Hi, folks.
I hope this finds you all well! As part of a book blast coming up next week, we are going to feature several articles by the very talented Dora Machado, whose new Twilight Times Book, The Curse Giver, is being released on July 15th. We'd love to encourage you to download it on Wednesday, the 17th, as part of our support for Ms. Machado.
Please help me welcome her back to Murderby4 today! Welcome, Dora!
- Aaron Lazar
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How Fantasy Meets Reality and Reality Enhances Fantasy, by Dora Machado
copyright 2013, Dora Machado
Fantasy
is a subversive genre, requiring the mind to bend and the imagination to flex.
I love the genre's creative freedom, the opportunity to rethink, redesign and
reinterpret the human experience in fresh and diverse settings, and the
mysteries that magic brings to the human equation. But above all, I love
realism in fantasy—the idea that even the most powerful magic is grounded to
our sense of self, fueled by the choices we make, and rooted in the people we
are. To me, a dose of gritty realism authenticates a story, validates my characters,
and makes my worlds "real."
This
is exactly what I've tried to do in my books, and my latest novel, The Curse Giver from Twilight Times
Books, is no exception. The Curse Giver
is about an innocent healer named Lusielle, who is betrayed and condemned to
die for a crime she didn't commit. When she's about to be executed, Lusielle is
rescued from the pyre by an embittered lord, doomed by a mysterious curse. You
might think that Bren, Lord of Laonia, is Lusielle's savior, but he isn't. On
the contrary, Bren is pledged to kill Lusielle himself, because her murder is
his people's only chance at salvation. Stalked by intrigue and confounded by
forbidden passion, predator and prey must band together to defeat not only the
vile curse obliterating their lives, but also the curse giver who has already
conjured their ends.
I
know what you're thinking: How can a classic fantasy like The Curse Giver bring a sense of realism to the reader?
I
can think of many ways, but I'll limit my discussion here to three very
specific ways in which reality enhances a fantasy story.
First,
the quickest and most effective way of establishing a link between fantasy and
reality is by connecting the story's main themes to humanity's enduring themes.
The Curse Giver, for example, is inspired by our ancient, deeply
rooted belief in the power of curses. You can find curses in every culture on
earth. It's one of those concepts that transcends background and ethnicity and
binds us to our common original ancestors. It's primordial to the human
experience.
The
curse that inspired me to write The Curse
Giver was a tangible object, ancient words inscribed on clay tablets dating
back to 600 BC, a desperate attempt at protection, a warning and a promise of
punishment. Curses are familiar to all of us and whether we believe in them or
not, they are an intriguing part of our history, an irresistible taunt, a
"real" mystery that none of us can resist. I think that realism filters up through
the story from the inspiration source. We
can anchor our fantasy worlds to reality by connecting them to our history and
beliefs.
In
more concrete ways, reality betters fantasy when it comes through pure and
simple in the details. Settings provide great opportunities for realism. For
example, The Curse Giver's river-centered world is inspired by the great American
waterways: the Colorado River, which I have rafted often; the Mississippi River,
which I've had the opportunity to explore; and the Amazon River, which has
always intrigued me. Setting and landscapes offer some great opportunities for
realism in fantasy and so does geography, especially when the details are
vivid, concrete and deeply woven into the heart of the story.
But ultimately, real characters make
real worlds. Realism achieves its maximum expression through the human
experience as characters tackle the story. For example, in The Curse Giver, Bren, the Lord of Laonia, is a warrior. To be
real, the concrete details associated with his trade have to be right. Research
is fundamental. I relied on medieval primary sources to make Bren real. From
his weapons to his fighting moves, to how he thinks to how he acts—
everything about
him has to be consistent and make sense, even if he exists in a fantasy world.
The same is true about my heroine,
Lusielle. By trade, she is a remedy mixer, an ancient occupation to the human
experience. I spent a lot of time researching medieval medicine, herbalism and
the use of ingredients for healing in human history. Lusielle's potions and
ingredients—the concrete elements of her
practice—make her more real to the reader, more credible and therefore more
compelling as a character.
Realism
is important even when tackling the villainous and the mysterious. The curse
giver stalking Bren and Lusielle wields some potent magic. But is magic really
the defining element that makes the curse giver powerful? Evil as the curse
giver is, as the story develops, the reader has to ask the hard questions:
What's this creature's real nature? What is her motivation? What is the "real"
source of her power?
I
won't spoil the story's twists just to make a point, but trust me: Fantasy
explores some very "real" themes, such as the tenuous boundaries between love and
hate, virtue and vice, magic and belief, justice and revenge. These questions, which are at the heart of any good and
complex plot, also contribute to realism in fantasy.
But
beyond the details, what makes these characters real is their willingness to
make choices, fail, cope, learn, adapt and change; to establish emotional
connections and engage in each other's quests; to suffer loss, grief and love,
just like we do in the real world. Magic
is a powerful element in fantasy. No doubt about it. And yet ultimately, what
matters most is the strength within. Because in the end, realism in fantasy is
all about connecting with the powerful reality of our own humanity.
***
Dora Machado is the award-winning author of the epic
fantasy Stonewiser series and her newest novel, The Curse Giver, available from Twilight Times Books, July 2013.
She grew up in the Dominican Republic, where she developed a fascination for
writing and a taste for Merengue. After a lifetime of straddling such
compelling but different worlds, fantasy is a natural fit to her stories. She
lives in Florida with her husband and three very opinionated cats. To learn more about Dora Machado and her novels,
visit her website at www.doramachado.com or contact her at Dora@doramachado.com. For a free excerpt of The
Curse Giver, visit http://twilighttimesbooks.com/TheCurseGiver_ch1.html.
Subscribe to her blog at http://www.doramachado.com/blog/, sign up
for her at newsletter at http://doramachado.com/newsletter.php,
Facebook
and 
Twitter.
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