ALAN Workshop-Fantasy Authors Panel
ALAN Workshop-Fantasy Authors Panel Discussion
Dia Calhoun, Charles de Lint, Donna Jo Napoli, Tamora Pierce
A Discussion of how these authors create their novels
*If your students are interested in writing fantasy fiction, they should look at A Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones*
A writer of "feet on the ground" fantasy historical fiction and fantasy, bringing a low-key, strong feminist perspective to the genre. Calhoun feels her writing is a search for an essential voice. To engage students in fantasy fiction, it is important to have an authentic voice. For her books, because of the historical aspect, she feels that she must have the fact in place before she can bring the fantasy to it. She takes the settings of her novels from places that she has been or known or artwork that she is taken with...anything that gives her visual stimulation might wind up as a setting in one of her books.
When naming places and characters, she looks to Greek and Latin roots to create names. She also takes names from Old English words that she combines with familiar names, or places from maps.
de Lint writes fantasy for people who don't read fantasy, and he writes the stories he wants to hear. He calls his writing "realistic fantasy" or "mythic fiction". He likes to incorporate elements of myths and folktales. Because his work are "realistic", he doesn't often do much research for his writing. When asked how he creates the worlds in his books, he says that if he could paint, he wouldn't write. Because he cannot create artistically, he writes descriptions. The naming of his characters, again because his work is "realistic" he merely collects names...when he hears one that he finds interesting, he writes it down for possible future use.
Napoli believes that we are shaped by our culture and where we live influences the problems that we have or choose to see. She likes to base her books around questions of morality and religion. Napoli does a great deal of research for each of her books because she must know the things that she's writing about. An example was given from her book Sirena, and she talked about the need to know about the geography and ecosystems of the area she was writing about. The things that she chooses to write about are not necessarily things that she has experienced in her life. She takes what has happened in her life to help her understand, or create a connection to, the situation that she's writing about. She has to care about the topic in some way because if she doesn't care about it, how can she get her readers to care about it?
When creating the settings of her books, she again does a great deal of research. Place is a very important thing, and she has a need to go to different places. Books can give you the world, and she wants to be the one to give the world to others. In the naming of her characters and development of their voices, she uses "other" language. She doesn't use contractions or synonyms, etc. For example instead of "I've understood you," she would write "I have understood," which sounds a bit strange to our ears. She believes, as Tolkein did, that fantasy is "imagined wonder" and it's OK to let our minds fill in.
In her books, Pierce likes to highlight the difference between strategy and tactics. She believes that her work is the literature of idealism, passion, courage, and morality. In her books girls get to kick butt because they have courage and integrity. She writes characters that stand between the oppressed and the oppressors and say, "No further." The basis of her books are what she calls "ripping yarns." Without a grabbing, gripping story, what's the point? Without the emotion in the story, without having the emotion come from you, the writing becomes "suckeggious". Your experience shapes what you write and how you write it.
When asked how she creates the worlds she writes about, she responded with "Immature artists imitate; mature artists steal." She deals with what she knows and goes from there. In naming her characters, she sticks with what is familiar, to help facilitate the reader's entrance into the story. She mines baby books, maps, and other cultures.
Click here for the next session's notes
Click here to return to the NCTE Convention Notes.
Last Updated April 11, 2011
This page is the copyright property of Jen. Please direct any comments or questions to her by clicking on this email link.