che_gilson

Recently I have been quite a few things on the Documentary Channel. I am such a documentary nut! There are actually two documentaries I've always wanted to make. One would be about Comicon. Nothing deep, just about going to the con and trying to squeeze in panels and missing stuff etc. And the other would be about dolls. Of course. But it is nice that there is an entire network for documentaries.

I think I'm going to get Syen. She will be Scylla's sister Charybdis and I'm going to trade the gargoyle legs for Ai deer legs and she will cute! I hope!

Tea Time Three is at 104 handwritten pages! Yay! I think that deserves a prize!  *coughSyencough* I have decided to use the 'witchs fly on brooms' stereotype in the book. I've been thinking more about the Urban Fantasy and Fantasy genres and I stand by my earlier assessment that it seems like a lot of the fun has been sucked out of both genres. In a lot of books about vampires it seems like the authors are trying to write AROUND their characters being vampires. Most of things that make vampires vampires are often discarded. Like sleeping in the day or turning into mist. That was one f the reasons I HATED Moonlight so much. Same with witchs. I've noticed a lot of old ideas about witchs being replaced with a more realistic Wiccan bent and the brooms are gone in pursuit of 'realism'.  But honestly- if I had magical powers and COULDN'T fly on a broom I'd feel totally robbed! So the three reasons that the T3 witchs can fly on brooms are 1- it's fun, 2- I want them too, 3- I am a big fan of Kiki's Delivery Service- the book and the movie, so I want my witchs to fly!

I've also noticed that there doesn't seem to be any 'slice-of-life' fantasy which is a personal crusade of mine. To make the fantastical as small and beleivable and normal as possible. Not every story needs to be about people averting disaster, assassinating evil doers, and solving crime. What about the rest of us? What do normal people do in an extraordinary world? Someone still has to take out the garbage and someone still has to collect the garbage. This has been my frequent yardstick for fantasy for a long time. Can you imagine living in this world and raising children? If the answer is yes, this world exists in all its mundane glory then that is a good fantasy novel. If the world is just a back drop for warring armies than no, it is not a good fantasy novel.

But as far as other fantasy books about normal people leading ordinary lives... I don't know. Does anyone know of one? A fantasy novel where no one dies, no one solves a murder, no one fires, or draws, or OWNS a gun?

Also- the Mitford books are a little harder to get a hold of than I thought. I figured what with them being NYT best sellers the library system would have basements FULL of these books. Not so. The one single edition of 'At Home in Mitford' that s in the library system is a large print edition and I am currently second on the waiting list. I read some on Amazon though and I don't know if I'll be able to make it through. They are very much geered toward Christians. But so far this is the closest thing to what I'm writing I could find and I DO need to know more about church stuff for T3. When I submit Ts to wherever I submit it, I think I will have to use the Hollywood "It's Mitford with witchs" line of high concept pitching. The problem is that the few big publishers open to unagented books, like Penguin's Ace, Roc and  Daw don't look like they are in the market for a small quiet fantasy. Not if their current catalogue is any indication. LOL! Maybe I will change all that! Laugh at my foolishness! Of course #1 is FINISH THE DAMN BOOK!

18. Favorite antagonist and why!
Right now of my own antagonists probably Rev. Oscar Austin from T3, (denomination unknown-he may actually not be a Reverend but Father... I am ignorant of church going ways!) he is a health nut and hates junkfood and sugar so he doubly dislikes the three witch sisters and their teas shop. He is not a bad person though, and by the end it will be understood where his dislike is coming from. Other than that I can't really think of one. I used to like writing villians a TON. Many of my elves in the various Holts I was in were villians. For some reason that has changed. I do love a good antagonist though- evil is fun! LOL! But my own writing has drifted away from that sort of overt- 'I kill you slowly for fun' sort of villiany into more average people with differnt beliefs than the protagonists.