R. Garcia's Website
  • Home
  • Documents
    • Fiction
    • Poetry and Poetry-Related
    • Humor
    • Essays
    • Photographs
  • Blog: The Eclectic Life
  • Quotes
  • Books
    • The Sun Zebra
  • : ^ )
    • Fun Quotes
    • Rolando's Official Web Mascot
    • Cool Videos
    • The Power of Words
    • Odd and Fantastic Pictures
  • Contact

Why Fiction?

1/25/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
I recently had the great pleasure of attending a stage concert production of the musical Hairspray in honor of the 25th anniversary of the cult classic movie on which the musical is based. The music was performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and John Waters, author of the film and the musical, served as narrator. In between the musical numbers Waters recounted tales of his experiences growing up in the segregated city of Baltimore in the sixties, including the racial tensions which served as inspiration for the storyline. Just before the climax of Hairspray where the Corny Collins Show becomes open both to whites and blacks alike, Waters said that this event was inspired by what had happened at a real show in Baltimore called the Buddy Deane Show. A daring group of black and white youths crashed one of the white-only dancing days and succeeded in briefly integrating the show, but sadly as a result of this it was taken off the air. However, Waters then added that this was a movie and who needed reality anyway? So he had proceeded to write the happy ending that never happened.

Water’s story got me thinking about why we write fiction.

The fiction of the type portrayed in Hairspray is aspirational. It allows us to imagine a better future when we are stuck in seemingly hopeless situations. Sometimes in this “vale of tears” the only thing that keeps us going is our dreams.

At other times fiction is used to communicate teachings or experiences intended to inspire. My book The Sun Zebra is this type of fiction. It is not real in the sense that the right things always happen at the right time, in the right way, and for the right reasons. We know reality seldom works like this, but we use approaches like these to get the point across to the reader.

Fiction also allows us to stir “stir things up.” It allows us to introduce chaos into our otherwise orderly world and then explore how people react to it and analyze the consequences. In my next book of short stories, entitled Spirit Women, half of the stories involve the supernatural. Do I believe in the supernatural? No, but I use it as a tool to support the themes of the stories.

Finally, fiction is used for entertainment. I believe this is because many people are all too well acquainted with the tedium of their predictable everyday lives and they want to experience something different. Reality is often boring and life would be so much more interesting if we could fly through the air, open portals to different dimensions, conjure spirits, or battle monsters. Being unable to experience these things in the real world we seek to experience them in the imaginary realms of books, movies, or games.

Regardless of the reason we write it, what fiction with no doubt has is the power to endure. When time has gone by and reality has been forgotten, it is the fiction that is remembered. Nowadays hardly anyone remembers the Buddy Deane Show and the unsuccessful attempt at desegregating it. But for the past 25 years a courageous group of white and black teenagers has battled the forces of obscurantism and triumphed thousands of times successfully desegregating the Corny Collins Show at each performance of Hairspray. You may ask: why is this? The answer is:

                                                          Cause you can’t stop
                                                       The motion of the ocean
                                                         Or the rain from above
                                                   You can try to stop the paradise
                                                             We're dreaming of
                                                    But you cannot stop the rhythm
                                                       Of two hearts in love to stay
                                                     Cause you can’t stop the beat!



Photo credit: FatherDalton / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

                                   ***
If you like this blog you can have links to each week's posts delivered to your e-mail address. Please click here.
0 Comments

My Next Big Thing!

1/12/2013

6 Comments

 
I have been tagged by poet extraordinaire Adrienne Joyce for the “Next Big Thing”. Adrienne has recently published a quartet of poems called “Live, Love, Hate,” which I have reviewed in the Eclectic Life Blog. She also runs her blog Sweepy Jean Explores the (Webby) World and the Third Sunday Blog Carnival, where writers can publish their past blogs and gain more exposure. I want to thank Adrienne for this chance to talk about my “Next Big Thing” and I encourage you to visit her social media sites.

Now I am supposed to answer the following 10 questions about my next big thing. Here we go:

1) What is the working title of your current/next book?

The tittle of my next book is “Spirit Women.”

2) Where did you get the idea for that book?

The book is a collection of short stories that I grouped together under a common theme. They all involve an interaction between a man and a woman within a paranormal or psychological context. The ideas for the stories came from several mundane sources: a museum, a song, a bridge, a book, etc.

3) What’s the genre of the book?

I guess ghost stories or paranormal comes close, although a few of the stories are about reality coming apart at the seams with no supernatural entities being involved.

4) If you could pick actors to play the lead characters in your story, who would you pick?

This is a hard question because it is a collection of short stories. I guess they could be presented in a Twilight Zone format. But this means that it is unlikely that any big name actors would want to be in these small productions. So this would be a chance for unknown actors to begin their career and leave their mark.

5) How would you describe your book in one sentence (10 words or less)?

What do Spirit Women want?

6) (a) How will your book be published, submitted through the traditional route to a traditional publisher or will you be handling it yourself through Indie Publishing methods? (b) If you’re an Indie Author, will you be publishing through your own Indie Publishing company or in a collective with other Indie Authors?

I will be self-publishing it on my own.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of this book?

I am a slow reader/writer and it takes me forever to write and edit my stories. This book has been about a year in the making. I need to speed things up!

8) What other books within your genre are similar to yours?

Any collection of short ghost/psychological stories would be similar.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The voices inside my head.

10) What about your book will pique the reader’s interest?

I like writing stories with a twist and looking at things at an angle. When I read a story I want to be amazed. If I don’t amaze myself when I write the story, I know I won’t amaze my readers. All the stories in this collection amazed me, and I hope they will amaze you too!


                                   ***
If you like this blog you can have links to each week's posts delivered to your e-mail address. Please click here.

6 Comments
    Picture

    I am a tinker, tailor,
    soldier, sailor,
    rich man, poor man,
    beggar-man, thief!

    Follow Phantomimic on Twitter

    RSS Feed

    Blogroll

    Laura Novak
    Barbara Alfaro
    Suzanne Rosenwasser
    Sunny Lockwood
    Christine Macdonald
    Jennie Rosenbaum
    Kristen Lamb
    Joe Konrath
    Sweepy Jean
    Ingrid Ricks
    The Jotter
    Robert David MacNeil
    Molly Greene
    The Passive Voice
    Third Sunday Blog Carnival
    Marilou George
    Laura Zera
    Jeri Walker-Bickett
    Lia London

    Categories

    All
    Advice For Writers
    Amazon
    Art
    Author
    Ballet
    Bloggers
    Bluegrass Music
    Book Promotion
    Book Review
    Cats
    Censorship
    Clopper Mill
    Coffe
    Cool Places
    Coral Castle
    E Books
    E-Books
    Enchanted Highway
    Fair
    Fiction
    Glenstone
    Goodreads
    Grammar
    Guest Post
    Harry Potter
    Indie
    Interview
    Issues
    Kdp Select
    Kindle
    Milestone
    Milestones
    Muses
    Nell
    Novel
    Nuclear Missile Sites
    Painting
    Picture
    Poe Toaster
    Poetry
    Politics
    Prague Quadrennial
    Print Books
    Quality
    Reading
    Restaurant At Patowack Farm
    Science
    Scribd
    Self Publishing
    Self-Publishing
    Short Story
    Song
    Spirit Women
    Spotlight
    Sun Zebra
    Supernatural
    Theater
    The Sedlec Ossuary
    Video
    Women
    Words
    Writer
    Writers
    Writer's Block
    Writing

    Archives

    April 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2015
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    October 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.