BY BEN IRELAND
The last thing I ever wanted to write.
Sometimes I think about a topic, like fairies, and decide that the subject is too trite to attempt writing a story around. The reasons being that fairies are typically small, weak, scatterbrained and boringly kind creatures.
In one of my creative stupors, I was mulling over how I could never write a story about such beings. But then a question came to me: what if I had to write about fairies?
I want to share with you the resulting creative process that helped me turn a subject that I believed was silly, to one that, I hope, is worth reading about.
The resulting story was “Fairykin”.
Step 1: Pick a subject you hate
Have you ever found yourself finding a subject or theme unpalatable? Like sparkling vampires, or romance novels. It’s common for people to feel attracted to certain types of stories for any number of reasons.
I love science fiction because it usually takes a unique idea, then builds upon that concept in a way which allows us to view the human condition differently. Or it has a strong, intelligent hero that knows how to solve the problems presented to her. Stories that lack these elements are usually unattractive to me. If you don’t have a unique idea, or a kick-ass gumshoe, I’m probably not interested. Fairies, in my experience, usually lack both.
Step 2: Figure out what’s wrong with it
So, you found a genre or theme that you hate. What’s wrong with it? Are the characters trite? Are the themes irrelevant to you? Does magic seem dumb? Do you only like “real” stories? I can’t help you much here. Your reasons for hating something could be completely different to mine. I don’t like fairies because—come on—they’re fairies. Small, weak, silly, made for girls and kids. But why are they only in kids movies? Nothing other than convention has perpetuated the generic fairy.
Fairies often find trivial things important, they worry about friendships, or music, or flowers. This often makes the characters simple and flat. An uninteresting character is impossible for me to care about. The complete absence of brutal and bloody deaths is another major item lacking in fairy stories that I am aware of. Even the fairies in the amazing Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher are simple and easily manipulated. So who cares about that? Not me.
So you know what you hate, what can you do to fix it?
Step 3: Fix it
This part is easy: take everything you hate about the topic and flip it. Fairies are simple and boring, so I attempted to make mine complex and—may the little folk forgive me—more human.
When I say there isn’t enough blood in fairy stories, I mean that the peril never seems truly threatening. Fairies usually try to save their forest, and some convenient magic force pops up and helps in the end. But what if there were no forests left? What if the survival of their species was the only thing they were fighting for? What if there was no magic to save them? Just their wits and willingness to stand up to humans twelve wings tall.
Creating a story in a genre I hated was a satisfying challenge. I was able to take everything I find pedestrian about fairies and turn it into a story that I hope the readers will find moving and poignant. I hope that you take the opportunity to get something that’s always struck you as dumb, and use it as a foundation to create something beautiful.
Despite his creative stupors, Ben has found a welcome home here at Xchyler Publishing. His work has appeared in two anthologies: “Kissed a Snake” in A Dash of Madness: a Thriller Anthology (July 2013), and “Fairykin” in Moments in Millennia: a Fantasy Anthology (January 2014). His next project, Kingdom City: Resurrection, a dystopian fantasy with plenty of gut-churning peril, is slated for release in February 2014.
Ben churns out his prose from his home in Southeast Texas, where he lives with his wife and three children, and works in IT.