Reporting from the other side (new parenthood)

A tiny experiment

The hiatus has been long. But I assure you that my excuses are legit. We (my wife and I) have had a baby, which spurred me on to complete draft two of the novel, and then in the aftermath of sleep deprivation and the general ‘up is down and down is up’-ness of early parenthood, I took down draft three. Some year.

The next stage for the novel? More graft and more reckoning with the Great Demon Uncertainty. Haranguing agents, rifling query letter spears to inboxes and generally snuffling around for novel opportunities. I don’t expect an easy ride, and truth be told, immediately completing one goal to plant the flag of another is bruising and abrupt.

Perhaps the upheaval of having a wonderful daughter, and losing a friend recently as well, have added to the hot house of this thing called life and what I hope to do with it. So I reach for a pressure valve to let the steam out. Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s not so sleeper hit Tiny Experiments has found me at a self imposed cross-road of sorts.

The subtitle reads: How To Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World. Some of the advice is prosaic and well worn, but by far and away the most valuable take away from the book is the container of the ‘experiment.’ A time-boxed commitment to noodling on a curiosity hypothesis, to simply act and observe without the ball and chain of a goal.

So onto a tiny experiment of my own to reinvigorate myself after trudging after goals year upon year. I’ve always liked the idea of writing a children’s fantasy novel, but I have no idea if I would actually like it. So for 4 weeks I shall do the following: jam on an idea or concept from the world of children’s fantasy fiction each day of the week, but for the seventh where I shall publish my endeavours on this here substack.

So without further a do, week 1 - minimal polish thoughts from a week of jamming.

Day 1 - Berty Bott’s Every Flavour Beans

‘World building’ is such a plodding term for something so delightful. Ron first introduces Harry to Berty Bott’s Every Flavour Beans on the Hogwarts Express, and they appear once more at the book’s conclusion when Albus delights us with his intergenerational take: ‘alas earwax’.

It goes to show that something so innocuous can do such heavy lifting: an intro to the whimsical charm / silliness of the magical world; stitching the fabric of the HP universe together from Ron to Albus; and of course it is such fun to say.

JKR litters the HP universe with these delightful, flavoursome beans, and just like Berty Bott’s we never quite know what they will taste like or when they might appear again.

Day 2 - Good and Evil

The moral universe of children’s books (think HP and LOTR) is always distinct. Good and bad have their own characteristics, and you can often see the echoes of the day’s preoccupations.

Harry Potter:

Good is institutional - Hogwarts the school - a character in its own right; the Weasley’s as shabby, homely and unpretentious - the ‘normal’ middle class. The bonds of family and friendship - the heroic trio, but also each Wizarding family.

The bad is Voldemort as power hungry and deeply ideological, a political character akin to a dictator on the rise - the Death Eaters as terrorists, who can infiltrate people and institutions for their own ends - and their obsession with purity (very Nazi).

LOTR:

Good is bucolic and naive - the childlike hobbits who delight in a village sort of life, of local and provincial concerns - the drama and joys of every day life. The good is clinging on to hope in the darkness. It is unlikely fellowships. It is the strong helping the weak.

Bad is Sauron - shadowy and evil, a force whose motivations are hard to know, but his intentions are to power. His ways are that of corruption, luring man into his orbit, and bringing them under his will. Orcs as mechanised man, and the terrible, billowing smog of industrialisation as destructive.

Day 3 - Narrative / Plot Pull

You can often determine the ‘hidden formula’ that propels a book forwards - and even though you see the devices time and again, the very best books still seem to amaze.

In Harry Potter, JKR uses a few classics - a story that precedes the main character, which they soon find themselves a part of without their knowing. Objects which trigger mystery e.g. the philosopher’s stone. Events that thrust the trio into adventure - the escape of the basilisk; the escape of Sirius; the Triwizard Tournament.

In LOTR there is a mission introduced by Gandalf, travelling from A to B, where the journey is thrown into disarray - a map based story, where each place brings new challenge.

In Matilda - the villain, the Trunchbull, drives the plot - the discovery of her past with Miss Honey. Like Harry Potter, Matilda discovers special powers that change how she is in the world.

All of the above start with some sort of oblique intro to the world - in HP the discovery of HP’s powers, in Matilda her pranks on her parents and in LOTR the parochial, but jolly world of the Hobbits. On the edge is the promise of mystery - of Matilda’s precociousness, of HP’s different status and of enigmatic Gandalf.

Day 4 - Character archetypes

My favourite is the wisened ‘God’ sort of character. The type who is seemingly all knowing, and who guides the main character in mysterious ways. Albus and Gandalf are one and the same to my mind. Cheeky, although Gandalf can be cantankerous in his own way. Yoda and Aslan as well.

Main characters tend to have a sort of benignly good blandness to them - Harry Potter, or Frodo. In Brian Jacques, Martin the Warrior, from recollection, is earnestly good and heroic. In the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lucy the youngest is particularly morally good.

I had lot of fun listing character archetypes that have stuck in my mind over the years, and of course, IRL people from today’s media-sphere who would make great book characters. Here’s looking at you Donald!

Day 5 - Setting

The world of fantasy is ever so interesting. It intersects to some degree with the moral universe - what is perceived as good and bad. But it is more granular than that. Will the world have narrow cobbled streets and small towns and villages accessible only by magic? Will it mirror the modern world in some way - with banks, and ministries, sports tournaments and schools?

Might it be a realm from another age - with bucolic, village, agrarian life; murky woods and forests in which cunning and impishness can grow unnoticed away from prying eyes? Are there are mines and mountains to traverse? Elven dales in the forests of beauty and refinement? The lands of the horse lords, or perhaps a roaming horse people who live off the land, and harass conquered peoples - like warrior hordes of old.

I messed around with a really fun exercise: listing the physical feature of fictional worlds, which in and of itself somehow spawned potential for story. Take this one: Crumbling and ancient places of worship in which there still are guardians - hermits on the face of it, but in fact are part of a venerable sect keeping alive practices of old, inhabiting cosy dens underground with warm fires, and hearty meals.

Day 6 - Near Future Ideas

The Hunger Games features features a dystopian society where teenagers are forced to fight to the death in televised gladiatorial games. What sort of ideas of today could we turn into story situations?

The mental process involves taking a theme or trend in today’s society and running that onwards as though in a simulation to reach its dystopian conclusions. Some ideas that have been on my mind of late: the post literate society, the skill of video gaming in war (see drone pilots in Ukraine), the extreme gulf between the haves and have nots; the proliferation of cults and ideologies; state sanctioned child rearing; the bizarre effects of total energy abundance; the climate / environment strikes back - a forced re-wilding; wars between old and new empires; the death of interiority.

These wouldn’t have to necessarily be sci-fi dystopian worlds, but could be inspo for something more fantastic. Take this one: A post literate realm where the book has been outlawed and only rumours of a great dusty library survive, fiercely guarded by a wizarding despot.