I have heard this so many times, and I have been determined that I do just that. I put so much of my time and energy into crafting the societies, history, culture, and setting to my world that I knew I wrote what I loved.
I have the great privilege of working in a bookstore, now, and I love talking books with my customers. We talked about authors and books at great length; from Garcia to Bronte and the Illiad to McKinley. I have had some pretty awesome conversations.
I found myself talking to a person once, however, a week or so ago about my favorite fantasy novels. I told this customer that they all have a hint at mythology and folklore. I like being in on the joke because I’m well read in legend and myth. It gives me respect for the author, and lets me know that he/she has done their research, and has the same interests I do. I like it when authors acknowledge that that is the root of the genre.
Now, I’ve met people who disagreed and traced the genre through the literary tradition and so on and so forth. But, to me, we are drawing from folklore. That doesn’t mean that my novel will hold a candle to the Monkey King stories or the Ulster Cycle, but I draw inspiration as much from those tales as from other fantasy and science fiction novels.
That made me think though, how much of my love of myth do I weave into my fiction?
The plots are old, drawn from a time when high fantasy and sword and sorcery held my attention. But when I speak of why I like Tad Williams’ epics it’s because they’re fairy stories. I like McKillip because her novels are evocative of Celtic or Medieval tales.
I like Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series because she draws on Celtic and Native American myth and weaves them with vampires and werewolves, a nod to modern trends and ancient heroes all at once.
I suppose my most recent writing has developed this flavor, but I think that while I am committing to finishing the novel this year, I should commit to changing it to reflect my aesthetic. I have spent so much time developing the back story, the characters, but not so much on the areas I actually pick up a book for. I love a well developed world, but i have become pickier, I suppose. So too, should I be with my writing. I need to give them life through a connection to our past. Even if it is only a literary one.
Then I will know, without a doubt, that I am writing what I love to read.
And we really should all write what we love to read…
Stonehenge Writers 