Babel Clash

I can’t believe our time at Babel Clash is already at an end. We’ve had two weeks filled with many things:  laughter, tears, obscenity, fangs and snark. But most of all–love. I’ll always remember it fondly. I know you will too.

Huge thanks to Dane for being such an excellent host and to the readers for putting up with our antics. It’s always a pleasure.

Now for the pimpage portion of this post (warning: exposure to pimpage may cause stress diarrhea, bleeding from the eyes and rashes in sensitive areas).

My latest book, GREEN-EYED DEMON is the third book in my Sabina Kane series. Just in time for Mardi Gras, the book is set in New Orleans and features drag queens, voodoo priestesses, scheming Cajuns and accidental zombies. If you like your urban fantasy dark with complex world building and sharp-edged humor, give it a try.

-end pimpage-

Until next time, Babel Clashians, I bid you adieu.

I’ve been thinking about something for a while now and Nicole’s post yesterday gives me the perfect opening to discuss it here.

It seems to me that because vampires are the monsters/heros that everyone loves or loves to hate right now, that merely having a vampire in your world automatically makes it a “vampire book.” Yet many of the series and books that people consider vampire fiction also feature other races and beings.

Because the Twilight bomb has already been dropped this week, let’s go there first. Undoubtedly, vampires are crucial to those books. But aren’t werwolves also a huge part of the story? Yes, they take second billing to the sparkly ones, but they’re important enough to the story lines that I always raise an eyebrow whenever I hear those books called “vampire books.” I’m pretty sure  Team Jacob might have an opinion on that.

But let’s look at Urban Fantasy (and, no I don’t consider Twilight UF). Kim Harrison’s protagonist, Rachel Morgan, is a witch. Faeries, demons, werewolves, etc all are important parts of her world building. But Rachel’s roommate, Ivy, is a vampire and vampire politics factor heavily in the plots of the series. And you know what? For the longest time, if you walked into certain book stores that considered any book with a vampire “horror,” you’d find Kim’s books in that section instead of the fantasy section with those other UFs that didn’t have a vampire.

In my own books, my protagonist is half-vampire, half-mage. While the vampires are crucial to the world building, after the fist book in the series, Sabina spend a lot more time with mages doing magic than sucking people’s necks. In addition, demons, werewolves, faeries and even an occasional zombie, play active roles. But for the most part, I’m considered a “vampire writer.”

I guess what I’m asking is, if an author puts one vampire in a book, will that book automatically be relegated to the Vampire Ghetto? Obviously, I’m not so obtuse as to claim the V Ghetto is hurting anyone. Vampire fiction is doing quite well, and marketing departments know that and use it. But when I think about projects I want to write in the future, I have to wonder if people will automatically expect me to keep writing vampires.

I’m sure sure there’s a real conclusion to be made here. But I am interested in hearing your opinions about why vampires tend to brand the fiction they appear in more than their hairier or more magical counterparts.

Nicole asked whether you enjoy nomadic or home-base protagonists in your UF. That got me thinking about common settings. Or more specifically, whether Urban Fantasy must always be urban.

The short answer is no. We can all think of examples of UF novels not set in large cities. The truth is the term “urban fantasy” is largely a construct of clever marketing people. As a marketing term, it’s quite effective. It implies a certain gritty modernity that separates UF from the more traditional fantasy subgenres. It just sounds cool.

But it can also be confusing to some readers when they run across novels that are not set in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, etc.

I attended ConDFW in Dallas over the weekend. I sat on a UF panel with Rachel Caine, Stina Leicht, Candace Havens and Frances May and we discussed how the word urban isn’t quite right for the genre. Most of us agreed that the genre would be more accurately described as “contemporary fantasy.” This term would be more accurate because, as I mentioned in my post last week, the difference between traditional fantasy and urban fantasy is largely one of setting and world building. Traditional fantasy is other worlds. UF is our world … only different. The “contemporary fantasy” gets us a little closer to the heart of the distinction.

However … It’s not quite accurate either. Why? What about all the new historical-set urban fantasies? See what I mean?

On the same panel I mentioned earlier, we also discussed how genres are really not a tool of the writer. Many an author has completed a novel and had no idea where it would be shelved. I can name a dozen off the top of my head that thought they wrote one genre and then got shelved somewhere else. In other words, the vagaries of genre-naming and the defining of genre conventions are mainly the job of publishers, book sellers and, yes, readers.

As humans, we crave neat little categories. They help us make sense of an often chaotic world. And when we read, we want to know whether a novel contains elements we enjoy. Genre definitions are there to help us with that pursuit. But it can be frustrating for authors who are constantly asked to explain the “rules” a genre they didn’t create or define. This is especially true for Urban Fantasy since it’s full of contradictions and exceptions due to the very nature of the multi-genre plotting, world building and character development.

That’s all a really long-winded way of saying UF doesn’t enjoy playing by the rules. But if you were the enlightened despot of genre naming for a day, what would you call this genre?

Speaking of battlefields, let’s switch our focus from romance and love to the places where UF characters play out their conflicts. Because UF is set in our world–only different, authors can have a lot of fun with setting.

In my own books, I always try to bring some new twist to familiar settings. I usually try to write about cities I’ve actually visited, but the internet makes research so easy now. From Google maps to online museums to something as mundane as a bar’s web site, there are infinite possibilities to play with setting. And when you’re switching cities in every book like I do, it’s important to employ each city’s personality and landmarks into the stories.

Here are some of the favorite ways I’ve played with setting in my own books:

In the real world, if you visit the Silversun area of Los Angeles, there’s a bar that features the word “Salvation” in lights over the stage. But in Sabina’s world, this same bar has a “VIP” (Vampires In Private) area where you’ll also find the word “Damnation” over the bar.

The Black Light District in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen serves as a one-stop shop for the vices of the dark races. To access the heart of the BLD, you have to go through Pupu Palace, a Chinese restaurant with a secret doorway hidden in its meat freezer.

Immortal vineyards in St. Helena, CA is a vampire-themed vineyard in Napa Valley that’s a front for a blood harvesting operation. In the store, you can buy  cheesy merchandise that plays on vampire stereotypes, i.e. bumpstickers that say “Vampires do it all night.” But whatever you do, don’t wander off by yourself or you might stumble onto the blood harvesting area and end up a nightcap for a vamp with a hankering for some Type O Merlot.

Anne Rice’s former home in the Garden District of New Orleans is a popular stop on any tour of the district. But in Green-Eyed Demon, the home belongs to Erron Zorn, recreant mage and lead singer of Necrospank 5000. Stumble into Erron’s yard on the wrong night and you’ll see things that can never be unseen.

Urban fantasy isn’t just about pretending vampires and other monsters really exist. It’s about looking at our world in a new way. About challenging assumptions and not taking things at face value. Savvy authors will pull this theme through when they’re creating settings. Take something familiar– a landmark, a chain restaurant, etc.–and give it a tweak. Add some details that hint at something else beneath the surface. These types of details add depth and breadth to the worlds you’re creating. They’re also a hell of a lot of fun to write.

Hello Babel Clash! Did you miss us? We missed you.

To kick off our triumphant return to this hallowed blog, Nicole and I decided we’d spend the first couple of days talking about romance in UF. For those of you who hate love, don’t worry, we’re moving on past the gushy stuff soon. But in the meantime …

Urban fantasy often has been more closely aligned with the romance genre, rather than fantasy. In fact, one of the most frequent questions I get on panels and interviews is “What exactly is the difference between paranormal romance and urban fantasy?” I have never been asked the difference between urban fantasy and epic fantasy.

For me, the difference between UF and romance has always seemed pretty clear.* It’s a question of story focus. While paranormal romance cannot exist without romance, urban fantasy can–and frequently does. The plots of many urban fantasies are built on backbones of mystery, suspense or a good old-fashioned quest, hero’s journey style. Yes, many have romantic subplots, but they generally exist to serve the large story arcs.

In other words, love is part of the urban fantasy character’s journey. But rarely is it her destination.

Every life is affected by the presence of love– or it’s absence. Many types of love help shape character’s development. Family, friendships, romantic love–all of these relationships help mold a person. And since my books are about one character’s journey, it’s important to me that all these types of love are explored.

So does Sabina Kane, the heroine of my novels, have a love interest? Yes. More than one, in fact. Do they define her? No. Absolutely not. Yet they do change her. They shape her. They reveal things about her character.

But you know what? So does every battle she fights. Every foe she faces. Every victory, every defeat. Every friendship she forms or ends. Every family dysfunction she struggles to overcome. All these story elements reveal who Sabina is, but, more importantly, who she has the potential to become.

To reduce urban fantasy novels to Facebook relationship statuses is to miss the best part of urban fantasy: creative and complex world building, action and suspense, humor and quirky characters. And, yes, the search for all types of love.

*In a perfect world. Generally, the confusion between romance and UF stems more from marketing decisions and bookstore placement rather than the contents of the actual stories.

I’m not even going to attempt to top a post about ephemisms for sex organs. First, I’d probably get myself banned from Babel Clash for life if I tried. And second, well, it’s Monday morning and I haven’t had nearly enough coffee to be scandalous.

Instead, I’ll simply thank Borders and Terry for having us. Also, thanks to everyone who stopped by over the last two weeks to watch us make asses out of ourselves.

Nicole and I both spend a lot of time making light of what we do, but, while we may not take ourselves too seriously, we do take writing seriously. And it’s extremely awesome that we get to share the fruits of our labor with all the passionate urban fantasy fans out there. You guys rock!

Y’all behave yourselves. Or don’t. That’s fine too.

I love how Nicole is an unapologetic hedonist. It’s one of my favorite things about her and her books. But me? Well. I grew up Catholic. Which means we did everything everyone else does only we felt guilty about it.  Which also means I have a lot of fun playing with moral conflicts and grey areas in my books. But that’s a blog for another day.

Anyway… You won’t find a lot of guilt-free orgiastic sex in my books. Yet. But you know what you will find a lot of? Guilt-free violence. Which, when you think about it, isn’t always that different from sex. Especially when one is writing about an assassin with a major jones for blood who hasn’t been laid in a quarter century. Or a horny — yeah that pun is intended — Mischief demon who takes out his sexual frustrations in an underground Demon Fight Club. (Which is not to be confused with Hairless Cat Fight Club, featured right).

With that in mind, I thought I’d mix it up a little today and give you:

Jaye’s Guide to Writing Sex and Violence, Or Both of These Things are a Lot Like the Other

7. The same music can get you, the writer, in the mood for either activity. Try Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine. It’s a classic for a reason, people.

6. Both types of scenes are best when the characters can really let themselves go. Worrying about the faces they’re making isn’t conducive to either getting or kicking some ass.

5. I don’t give a crap what the critics say, both activities are only enhanced by stilettos. Leave the sensible shoes at home.

4. Is it me or is it a coincidence so many weapons are shaped like phalluses? Phallusi?

3. Rage and lust are kissing cousins. The wise Perry Farrell said, “Sex is violent.” And for some characters, violence is sexual. Not always. Not every character. But you should establish this during foreplay (pre-writing) or risk leaving your characters (and readers) unsatisfied.

2. If you’re doing it right, both sex and fight scenes involve copious body fluids.

Also? And there’s a reason this is no. 1, people, so pay attention.

1. Both are most satisfying with a noisy climax.

So there you have it. I was going to come up with ten reasons, but then I decided that to leave the last few spots up to you guys. Anyone else want to opine about how sex scenes and fight scenes are alike?

Also, I’ll leave you with proof that while my books may be violent, Nicole Peeler is the more violent author in real life. Never. Ever. Turn your back on Dr. Peeler. You’ve been warned. 

I love writing urban fantasy. There aren’t many rules. Because it’s a multigenre, there are no prescribed formulas. Conventions, sure. But UF is as likely to flaunt conventions as follow them. Also, because the monsters we write about are powerful metaphors, there are many opportunities for twisting expectations and skewing perspectives. All this allows an author incredible latitude when it comes to using humor, satire and parody.

“That’s the great test, if you’re going to be a great comic writer, not a humorist, you’ve got to take it into the throat of grief. Can you make laughter and seriousness so close that they are the same thing? There’s nothing more wonderful than when the comedy’s got horror in it, got blood in it. And the seriousness is at all times aware of its own preposterousness. What’s it for, this seriousness? Everything is loss, is nothing, in the end.” -Howard Jacobson

This quote hangs over my computer monitor. Not because I aspire to be a “great comic writer” but because I aspire to be an honest writer. One who shares the truth as I know it. And the truth is messy. I might write books about vampires and demons, but they’re really stories about people. Or, perhaps more succinctly, they’re about broken people.

We’re all broken, right? Because perfection doesn’t exist. Because we don’t live in a world of perpetual abundance. Because we’re humans and not the gods we’ve created. We’re broken and we’re ridiculous and we’ve all got an expiration date. And in these truths are the seeds of all good humor.

Humor allows us to watch tragedy through a Plexiglas shield and provide color commentary without feeling threatened. It dilutes horrors and deflects tears. But to be true, humor must also be relentless. Fear has no place here. You can’t worry that your mom might read your work and be ashamed. You can’t worry that the PTA might read it and ban you from the bake sale. You can’t worry that nice girls don’t talk about those things. That little twinge in your gut? It’s there to tell you to keep going.

Telling stories isn’t always comfortable. While we’re writing about monsters, we’re really writing about ourselves. And this goes back to something Nicole said the other day about self-deprecation. The things you fear, the things that make you angry, the things you love–ultimately they’re all fodder for comedy. Because life is ridiculous and sad and wonderful. And because if we didn’t laugh, we’d cry. Or worse, we wouldn’t care at all.

As Nicole pointed out yesterday, we write vastly different types of heroines. Sabina Kane is closer to what most people think of as the stereotypical kick-ass UF heroine. She’s an assassin. She’s half-vampire, half-mage. She had a childhood that puts the funk in dysfunction. She likes guns and blood.

But more than that, Sabina is an anti-heroine.  If Nicole’s Jane True is an every woman (of sorts, she is a selkie, after all), then Sabina is a never-y woman. Look at her over there. She’ll cut a bitch. She’s caustic. She’s violent. She’s got a huge chip on her shoulder. She’s not someone most of us would or should aspire to be.

Writing Sabina is both challenging and a lot of fun. Challenging because her knack for self-delusion and sabotage makes me grit my teeth. Fun because, well, she’s so effing easy to piss off.

See, here’s the thing: My goal as an author is to show a both an external and internal journey. The external journey is the plot of my books. The internal journey is Sabina’s character growth. And the best way to make a stubborn character grow is to make them squirm.

Enter Giguhl, the hairless cat Mischief demon. You know other characters like Giguhl, they’re the humorous sidekicks, the foils, the mischief-makers of fiction. They get the best lines. They’re also sometimes hard to take seriously until WHAMO they say something so insightful that it knocks the protagonist for a loop. One of Giguhl’s comedic roles in the series (and, yes, there are others) is to shake up Sabina’s life. She needed a friend like Giguhl even if she didn’t know it. I like to call these characters “agents of benevolent chaos.”

But the ability to have a snarky foil to the protagonist’s straight man is only one humorous benefit of the kick-ass heroine. Another one is putting these characters, who crave control, into situations they have no hope of controlling. Embarrass them. Force them to question themselves. Make them interact with new people, places and situations that don’t fit into their myopic worldviews. The potential here is almost limitless. One of my favorite things to do is to take a gun-toting leather-clad bad ass and make them have to deal with something mundane and inconvenient–over-drafting their checking account, getting a speeding ticket, dealing with shitty customer service, whatever.

For the reader, these situations are funny because it’s awesome to see an über-strong character have to deal with the same shit we put up with day-in and day-out. On the outside, this type of humor is labeled “farce” or “travesty” and it can be quite funny. But more importantly these same comedic gems are also amazing tools to force character growth.

Of course, there’s other ways to force character growth that are scary or violent or gut-wrenching. Those are also interesting and fun to write. But I think the use of comedy as a tool for character growth character is vastly under-appreciated and under-discussed.

Or maybe I’m really just a sadist who enjoys torturing my characters.

Either way, I love writing a kick-ass heroine for a lot of reasons, but my favorite is because I get to screw with her. Maybe one day I’ll write a more “normal” character and then I’ll have new humorous devices at my disposal. But in the meantime, I’ll just keeping thinking up ways to make Sabina squirm.

So what say you, Dr. Peeler? What’s so funny about writing the every woman?

Despite the popularity of urban fantasy as a genre, people are always asking me what it is. Usually, after explaining the whole paranormal fantasy, modern world stuff I go on to tell them that urban fantasy is also a melting pot of genre — a multi-genre, if you will.

It’s true: There’s something for everyone in urban fantasy. That’s why I started reading the genre and also why I write it. Playing with genre conventions and combining elements in new ways is part of what makes writing UF so fun.

You know what else makes it fun? The humor.

Hi! I’m Jaye Wells. I like a little sarcasm with my blood. I like making fun of the things that scare me. And there’s nothing I love better than a some seriously twisted humor.

But while I aspire to the love child of threesome between Janet Evanovich, Chuck Palahniuk and Christopher Moore, I get that not everyone laughs at the same things I do. Remember how I said Urban Fantasy has something for everyone? Well, whether you like your humor subtle, sarcastic or slapstick, there’s an urban fantasy author out there writing it. So I thought I’d kick off our two weeks together by talking about one of my favorite kinds of humor in urban fantasy: Snark.

First, can we agree the term is overused? These days, pretty much anything anyone says that’s the least bit sarcastic is labeled snark. But, in my opinion, true snark is an art form. In fact, I prefer the term “sardonica” but so far no one else is biting on that term. So snark it is. Now, what the heck is it?

At its best, snark is witty cynicism with a heavy dose of sarcasm. At its worst, snark comes off as snotty and, well, let’s face it, douche-y. Especially when wielded by blog trolls, obnoxious radio personalities and pseudo-intellectuals.

It’s also often confused for other common comedic devices: repartee, satire, gallows humor, farce, irony, parody. The confusion often comes from the fact that snark blends so well with these other devices and is even combined with them to great effect by skilled comedic writers. But in my opinion, snark is really just a preemptive offensive defense.

Bear with me while I get a little deep for a moment. Often the most effective wielders of snark are highly intelligent people who spent at least part of their childhoods being punched by metaphorical or literal bullies. In other words, they developed verbal weapons where they did not have physical ones. In addition, these same people probably spent a large part of their teen years observing their peers to try and figure out why everyone else seemed to fit in while they did not. Thus, a snarkist was born: a keen observer of human nature that wields words like weapons to cut down opponents before they themselves can be cut down.

I should also point out that these same breeding grounds can also give birth to writers and serial killers, but that’s another blog post altogether.

In fiction, snark is often used by characters who have built thick walls around themselves. That’s probably why so many urban fantasy heroines (and Sabina Kane is no exception) wield both snark and literal weapons. The guns kill enemies and the words keep potential allies at bay, but both types of weapons are meant to disguise vulnerabilities.

But given snark’s somewhat regrettable reasons for existing, why do we find it so freaking funny? Again, this is only my opinion, but I think we all have an inner snarkist. It’s just that snarky characters in books actually say what they’re thinking. They flaunt the polite rules of society that demand that if we don’t have anything nice to say, we don’t say it at all. And how many of us haven’t wanted to speak our minds more often? To be able to say just the right cut down at the exact right moment (instead of thinking of it two hours later when you’re halfway into a gallon of Chunky Monkey).

As an author, writing snark can be incredibly cathartic. First of all, I get to say things in print I might never say in public. If you read my twitter feed it might surprise you to know I actually do censor myself. But Giguhl, the hairless cat demon from my Sabina Kane series, says all sorts of things I’d be embarrassed to say in polite company. Second, it’s really fun to see how a character’s use of snark changes as they grow through a series. As a character becomes more open to relationships with other characters, their humor tends to get less caustic and defensive and more driven by camaraderie and good-natured ribbing.

I could probably talk about snark all week, but I’m more interested in knowing your opinions on this subject. Do you agree with my definition of snark? What urban fantasy authors do you think use it well? But most of all, inquiring minds want to know: Do you like your urban fantasy dark, light or somewhere in between?