I’ve just finished the first draft of my third novel Thief’s Heartache, and it got me thinking about first drafts. It always feels like an accomplishment, finishing that draft, but at the same time, it feels like I’ve only just started a journey. Writing a novel is a process, and it’s one I thoroughly enjoy. However, I have to admit that pounding out that first draft isn’t a whole lot of fun.
Then it occurred to me that the first draft isn’t supposed to be fun. It’s the work part of writing a novel. The fun starts after you finish that first draft. The beauty of creating revisions, the excitement of perfecting your story, and the sheer joy of finishing your book … all these things are what makes writing so much fun for me. The first draft is only the beginning of the process.
And that beginning can be a painful one. Getting started and mastering the basics of fiction writing is no small thing. Putting those ideas on paper and getting them to take on a form that makes a certain degree of sense is not always easy, and many people have asked me where I start when tackling the maze that is the first draft. The answer isn’t necessarily what you’d expect.
I start by reading. I read something in the genre I’m attempting to write. There is endless inspiration to be found by reading the work of respected authors in your own genre. I’m a fantasy writer, so I read Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Lord Dunsany, JRR Tolkien, and even Mercedes Lackey. These authors, along with many others, never fail to inspire me to write.
I also keep a journal of my thoughts for a few days. I think carefully about what type of plot I might like to pursue and write everything down. Usually, somewhere in those scribbled notes I can find the basics of a novel outline. And from this outline, my first draft can emerge. And though my first draft bears little resemblance to the finished product, I can rest a little easier knowing the hardest part is done.
So how do you go about completing your own first draft? I don’t know. Everyone is different. All I can tell you is that if you don’t get through that first draft, you’ll never finish that novel.
Love is a common and recurring theme in most fantastical literature. Whether this love exists “between brothers and sisters, fathers and daughters, older women and young maidens, brides and bridegrooms, and suitors and their bachelor friends” (McGlathery ix), romance in fairy tales catches the attention of the reader and moves the plot forward, shaping the events that occur throughout the story. Many times, love serves as an essential plot element in many fairy tales, including “The Golden Bird,” “Goblin Market,” and “Alice Brand.”
“The Golden Bird” is a tale in which the romantic element, platonic though it is, is not immediately apparent from the text itself. It is not until the end of the story, the final paragraph in fact, when the fox asks the prince “to shoot him dead and cut off his head and paws” (Zipes 222) that the fox transforms into the brother of the beautiful princess. This crucial piece of information “would seem to hold the key to the fox’s persistent devotion to his mission” (McGlathery 41). When looking back on the story with this revelation in mind, it becomes quite apparent that the fox’s love for his sister is necessary to the plot. He is determined to see his sister freed, going so far as to aid the prince repeatedly in his quest, despite having his initial advice and warnings ignored. His determination and devotion is entirely the result of his love for his captive sister, and he will go to any lengths to ensure her freedom. This same love brings about a peaceful conclusion for the fox, his sister, and the prince. Without the fox’s desire to rescue his sister from her captors, the prince might not have been successful on his journey and the story may never have happened.
It might be tempting to assume that the fox is only looking for a way to return to human form throughout the story, manipulating the prince into fulfilling his desire and mutilating his body. A close reading of the text, however, does not support this idea. Once the fox returns to human form, “nothing more was missing from their happiness as long as they lived” (Zipes 222). It is quite clear from a detailed examination of the text that the fox wants much more than simply to return to his human form. He desires a reunion with his sister above all else, and he wants this enough to cohabitate with his sister and her husband after he is released from the magical spell that had been cast over him years before. It is likely that he would not have been “content to live with the sister, even after she is married” (McGlathery 164) had he not had a true love for his sister.
The love between sisters is the catalyst for a peaceful resolution in “Goblin Market.” This first hint of this love arises when Lizzie is warning Laura that she “should not peep at goblin men” (Rossetti 49). Her fear for her sister is genuine, even before the conflict of the story becomes apparent. The love for a sister is the cause of this fear. Later in the poem, Lizzie’s love for her sister Laura is strong enough that she is willing to risk her own life by confronting the goblin men and attempting to purchase fruit from them. When the goblin men hold the fruits “against her mouth to make her eat” (Rossetti 407), Lizzie still refuses to comply, even when tormented and even tortured by the goblin men. Her love for Laura is stronger than her fear of the goblin men or the threat of what else they may do to her. Their bond as sisters is essential to the plot of the poem and is the reason Lizzie is so determined to return with the juices of the goblin fruit on her own flesh. Lizzie would be less likely to risk herself in this manner for someone she did not truly love, making love integral to the plot of “Goblin Market.”
The strength of Lizzie’s love goes far beyond simply placing her own life in jeopardy. Lizzie invites Laura to suck the juices from her flesh when she declares, “Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices” (Rossetti 468). Lizzie allows such an intimate action in the hope that it will save her sister. The sucking of the juices does seem sexual in nature but the rest of the poem, though filled with sexual imagery, in no way supports a sexual relationship between the sisters. Instead, Lizzie is offering herself to her sister, not in a sexual way, but as a sacrifice necessary for Laura’s redemption and eventual salvation. Lizzie’s sacrifice is one of love and devotion and is a sacrifice that she does not make lightly. It is this love and devotion that moves the plot forward and results in Laura’s recovery after consuming the goblin fruit.
In “Alice Brand,” the love that exists between Alice and her lover Richard is of a more romantic nature and forms the basis of the story. Richard, after killing Alice’s brother, is forced to live as an outlaw in the forest. Alice, who could blame him for her brother’s death, loves him enough to admit that the fight between Richard and her brother was “but a fatal chance” (Scott 22). Her love leads her to follow him into the forest, leading to the events that take place during the remainder of the poem.
The love Alice and Richard share results in more than simply two lovers spending their lives together in the woods. Alice’s love for Richard allows her to stand against the dwarf Urgan “void of fear” (Scott 65). Her love is strong enough to risk her own life for the sake of her beloved, much as Lizzie risked hers by confronting the goblin men in “Goblin Market.” By taking this very real risk and facing Urgan, the “hideous dwarf” (Scott 59) is finally revealed as her brother Ethert Brand. Because Ethert Brand is not dead, Alice and Richard are able to return to society and eventually marry. Were it not for Alice’s love and devotion to her lover, none of this may have come to pass.
Love and romance often have a powerful role in fairy tales. This love may be platonic, as in the case of “The Golden Bird” and “Goblin Market.” The love in these stories is chaste and non-sexual in nature, but it is also incredibly powerful, as demonstrated by the determination of both the fox and Lizzie. The love in fairy tales may also be of a more romantic and sexual nature, such as in “Alice Brand” where the bond between lovers and their dedication to each other propels the story forward. Regardless of the type of love found in any particular fairy tale, romance is often pivotal to the plot, shaping the story and controlling the final resolution while exploring human emotion. These tales of love and romance stand “as a welcome vehicle for depicting this realm of human emotional experience” (McGlathery 197).
Works Cited
McGlathery, James M. Fairy Tale Romance: The Grimms, Basile, and Perrault. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991. Print.
Rossetti, Christina. “Goblin Market.” Representative Poetry Online. Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries, 2009. Web. 2 May 2011.
Scott, Walter. “Alice Brand.” The British Literary Ballad Archive. LiteraryBalladArchive.com, 2008. Web. 2 May 2011.
Zipes, Jack. “The Golden Bird.” The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. New York: Bantam Books, 1992. 216-222. Print.
Literary allusions are figures of speech that make reference, directly or indirectly, a place, event, literary work, myth, or even a work of art. It is generally left to the reader to make the connection, though sometimes the author will clearly articulate the particular allusion. If this is the case, the allusion is more appropriately termed a “reference.”
Most of the time, the author places an allusion in a book by way of a single phrase or reference to something that is not explained to the reader. If the reader has read the work that the allusion refers to, he or she will understand the allusion. If not, the allusion might as well not exist for that particular reader.
When an author uses an allusion, it is typically done as an homage to a previous work that was written by a different author. Sometimes, an author may allude to their own previously published work, though this is less common. My own novels are full of allusions, though only someone familiar with my favorite authors would ever catch them. If you read Arianna’s Tale after reading works by JRR Tolkien, Lord Dunsany, Robert Jordan, Mercedes Lackey, or Terry Brooks, you will catch subtle references to each of their independent works. It is my way of honoring them without bringing too much attention to that fact.
When writing your own novel, you might feel the urge to make your own allusions to the work of authors you admire. There is no harm in this, and for the reader familiar with the allusions you choose, it can add depth and interest to your novel.
It is sometimes difficult to understand allusions without actually seeing on in action. For this reason, I am going to explain one of my favorite literary allusions, which can be found in Neil Gaiman’s Stardust:
“He thought of Victoria’s lips, and her grey eyes, and the sound of her laughter. He straightened his shoulders, placed the crystal snowdrop in the top buttonhole of his coat, now undone. And, too ignorant to be scared, too young to be awed, Tristran Thorn passed beyond the fields we know …” (Gaiman 54)
Much of the novel Stardust alludes to previously published work, often quite directly. In this particular passage, Gaiman is alluding to Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter with his use of the phrase “the fields we know.” Dunsany uses this phrase frequently enough throughout The King of Elfland’s Daughter that it is instantly recognizable when it appears in Stardust.
Gaiman uses this phrase in much the same way Dunsany does, and for many of the same reasons. The words “beyond the fields we know” serve to remind the reader that Tristran is moving out of the everyday world and into the realm of Faerie. He passes from what would be acknowledged as normal into a place where nothing can be predicted and nothing is as “we know.”
In another sense, Gaiman uses this phrase to connect with the reader. By using the word “we,” Gaiman is implying that the door to Faerie, at least in Stardust, is not only found through the wall by the village of Wall, but in other places as well. The reader probably is not familiar with the fields of Wall, so using the phrase “the fields we know” might appear out of place. However, like Dunsany, Gaiman is telling the reader that his story happened in Wall, but it could have happened anywhere. Faerie is not a part of the physical world, and so it could be anywhere in “the fields we know.” This expression can resonate even with readers who unfamiliar with Dunsany and his work, including The King of Elfland’s Daughter.
Gaiman copied the phrase “beyond the fields we know” directly from The King of Elfland’s Daughter. It is certainly an homage to Dunsany, whom Gaiman mentions in his “Acknowledgments” at the end of the book. For the reader familiar with Dunsany, and likely for Gaiman himself, the use of this phrase is also a little piece of nostalgia, allowing the reader to connect Stardust directly to The King of Elfland’s Daughter.
I’ve been thinking a lot about ghostwriting lately, mostly because I’ve taken on a few ghostwriting projects. As I thought about it I realized that the real key to ghostwriting is to be able to sound like another while you write. This is actually kind of an art and not an easy thing to accomplish.
So, for those people interested in pursuing the idea of becoming a ghostwriter, how do you practice this art? I’ve found that one way to do this, at least for fiction, is to take an existing short story and rewrite it from the perspective of another character in the story. As an example, I recently was “practicing” by rewriting short stories collect by both the Brothers’ Grimm and Andrew Lang. I choose a character who doesn’t really get much to say and rewrite the same story from the perspective of that character. While I’m doing this, I read the original text and carefully try to match my tone and language to the original author. This strengthens my skills as a ghostwriter.
My latest example is from Lang’s “The Troll’s Daughter.” “The Troll’s Daughter,” in its original form, is told from the perspective of the young boy who eventually becomes an emperor. This places emphasis on the boy’s service to the troll and the eventual role that he plays in assisting the first king in repaying the debt. However, by changing the perspective of the story to that of the troll’s daughter, the focus shifts to the blossoming love between her and the youth, and their struggle to be together. It is also possible to get a deeper insight into the emotions and viewpoint of the troll’s daughter, most of which are not included in the original story.
I’ve included my “practice” here to get a better idea of what I’m talking about:
There once was a young girl who lived in a palace at the very bottom of the sea. It was a lovely palace. The chairs were made of the whitest ivory and inlaid with both gold and pearl. The rugs and cushions were brightly coloured and soft under her feet. She even had flowers and trees to enjoy and little fountains which sprang from delicate snail-shells. These fountains created music that delighted the senses.
And yet, for all of this, the girl was not happy. She spent her days wandering from room to room, sad and forlorn. She lived in terrible solitude, unable to leave her golden prison. Her father, a great troll, had locked her under the sea to keep her from everyone. She longed for the day when she would once again be free, but felt that all her hopes were in vein. Her father would never set her free.
Then one day a lad entered her palace and spoke to her. At first, she was terrified. But he spoke so kindly and so gently that she soon lost her fear of him. The lad explained how he had come to be in her palace, and that he was the servant of her troll-father. The troll had turned him into a fish and sent him to explore the sea. The girl grew to trust him and was glad of his company. But she could not yet bring herself to tell him of her father and her forced imprisonment.
So the months passed and they revelled in their time together. But the girl realized that it would not always be this way. The lad, who had now grown into a youth, must return to the troll. He had to put on the shape of a fish once again so that he might pass through the sea alive when the troll called him home. Before she would allow him to leave, however, she told him that she was the daughter of the troll he served, and that she was being held against her will. She devised a plan that would allow her to spend her life with the youth free of her underwater prison. But there was much that must be done, so she bade the youth pay her close heed.
The girl told the youth of the many kings who were in debt to her father. Those who did not pay their debts would lose their heads. One king in particular, the first king who must repay his debt, did not have the money and would surely die.
“I know that for certain,” the girl told the youth. “Now you must, first of all, give up your service with my father; the three years are past, and you are at liberty to go. You will go off with your six bushels of money, to the kingdom that I have told you of, and there enter the service of the king. When the time comes near for his debt becoming due you will be able to notice by his manner that he is ill at ease. You shall then say to him that you know well enough what it is that is weighing upon him — that it is the debt which he owes to the troll and cannot pay, but that you can lend him the money. The amount is six bushels — just what you have. You shall, however, only lend them to him on condition that you may accompany him when he goes to make the payment, and that you then have permission to run before him as a fool.
“When you arrive at the troll's abode, you must perform all kinds of foolish tricks, and see that you break a whole lot of his windows, and do all other damage that you can. My father will then get very angry, and as the king must answer for what his fool does he will sentence him, even although he has paid his debt, either to answer three questions or to lose his life. The first question my father will ask will be, ‘Where is my daughter?’ Then you shall step forward and answer ‘She is at the bottom of the sea.’ He will then ask you whether you can recognise her, and to this you will answer ‘Yes.’ Then he will bring forward a whole troop of women, and cause them to pass before you, in order that you may pick out the one that you take for his daughter. You will not be able to recognise me at all, and therefore I will catch hold of you as I go past, so that you can notice it, and you must then make haste to catch me and hold me fast. You have then answered his first question.
“His next question will be, ‘Where is my heart?’ You shall then step forward again and answer, ‘It is in a fish.’ ‘Do you know that fish?’ he will say, and you will again answer ‘Yes.’ He will then cause all kinds of fish to come before you, and you shall choose between them. I shall take good care to keep by your side, and when the right fish comes I will give you a little push, and with that you will seize the fish and cut it up. Then all will be over with the troll; he will ask no more questions, and we shall be free to wed.”
With those instructions, the youth transformed himself back into a fish and was gone. The girl could do nothing but wait. Time passed and the girl knew the king would soon have to pay his debt to the troll. Finally the day came when she was called home by her father. She was made to parade before the youth as part of a whole crowd of women. She knew the youth could not recognise her so she pinched him as she walked past to make him aware of her presence.
The youth immediately caught her around the waist and the troll had to admit that the first of his riddles had been answered.
Then the troll asked, “Where is my heart?”
“It is in a fish,” answered the youth.
The troll scoffed. “And would you know that fish?”
The youth smiled and responded, “Yes, bring it forward.”
Schools of fish were brought before the youth, and the girl made sure she was close at his side. When the right fish finally appeared, she pushed him, and he grabbed up the fish. At her urging, he drove a knife into the fish and cut out its heart. He then pierced the heart with his blade, causing the troll to fall over dead.
The girl and the youth rejoiced as the bonds set by the troll were all broken. The birds and beasts once bound by the troll were all set free. The kings did not have to repay their debts. And the girl would never again have to return to her prison in the sea.
The youth was quick to wed the girl, and he was declared the emperor of the many kings of the area. He and his empress kept the peace and ruled with wisdom and compassion. To this day, they live together in harmony and love.
