• Home
  • Blog
  • News
  • Events
  • About the Author
  • About the Book
  • Bookstore
  • Reviews
  • Press/Media
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Blog
  • News
  • Events
  • About the Author
  • About the Book
  • Bookstore
  • Reviews
  • Press/Media
  • Contact
D.R. Ranshaw

D.R. RANSHAW

Find Your Own Well

11/21/2016

2 Comments

 
A couple of posts back, I discussed NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and not in a particularly complimentary way. But one comment was the admission that, yes, anything that gets people writing is, by and large, a good thing. What I found interesting was that several people noticed the qualifier “by and large” I’d tucked into that statement and queried why I put it in. Was it deliberate? they asked.
 
Well, funny they should ask. As a matter of fact, it was. (Frankly, I’m not sure what the alternative would have been. Usually, as a writer, I try to choose my words fairly carefully. Although I note that I included two qualifiers in that last statement.) But yes, I had something very specific in mind when I typed the phrase: fanfiction, or fanfic as it’s often called. Having taken aim at one bastion of the writing community with my NaNoWriMo post, I thought I’d tackle another.
 
(Have you noticed our fondness for diminutives? Strange, don’t you think? Rather like we’re in such a verbal hurry, we have a compulsive need to shave as many letters from words as we can get away with.)
 
For those who find “fanfic” as baffling as “NaNoWriMo” (although the former’s much easier to say and type), fanfic is what happens when otherwise ordinary people like a particular story soooo much they decide to write more of it. On their own. Using the same characters and settings as the original, but with their own plots and sometimes strangely altered character motivations.
 
Now look, I understand: when we like something, we tend to like it a lot, and want more. And more and more --- not unlike those poor lab rats whose brain pleasure centers were wired to electrodes and ended up starving to death in a weirdly masochistic, orgasmic frenzy. I get it, truly. So does Hollywood, by the way, which long ago came to the realization it could avoid all kinds of creative costs by simply churning out clones/sequels/rehashes/insert-your-own-term to satisfy our insatiable desire for More Of The Same.
 
So yes, I realize people write Middle Earth, Narnia, Hogwarts and (shudder) Twilight fanfic (and much more) because they love the stories and characters and want to see them continue. Stephen King, for example, once remarked he was often asked what happened next to characters in his stories, as though he got letters from said characters from time to time. It’s okay to like something a lot.
 
But I have three criticisms of fanfic:
  1. Quite a lot is not very good; some, in fact, qualifies as Crimes Against Literature
  2. Much is bafflingly --- sometimes horrendously --- pornographic. I’m absolutely certain Tolkien and Lewis would be aghast if they knew what some people have their characters doing. (I’m sure Rowling is aghast, too, but she’s still on this mortal plane and likely only too aware of what I speak.)
  3. It’s imaginatively bankrupt.
     
    The first criticism is the easiest to shrug off, I know. There are many people around the world doing all sorts of creative things. Some are very good at what they do, others not. Either way, as long as those pursuits are legal and ethical, I say have at ‘er, knock yerself out and such. I’m all in favour of creative leisure endeavours. (Contrary to what my students think, I do have a life.) I also understand the innate need most of us have to showcase our efforts. Even five year olds love displaying their latest accomplishments, and as adults --- because we want to be nurturing --- we praise their embryonic efforts, even though those efforts aren’t really very good. But if you’re writing fanfic, chances are you’re not five. And some fanfic writers really, really need to develop the ability to look at their work objectively and decide whether it’s worthy of seeing the harsh light of electronic publication. The internet, curse its stone-cold mechanical heart, has unfortunately made it possible for everyone with even rudimentary writing skills to post their dirty laundry to the entire world... and many do (along with endless cat videos and pictures of food they’re eating). Oh, the humanity.
     
    I know this may sound a tad arrogant. But we all need to recognize our strengths and weaknesses... so I don’t try solving Fermat’s Theorem and posting my results, because I am hopeless at numbers. More importantly, I’m just not very interested in them.
     
    The second criticism is harder to dismiss. I’m no prude, but... yikes. As long as no one’s hurt or laws broken, what you do as adults in consensual privacy is your business... but why must you violate beloved literary characters like that? And then put it out there for all to see?
     
    The final criticism is the gravest. Yeah, I know the saying “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” It’s not, folks. It’s a lie. Like I said, it’s imaginatively bankrupt.
     
    Here’s my plea: if you like a story so much you want more of it... go write your own stuff. With your own characters, worlds, and situations. Don’t slavishly, lazily horn in on somebody else. Sure, Tolkien was my literary demigod from a very young age (although not blindly --- I’ve long been aware that, like all of us, he has his literary faults). But I was never tempted to write stories set in Middle Earth, starring hobbits and heroes of Gondor. No, no: I wanted to create something that was mine.
     
    Which I did.
     
    Tolkien inspired me to create my own unique work, which eventually became my novel Gryphon’s Heir. It’s set in my own world, populated by my own creatures and peoples, living their own lives, and is therefore uniquely rewarding, because these things emanate from the well of my imagination, not rudely elbowing someone aside and dipping my bucket into theirs. Sure, it’s more work, but as I said, vastly more rewarding.
     
    Because it’s mine. My own. My preciousssss.
     
    (Sorry, Professor T. Couldn’t resist.)

2 Comments

Middle Ages/Earth

11/14/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
"And so the heroic champion and the wizard raced on their gryphons back to the castle, looking for damsels in distress to rescue, firing their bows at the pursuing dragons, and glancing down from time to time at the mighty swords hanging from their belts."
 
Okay, I made that up.  It’s not from any published fantasy novel (and I’m glad it’s not, for it’s rife with just about every fantasy cliché I could think of off the top of my head). But it could be. And it serves to introduce a question I sometimes get asked:
 
Why does so much fantasy take place in the equivalent of the Middle Ages?
 
Think of the more or less undisputed ‘modern’ leaders in the field: The Lord of the Rings and the Narnia series... and, of course, the enormously successful films that have been made of them, films that, in the case of The Lord of the Rings, are very likely not what J.R.R. Tolkien envisioned at all (something his son, Christopher, has made abundantly clear). But it’s probably safe to say that an entire generation of fantasy enthusiasts – writers and readers/viewers alike – have been heavily influenced by Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth and its Middle Ages-style cultures and civilizations. And then, of course, there’s what we would refer to as ‘classic’ fantasy --- of which one of the best examples is undoubtedly the whole Arthurian legend (which, as a story itself, is really cool: it evolved over nearly a thousand years, with additional characters and elements being added at different times by different writers, until we have the narrative we recognize today).
 
Not that all fantasy takes place in a Middle Ages environment, of course. The most obvious modern example set right here in our own time is, of course, J.K. Rowling’s monstrously successful Harry Potter books (although there’s a caveat to that which I’ll mention shortly). And there are many other classic examples of fantasy that are not set in medieval times: Wind in the Willows, The Wizard of Oz, Winnie the Pooh...
 
But there are a lot of fantasy heroes out there wielding swords and bows and doing very medieval type things --- or at least, what many people today would regard as medieval type things. In reality, as I’m constantly telling my literature classes, we tend to romanticize the time period to the point where it’s barely recognizable. We tend to think of pennants fluttering in the warm summer breeze, buxom, attractive maidens looking for rescue, chivalry and fair play ascendant among politely dueling knights, and so on. But the Middle Ages were not a romantic time in which to live. Battles were savage, bloody affairs; castles were generally cold, dank, uncomfortable places to live; medical science, like so many other sciences, had regressed terribly after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and to call it rudimentary is perhaps being overly generous; sanitation was disgustingly primitive, with raw sewage being disposed of on the streets. Life was, as Thomas Hobbes would say later about another time period, “nasty, brutish and short.” So why do so many fantasy writers plonk their protagonists down in such a time? (Including, truth be told, yours truly).
 
Besides the influences I listed earlier, I think it’s at least partly because a great deal of fantasy relies on magic of some sort, and the presence of fantastic, mythical creatures. But magic can only “exist” in certain environments... and our secular, materialistic world isn’t one of them (despite our society’s obsession with the paranormal, which I would count as something very different). Even in Rowling’s world, there’s a very careful delineation, a dividing of the magical world and the non-magical one, and never (well, rarely, anyway) shall the twain meet. The harsh spotlight of science, in its coldly piercing mercury arc glare, tends to want to freeze the hell out of magic.
 
Some of the appeal is that a middle ages type environment is also pretty exotic to most people. It’s so different from driving one’s car along the freeway in a lengthy (and frustrating) commute to some dreary office job.
 
And also, I think, and perhaps paradoxically, many people think of its lack of technological prowess, as something of a bonus --- particularly at a time in our existence when technology is starting to assume tyrannical proportions over our lives, at least as far as many are concerned. There’s something very refreshing about a world without omnipresent cell phones and internet and smart-this-that-and-the-other. It gets back to the literary concept of the noble savage and all that.
 
So I don’t think we need to get embarrassed about our Middle Ages fetish. Load the catapults and the trebuchets! Man the castle walls! Scour the skies for errant dragons!
 
And if you see any damsels in distress... be sure to let me know.

1 Comment

Binge Writing

11/7/2016

0 Comments

 
There’s always a flurry of excitement in the writing community when November rolls around. And it’s not because pumpkin lattes are replaced with peppermint ones at Starbucks, either. “NaNoWriMo is here!” trumpet the literary Chicken Littles, although they do it with an enthusiastic gusto quite unlike the literary poulet who predicted the world’s end.
 
This ungainly --- well, it’s not really an acronym, but I guess the word will do --- this ungainly acronym, for the benefit of those who don’t spend their leisure time scanning writers’ websites and Twitter accounts (I was going to say trolling, but that word has a different meaning today than back in the Dark Ages, when I --- and many others --- knew it as simply something one did when fishing, casting one’s line into the water and seeing what one could catch), stands for National Novel Writing Month. And each year, kind of like the flu, it pops up around November. (Which I suppose is a bit of a cheap shot, isn’t it? But I’m not a huge fan of either one, so we’ll let it stand.)
 
NaNoWriMo has been with us since 1999, apparently, and you can either do it officially, signing up at the website --- yes, Virginia, there is a NaNoWriMo website --- or unofficially, simply by deciding you’re up for the challenge: writing a 50,000 word novel in one month. One 30 day month, which means 1666.6 words a day that one is supposed to churn out every single blessed day of November (a rather unfortunate number for those of us spiritually inclined, but I’ll resist the temptation to make a religious analogy here).
 
Now, look, I want to be very clear about several things at this point: first of all, yes, anything that gets people writing is, by and large, a good thing. It’s right along the lines of the C.S. Lewis quote (one of several, actually) gracing what I call The Official Philosophy Wall in my classroom: “The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.” (And every educator solemnly nodded and replied, “Amen, Jack.”)
 
Second, it’s always laudable to set goals... even goals that might seem a tad ambitious. And that’s right along the lines of another Philosophy Wall quote by Robert Browning: “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a Heaven for?” (That one always causes most of my scholars to wrinkle their noses in puzzled incomprehension, bless their heathenly materialistic little hearts --- but that usually leads to what educators call a Teachable Moment, so it’s okay.)
 
Third, I don’t think it’s anyone’s expectation we’re going to get many literary masterpieces produced during that month. Nope. Not works of enduring/eternal merit...  Austens or Tolstoys or Carrolls or Hemingways. Tolkien would likely have looked disdainful if you’d suggested he try it. Even Jack Lewis, that paragon of Christian philosophy, would probably raise his eyebrows. About the only author I can think of who might regard this as a Good Idea would be the late Isaac Asimov, the classic science fiction author who did tend to churn out new works at almost that rate, to the envy/annoyance/despair of his colleagues.
 
And perhaps most importantly, if NaNoWriMo works for you... great. Knock yourself out, or as writer David Bly once put it, “pound those keys, maestro; sling those similes; massage those metaphors.” Do it to your heart’s content. Have fun storming the castle! said Miracle Max.
 
But...
 
I just think... well... the entire concept tends to reinforce our society’s unhealthy obsessions with speed and quantity over deliberate thoughtfulness and quality. There. I said it. (Yes, I know, pulp writers used to do that all the time. And a great deal of pulp fiction was impossibly bad.)
 
I think the best I’ve ever been able to manage was about ten or twelve thousand words in a single month. And that’s when the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune haven’t been knocking on my door, just the daily demands of the working/family stiff. And the Muse... well, she can be a really fickle mistress, you know. Some evenings she shows up with a slew of terrific ideas, each just tripping over the rest to be used. Other times, she says, “Not tonight, darling, I’ve got a headache,” and you have a writing dry spell that can stretch into a very long drought.
 
 Ah ha! you crow triumphantly. So that’s it! You’re just jealous because you couldn’t do it! Well, no and yes. No, I’m not jealous of anyone who can knock off a 50,000 word novel in one month. I probably could write 1700 words a day for a month --- if I put the rest of my life completely on hold, which is not a particularly realistic proposition. But yes, I don’t think I could compose a 50,000 word novel I was proud of in one month. Case in point: my first novel, Gryphon’s Heir, which on its fifth and final draft clocked in at somewhere around 186,000 words, took about nine years from start to publication --- and those nine years included having a marriage, co-raising four kids, working at a teaching career, the death of a parent, and various other little things, some good and some bad. My second novel, Gryphon’s Awakening, the sequel to Gryphon’s Heir, is currently around 95,000 words and has only been on the go for about four years, so it’s moving along pretty well, I think.
 
Am I just another NaNoWriMo hater? Not really. Just practicing my Eeyore imitation? Possibly. But at least I don’t subscribe to what he said about writing: “This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated, if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it.”
 
So what are you waiting for? Go and write. Just do it with passion.


0 Comments

    D.R. Ranshaw's Blog

    Author of The Annals of Arrinor series.  Lover of great literature, fine wine, and chocolate. Not necessarily in that order.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly