Babel Clash

So I am happy to report, I have defeated the OpenOffice bug (if anyone is wondering, turns out you get stuck in an infinite loop if you try and globally search and replace $ to add newlines between paragraphs! you have to add in a few extra characters to the search to get around it — watches entire audience of Babel Clash keel over and die from lack of interest) and Araminta will be going up on Monday. \o/ (Yes, I am selfishly postponing sharing it until after the weekend doldrums.)

Today I had the adventure of seeing Midsummer Night’s Dream at the NYC Ballet, which turned out to be surprising fun. (I say surprising because my general attitude towards ballet is the same as my feeling about fugu: I don’t object, because why shouldn’t everyone have their own fun, but I am forced to repress the urge to say “really?” a lot.)

But this is my second time at the ballet in the last few years due to having a mother who is a passionate fan and also difficult to find really good birthday presents for otherwise, and both were great. (Admittedly, the first was seeing the Kirov, which is like watching The Godfather and saying “Okay, I guess these ‘moving pictures’ aren’t too bad.”) The first act was beautifully theatrical and fantastical, with a very sparkly Oberon and a very bouncy Puck, and spectacular costumes and lighting. I realize this sounds like I am reaching, but no, it was actually brilliant how well they made it obvious it was which dancers were fairies and which were humans. Also, the farce of MNsD, which is often too heavy-handed for me in the play, turns out to be adorable without words.

Of course, then we got to the thankfully shorter second act, and I discovered (I did not know this!) that Mendelssohn’s Wedding March (you know, THAT ONE) was apparently written for MNsD. As it played and played and played and a lot of people dressed all in pastel pink did classical ballet in front of equally pastel lavender and pink backdrops and I failed to tell anyone apart and my eyes began to boil in my skull from the sheer pressure of boredom. (I might be exaggerating a bit.)

But then the fairies showed up again and it all ended in sparkles after all, which I think makes an excellent piece of advice for anyone whose story gets bogged down, along the lines of “send in the clowns.” (One of my betas likes to say, when inspiration fails, set something on fire; this substantially influenced the opening of Black Powder War.)

Morgan’s question:

What do you find to be the biggest advantage of using historical places over ones entirely fictional? Also, if you choose to use a historical location, do you feel compelled to achieve a level of authenticity?

One advantage of using a historical background when writing something with a realistic flavor is of course that historical sites and events carry their own reality with them — you don’t have to invent something plausible, you can look it up. But to my mind, the biggest advantage is that history brings constraints. There’s an enormous temptation as a fantasy writer to think you can do whatever you want — you’re making it all up! — and theoretically you can, of course, but that way lies the shattered and smoking wreckage of your reader’s suspension of disbelief.

It’s not so much that you can’t ignore historical detail as you can’t simply skip what isn’t convenient — there have to be rules for what you change — and if you want your reader to believe in your universe, you have to create an overall atmosphere of its truth, with realistic language, true description, with accurate reporting of events. If you pay your dues to your readers by getting the things right that don’t have to be different, it makes it easier for your reader to go with you on the things you do really want to change (eg, stuffing dragons into the mix).

And that is a wrap for tonight! Tomorrow I alas will have no NYC adventures to share, so I may hit up some of the unanswered questions from my previous live chat over at Suvudu (with the lovely Scott Westerfeld, whose Leviathan I heartily recommend to you all, speaking of awesome use of historical detail), or hit me with ‘em if you’ve got ‘em.

PS: the automatic conversion of emoticons into giant yellow smiley faces here hurts my soul and is forcing me to become more ornate in lieu of using smileys; it is VERY SAD.

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