is Abigail Williams, from the Crucible, although she was a real person. Although, if you're saying innocence is coming back... um... we're not in Ancient Greek culture... Alas, I do not believe that innocence is on its return. I think we bid goodbye to it when Mary Poppins flew up into the sky via umbrella lift, sadly, never to return. sarahreed I have a tendency to subconsciously write from an innocent perspective, which usually gets me mixed up when I try for more modern or mature writing. I'm still trying to find my voice and, while I don't want to lose my innocent perspective, I hope to harness it to use in the appropriate stories. See, that was my whole point. Why has modern/mature writing lost its voice of innocence? Is innocence now a bad characteristic? (The unicorn’s horn is shimmering; the light is fading out. sarahreed Thanks Shaara. I do agree with you. It's just that innocence has its time and place, and shouldn't creep into everything I write. How about it just creeps in now and then like a cool breeze on a hot day? It was a pleasure to read your newsletter and your story, as always, but I'm afraid the Unicorn will have to stay in your greener pastures because mine are full of trolls, icky stuff and things-that-go-bump! Big smile, Laura Thank you. I’m so sorry I lost your suser I.D. I really do appreciate your input. Who is chasing those things that go bump away in your stories if not the hero/heroine or the unicorn? northernwrites Interesting question, Shaara. I don't see a conflict between being good and pure in mind and deed, and having courage and tenacity. The most interesting heroes/heroines I've read about have all four qualities. They have to, in order to deal with a world full of everything else. Which is not to say that they are perfect, or they don't have to work at it. They can still have their flaws, quirks, temptations, failures, and learning experiences. The definitions may be a bit different (more well-rounded and better) than the flat, cookie-cutter stereotypes that were used in the past. Innocence can mean guileless instead of weak and naive, and what's truly pure can walk through the mud without getting any on the inside -- and will, because they have this "unfortunate" tendency to try to help other people. Oh thank you! You have made my day. Innocence lives! Late comments on other issues of my FANTASY NEWSLETTERS bookgraham  Okay; input. Well seeing as I am reading this Newsletter in July and it is dated for June I suppose my input is a bit out of date - like your 'dial a number'. Anyway regardless of that good Newsletters deserve response; most Newsletters here are good in some way, that's why I keep reading them, and this is a very good one. The time I spend changing words around, and still ending up not satisfied, so rushing the ending to meet a Contest deadline. Thank you for this, clearly I am not alone in my struggle to find words. I'll be off to see your link then. bookgraham Thank you for your input. I am always delighted to hear from a reader. It doesn’t matter from what month or issue! Please write! I look forward to hearing your input. It is invaluable for writing future issues of the FANTASY NEWSLETTER! See you in September!  |
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