JACQUI GREAVES
  • Home
  • About
  • Stories
    • Flashes and Snippets >
      • Madame Baderschmitt’s Sweet Emporium
      • Touch
      • Familiar
      • Three Wishes
      • Resurrection
    • Published Stories
  • Blog
  • Contact

​Storytelling as Resistance

12/1/2024

0 Comments

 
For many of us, there is much in the world to be afraid of as 2024 stumbles to a close.
 
War – genocide – mutating viruses – religious fundamentalism – fascism – rampant capitalism – misogyny – racism – trans & homophobia – exploitation – climate change.
 
Then there’s the environment…our air, oceans, rivers, land and biota are being polluted, exploited, destroyed and rendered extinct.
 
It’s a lot.
 
It’s too much and it’s understandable to feel paralysed and overwhelmed. I faltered and came close to crumbling a month ago. I’m just one person, after all, and I couldn’t see how anything I did could make a difference.
 
Then somewhere, I forget where, I read the three words that entitle this blog. Storytelling as resistance. Those three words sparked a realisation that in dark times, we need stories that challenge the darkness. I hunted for support to fuel my tiny spluttering spark, and I found it from two writers — both women of colour. This came as no surprise, as women of colour face additional layers of overt oppression, discrimination and violence.
 
A quote from Toni Morrison reminded me not to fall into the trap of doomscrolling and constantly following the news headlines. “I know the world is bruised and bleeding and though it is important not to ignore its pain, it is also critical to refuse to succumb to its malevolence.”  I’m not always good at this, but I try to limit my exposure.
 
I don’t watch televised news broadcasts, except under exceptional circumstances. It reminds me too much of the Romans in their amphitheatres, revelling in the gore of gladiator against gladiator, animal slayings and human executions. I do not wish to revel in human misery and disaster presented to me in bite-sized packages by a media who seeks ratings at the cost of dignity and the truth.
 
Toni Morrison also offered a call to action. “There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” Writing is something I can do.
 
The real inspiration for me to keep writing came from Edwidge Danticat, who added fuel to my flame. She reminded me that stories are powerful, and can change lives. She said, “Create dangerously, for people who read dangerously…knowing in part that no matter how trivial your words may seem, someday, somewhere, someone may risk his or her life to read them.”  I love this.
 
We never know who will need the words we write. While I might write words as an act of rebellion, someone, somewhere, sometime might read those words to survive. Writing rebellious stories is a thing I can and must do — it’s my human obligation.
 
So, with renewed vigour and fire in my belly, I am writing. And, in the words of Margaret Atwood, “A word, after a word, after a word is power.” But I also want to say, this is me and my way of coping. We all have to find our own way forward, there is no right or wrong path. So, you do what you need to do.
 
When I wrote the first Ghost Assassins of Bijou novella in 2023, I wanted to write a commentary on the invisibility of older women in society. Through 2024, I’ve written a further four novellas in the intertwined collection and the themes have expanded.
 
Written from a very solid feminist perspective, the collection challenges the rise of fundamentalism, extremism and misogyny, it explores self-determination, otherness, PTSD in women and colonialism and addresses the impact of sexual and physical violation.
 
I believe that what I’ve written is more important now than when I started it. It's my sincere hope that in these dark times, readers will find hope within the pages of the Ghost Assassins of Bijou. Well, when the collection is published of course — but that’s a story for another day!
0 Comments

Creating A World

9/21/2023

0 Comments

 
All forms of writing require some level of world building. This is especially true in speculative fiction. The reader needs to have a sense of the environment within which the story takes place. That environment is wider than just the physical setting, it includes all the trappings of a society: art & culture; food & drink; politics & religion; fashion; science & magic; infrastructure & transport; technology & structures; languages & class structure; flora & fauna; disease; races of humans, monsters & aliens; and rules & laws – amongst other things.

BUT (that’s in capitals because what follows is very important) …all the details of the world you create don’t need to be included in your story. I know it’s tempting to include it all that gritty minutia you spent hours, days and even weeks researching and thinking about, but just don’t. Only include enough to provide a scaffold for your reader’s imagination, context for your characters, and to move the plot forward.

Because I’m a discovery writer (I discover the story as I write it), I don’t do a great deal of world building before I start writing. I’ll just do enough to get me going. My typical approach for developing a world is very organic. I start with the main character. Once I understand who they are and what drives them, I can start to write the plot around them. The final step is to construct the world in which the character and the plot exist. This means my writing is often interrupted by periods of research.

For The Grotesque Wars (novelette in Letters From Elsewhere), I spent a lot of time researching castles. The final story only carries a glimpse of all that research. I’ve included just enough so the reader can picture a castle, but not be bogged down and distracted by in-depth descriptions. I know the exact layout of the castle and even details of the materials used in its construction, but these have no bearing on the story. Specifics, where needed, are woven into the story, rather than dumped in as a chunk of exposition.

In my novella, Rose Moon, the story moves between three realms: a fantasy realm; a human realm; and the realm of the seasons. Each needed sufficient depth and vibrancy to make them real. Most of the action occurs in the human realm, so that’s where I needed the most detail. I had to consider politics, religion, laws, technology, magic and the setting. Then, determine how the realms interacted.

In the above examples, the worlds were built on an earth or earth-like reality, but that’s not always the case. I’m working on a series of space opera novella’s, Ghost Assassins of Bijou, where almost nothing about the series universe is familiar. I’ve had to build almost everything from scratch, but I start with the known.
  • The assassins and their targets are human, but different races.  
  • Societies are versions of democracy or autocracy.
  • Religions have distorted to fundamentalism and misogyny.

After that, and because I’m not bound by hard science, I can let my imagination riot.
  • Spacecraft are mechanically enhanced, sentient cuttlefish-like creatures.
  • Intergalactic travel is possible via ‘Punch Flight’.
  • There are multitudes of sentient species other than humans.
  • Universal translators are glitchy, but exist.

Worlds don’t need to be based in reality, but they do need elements of fundamental truths. Readers need to have something or someone they can identify with or understand.

There’s a whole bunch of stuff I have high confidence writing about: women; sexuality; animals; habitats; politics; and the logistics involved in managing large-scale international projects. There’s a much larger list of things I have less confidence about, including: technology; physics; strategies of war; legal systems; and medical procedures. Those differing levels of confidence will dictate how much research I may need to do, which facets of a world will be more important to my story, and whose perspective the story is being told from. For example, if I have a scene set in a hospital, it will be told from the perspective of a visitor or patient, not from that of a surgeon or staff nurse.

Setting is a critical component of world-building. All too often it’s one dimensional – visual. Add richness with the other senses. The stench of rancid milk evokes an almost involuntary gag reflex in most of us. That first mouthful of rich, bitter coffee in the morning is nirvana to some of us, and repulsive to others. Aromas and flavours are powerful drivers of emotion, as is sound. The mewl of a kitten, the screech of brakes, the scream as you plunge a knife into someone’s stomach. Don’t forget the feel of the warm blood as it splatters on your face, the silk smoothness of the dress you wear, and the irritation of the sand in your eyes. Use all the senses to draw your reader deep into your world.

​Finally, it's important to remember that no world is perfect. There will always be dissent, crime, and inhabitants of societies fringes. Recorded history doesn’t always align with reality, it usually suits those who are in power. The same applies to the interpretation of the tenets of religion, think about the difference between a zealot and someone with faith. We’ve bred thornless varieties of lemon trees but left to themselves, they revert. Animal species aren’t meant to be able to interbreed, yet there are numerous examples of hybrids in nature. Don’t limit your world to one dimension – allow it to be full and rich.
 
Here are some of my favourite worlds.
  • Pern – Ann McCaffrey
  • The Dandelion Dynasty – Ken Liu
  • The Murderbot Diaries – Martha Wells
  • Binti – Nnedi Okorafor
  • Discworld – Terry Pratchett
0 Comments
    Find me in other places...
    Amazon
    Goodreads
    ​
    Facebook

    Mastodon
    Email

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    December 2024
    October 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    June 2023
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    July 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All
    AI
    AI Apps
    AI Bots
    AI Generated
    Angela Yuriko Smith
    Antagonist
    Antarctica
    Aotearoa
    Art
    Artificial Intelligence
    Authors
    Bad Sex
    Bad Sex Awards
    BDSM
    Becky Chambers
    Beowulf
    Book
    Book Covers
    Book Publishing
    Book Review
    Books
    Book Sales
    Brand
    Change
    Character
    Character Arc
    Character Development
    Chatbots
    ChatGPT
    Chinese Diaspora
    Chinese Mythology
    Chinese Women
    Clan Destine Press
    Coffee
    Colonialism
    Conferences
    Copyright
    Cover
    Craft
    Craft Of Writing
    Creating Monsters
    Creatives
    Creatures From The Deep
    Critique
    Critique Group
    Cuba Press
    Darkness
    Death
    Deep Sea
    Demons
    Discovery Writer
    Dystopian
    Economics
    Editing
    Edwidge Danticat
    Elves
    Emmanuelle De Maupassant
    Environments
    Erotic
    Erotica
    Evil
    Extremism
    Fantasy
    Feminism
    Feminist
    Feminist Writing
    Fiction
    Fox Spirit On A Distant Cloud
    Fundamentalism
    Fury
    Genre
    Genre Blending
    Genre-blending
    Ghost Assassins Of Bijou
    Gods
    Gods Of Fire
    Good Sex
    Grammar
    Grief
    Halloween
    Highland Pursuits
    Historical
    Hope
    Horror
    How To Write
    How To Write Sex
    Humour
    Indie
    Inspiration
    Jacqui Greaves
    Japanese
    Juliette Banks
    Kurangaituku
    Lee Murray
    Lesbian
    Lessons In Writing
    Letters From Elsewhere
    Literary
    Literary Festivals
    Lovecraft
    Lust
    Margaret Atwood
    Marketing
    Mark My Words
    Martha Wells
    Medusa
    Memory
    Mentoring
    Midsummer
    Misogyny
    Money
    Monsters
    Monstress
    New Writers
    New Zealand
    Nnedi Orokafor
    Novel
    Novella
    Novellas
    Ocean
    Paranormal
    Patriarchy
    Plot
    Plotting
    Poetry
    Pornography
    Promotion
    Prose
    Pseudonym
    Publish
    Published
    Publishing
    Publishing Industry
    Punk
    Queer
    QueerFiction
    Rachel De Vine
    Rage
    Readers
    Realms
    Rebellion
    Remains To Be Told
    Research
    Resistance
    ReWriting
    Romance
    Rose Moon
    Russian Bride
    Saga
    Sales
    Science
    Science Fantasy
    Science Fiction
    SciFi
    Scotland
    Scraping
    Self
    Self-determination
    Self Editing
    Self Publishing
    Self-publishing
    Setting
    Sex
    Sexism
    Sex Scenes
    Sexuality
    Shape-shifter
    ShortStory
    Short Story Collection
    Sidhe
    Space Opera
    Specfic
    Speculative
    Speculative Fiction
    SpeculativeFiction
    Story Arc
    Submission
    Subversive
    Subversive Writing
    Superhero
    Supernatural
    Tea
    Toni Morrison
    Travel
    Trickster
    Utopian
    Vampire
    Werewolf
    What If
    Who Am I
    Witches
    Women
    World
    World Building
    Worlds
    Writers
    Writing
    Writing Advice
    Writing As Rebellion
    Writing Erotica
    Writing Organisations
    Writing Pornography
    Writing Research
    Writing Sex
    Yamaubu

    RSS Feed

© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
  • Stories
    • Flashes and Snippets >
      • Madame Baderschmitt’s Sweet Emporium
      • Touch
      • Familiar
      • Three Wishes
      • Resurrection
    • Published Stories
  • Blog
  • Contact