Nancy Springer's Blog: Last Seen Wandering Vaguely - Posts Tagged "magical-realism"
WANDERING THROUGH GENRES
My self-description “Last seen wandering vaguely” applies many times over to my career as a fiction writer. Indeed, more than careering, I have careened, the literary equivalent of a runaway banana truck, through publishers and genres. Sure, a lot of authors change genres from time to time, but usually as a business decision, or at least that’s what they tell me.
I can speak only for myself in saying business had very little to do with it.
Mythic fantasy, for instance. That’s how I started, as a youngster, writing one heroic fantasy novel after another. Selling the books was very nice indeed, but I was writing because I desperately needed to do it, unconsciously striving to pull myself out of depression and put myself together as a viable person. My paired heroes, such as Hal and Alan in THE SILVER SUN, were me and me, not yet one integrated person. The imaginary landscape where they battled with evil was my psyche, and their quest, ultimately, was to heal me.
Given the way I started, my wonderful agent, the late, great Virginia Kidd, fully expected me to continue writing one successful fantasy after another until I nailed a Lifetime Achievement award. But after the first decade or so, I felt better and wanted to turn my vision outward, toward the real world. Also, I had realized that, duh, I was female, not Hal plus Alan. (You can see me struggling toward this epiphany of the obvious in WINGS OF FLAME.) Trying for a compromise with Virginia, I continued to write fantasy, but made it contemporary fantasy (set in the real world) with female protagonists. Examples: LARQUE ON THE WING, FAIR PERIL, THE HEX WITCH OF SELDOM.
These novels of “magical realism” got rave reviews, honors and awards, but not much by way of sales.
Fine with me. I felt more than ready to move on.
I was, in fact, ready to have a happy childhood. (It’s never too late.) I bought a horse and started writing horse books for kids. These took place in the real world, as realistic as I could possibly make it. I ended up writing horse books that were more than just “horse books.” Within a few years they started getting older in tone, turning into YA and neglecting to include a horse. Instead, they more often dealt with problems of identity, deception, and crime.
One of these YA novels, TOUGHING IT, startled me very much by winning an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America.
I did not believe I wrote mystery or ever could.
The next year, LOOKING FOR JAMIE BRIDGER won another Edgar in the juvenile category.
The sensible career move for me, at this point, would have been to start writing mystery, yes?
No, ma’am. That would have been way too logical. Instead, I reverted to literary fantasy via two Arthurian novels, I AM MORDRED and I AM MORGAN LE FAY.
See what I mean about the careening career? The wacky truth seemed to be that, at any given time, I could write something, but not always what would seem called for. Even I couldn’t predict what was going to blort out of me next. Some perverse personal daemon seemed to dictate my course far more than the marketplace did. Several books and several years passed before I finally achieved mystery with the help of Conan Doyle via the Enola Holmes series. Two of the Enolas were nominated for Edgars. Neither won. But they’ve been a worldwide success, whereas my earlier Edgar winners faded into obscurity. Go figure.
Over the past few years, any number of people have urged me to write more Enola Holmes novels, and I wish I could, but I can’t. Not anymore. That particular genie is out of the bottle.
Instead, I am writing psychological suspense spotlighting middle-aged women rescuing abducted children. DARK LIE, a humdinger if I do say so myself, is already out there, and DRAWN INTO DARKNESS is to be released in November, 2013. I have no idea why I wrote them or what’s coming next.
In other words, I’m a wordcrafter on wheels careening along just fine. See ya later.
I can speak only for myself in saying business had very little to do with it.
Mythic fantasy, for instance. That’s how I started, as a youngster, writing one heroic fantasy novel after another. Selling the books was very nice indeed, but I was writing because I desperately needed to do it, unconsciously striving to pull myself out of depression and put myself together as a viable person. My paired heroes, such as Hal and Alan in THE SILVER SUN, were me and me, not yet one integrated person. The imaginary landscape where they battled with evil was my psyche, and their quest, ultimately, was to heal me.
Given the way I started, my wonderful agent, the late, great Virginia Kidd, fully expected me to continue writing one successful fantasy after another until I nailed a Lifetime Achievement award. But after the first decade or so, I felt better and wanted to turn my vision outward, toward the real world. Also, I had realized that, duh, I was female, not Hal plus Alan. (You can see me struggling toward this epiphany of the obvious in WINGS OF FLAME.) Trying for a compromise with Virginia, I continued to write fantasy, but made it contemporary fantasy (set in the real world) with female protagonists. Examples: LARQUE ON THE WING, FAIR PERIL, THE HEX WITCH OF SELDOM.
These novels of “magical realism” got rave reviews, honors and awards, but not much by way of sales.
Fine with me. I felt more than ready to move on.
I was, in fact, ready to have a happy childhood. (It’s never too late.) I bought a horse and started writing horse books for kids. These took place in the real world, as realistic as I could possibly make it. I ended up writing horse books that were more than just “horse books.” Within a few years they started getting older in tone, turning into YA and neglecting to include a horse. Instead, they more often dealt with problems of identity, deception, and crime.
One of these YA novels, TOUGHING IT, startled me very much by winning an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America.
I did not believe I wrote mystery or ever could.
The next year, LOOKING FOR JAMIE BRIDGER won another Edgar in the juvenile category.
The sensible career move for me, at this point, would have been to start writing mystery, yes?
No, ma’am. That would have been way too logical. Instead, I reverted to literary fantasy via two Arthurian novels, I AM MORDRED and I AM MORGAN LE FAY.
See what I mean about the careening career? The wacky truth seemed to be that, at any given time, I could write something, but not always what would seem called for. Even I couldn’t predict what was going to blort out of me next. Some perverse personal daemon seemed to dictate my course far more than the marketplace did. Several books and several years passed before I finally achieved mystery with the help of Conan Doyle via the Enola Holmes series. Two of the Enolas were nominated for Edgars. Neither won. But they’ve been a worldwide success, whereas my earlier Edgar winners faded into obscurity. Go figure.
Over the past few years, any number of people have urged me to write more Enola Holmes novels, and I wish I could, but I can’t. Not anymore. That particular genie is out of the bottle.
Instead, I am writing psychological suspense spotlighting middle-aged women rescuing abducted children. DARK LIE, a humdinger if I do say so myself, is already out there, and DRAWN INTO DARKNESS is to be released in November, 2013. I have no idea why I wrote them or what’s coming next.
In other words, I’m a wordcrafter on wheels careening along just fine. See ya later.
Last Seen Wandering Vaguely
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