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D. Hart St. Martin

I make female heroes badass AND believable

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YA fantasy

Fantasy Memoir?

December 8, 2018 by D. Hart St. Martin 4 Comments

Lisen of Solsta

Like most writers, I find my characters within my soul, and I distribute my personal attributes and flaws freely but not fairly to characters far and wide. Molding the magic that makes for an intriguing character can be a complicated process, but once I know them, they become companions in the greater quest of creating and telling a story.

Lisen, my first protagonist, made her debut in the process by introducing herself to me as “Ann.” “It’s the shortened version of my full name, Ariannas.” “Okay,” I replied and proceeded to produce a story and define a character around that declaration.

The problem was Ann was boring. She’d been raised in a co-ed monastery where the hermits taught her to be obedient and passive. But after many years of working the story, I finally discovered her name was Lisen, not Ann, and she’d spent time on earth before ending up in Garla. She was 17 years old and sassy. And I realized I hadn’t liked her much before, but I really liked her now.

Writing from the point of view of a 17-year-old was relatively safe. Seventeen-year-olds sometimes think like adults, and they can certainly talk like adults. They may make unreasonable demands, but you can, at the least, talk to them. And despite what some people think, not all main characters represent the author. In Lisen’s case, she was the woman I’d always wished to be.

I finished Lisen’s story about a year ago and found myself faced with a dilemma. What next? As I cleaned up the text and formatted the final book for publication, I pondered the possibilities and made notes. I’d always hoped to write a memoir. But I’m a very linear thinker, and memoir generally requires a willingness to write on topics as they occur to you and worry about the organization later. So, how about a fictional memoir? A YA fantasy fictional memoir? What could possibly go wrong?

Well, not much has actually gone wrong. I’m approaching the end of book 1, and Mari, my protagonist, is a 15-year-old me. Of course, the fantasy situations confronting her are not what I went through at that age, but her home life, her mother and the way she relates to others is ALL me. That’s scary. But equally as scary was her age.

Hart at 15

You may not realize this, but 15-year-olds live in a whole different world. Everything is more important than everything else, and they can be a little narcissistic without it being an actual psychological diagnosis other than “she’s 15 years old—come on.” On top of that, unlike in the Lisen of Solsta series where I switched POVs between nine or ten characters with every scene, the entire book is told through her eyes.

So, I have chosen to plunge myself into mid adolescence. Again. It was hard enough the first time. But a truth burns within me that must be told, and if I can’t do it as a memoir, I will, by god, reveal it in fiction. I’ve promised Mari I’ll make it work.

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: female hero, feminist fantasy, memoir, writing process, YA fantasy

Cue the Muse

October 30, 2013 by D. Hart St. Martin Leave a Comment

Today, I have a guest blogger who needs no introduction on my part.  She’s perfectly capable of introducing herself.

Call me Grace.  I am a muse.  Specifically, I am Hart’s muse.  We bonded when she was ten.  Her fourth grade class’ tarantula died a few days before open house.  Heartbroken, she wrote her first poem which her teacher posted above the abandoned cage.  And that’s how we met.  Though she didn’t actually know me yet.

In seventh grade, she decided to write a book about her adventures at a private girls school from the point of view of a bug.  Don’t mess with me here; I came up with the idea, and it was a good one.  Unfortunately she never got very far with it.  She still hopes to write a memoir about her experiences at the school, but I think the bug didn’t make the cut.

In high school, she and her best friend began writing a screenplay based on a historical incident.  She also fell in love with the Beatles.  I couldn’t compete with the Beatles, and her friend served as her muse for some years.  I retreated, remaining idle for a long time.

This is the way of it for us muses.  Unless the creative one opens her soul up to us, we wither a bit, but we never die.  Some artists—and I’m using the term in its general sense here—believe their muse has deserted them when in reality their fertile field needs to lie fallow for a little while.  Or for those of a more technical bent, their computer needs to reboot.

I reentered Hart’s life when her high-school-and-after friend had moved on, and she opened the door to me once again.  I handed her the third book in a series she’d begun reading many years earlier, and after she reached its end disappointed, I offered my best to her—a story in need of telling, a story she’d ache to tell.

Poor Hart.  It took her years to fully realize what I had given her, but when she finally surrendered to my magical gifts of whimsy and myth, the story took off.  She has now published book 1, Fractured, with book 2, Tainted, to follow within the next couple of weeks.

I have to admit, though, that I can’t wait to dig into the final book, Blooded, as this book hasn’t been written over and over.  Save for the characters, everything about it is new.  Nothing more enticing to a muse such as myself.  I plan on participating fully throughout the entirety of the process of creation on this one.  All I can say is it’s gonna be fun.  And there’s nothing more exciting to a muse as the potential for fun.

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: creativity, female hero, muse, writing, YA fantasy

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