Relics From the Stream

The Heroine’s Journey

Posted on by tlryder

I want to tell you a secret. I have a heroine’s journey story hidden in plain sight.

The Heroine’s Journey is a bit of writing craft that’s been gaining traction recently. Many novels are written on the familiar “Hero’s Journey” skeleton. Heroine’s Journey stories parallel Hero’s Journey in that both deal with people going out to make their way in the world and coming back transformed. The main difference (IMO; YMMV) is the focus of that transformation.

So where’s my heroine’s journey? Are you going to guess my vampire romantic suspense, Blood Gambit? It’s a pretty solid guess. The main character does have to move out of a spiritually arid existence and learn her own strengths in a world far different than the corporate one she starts in. Yes, however…

I wrote another heroine’s journey is in Ran Shaipur. Two of them.

Ran has done his hero’s journey by the time we meet him. He’s already top dawg. But that’s not going to be enough to do what he needs to do to save everything he loves.

Seriah’s heroine’s journey more strictly matches the classic heroine’s journey skeleton– separating from the feminine, finding success in the male world, descent into crises and reconnecting with the power of her feminine side, finally integrating her masculine and feminine sides.

The hero’s journey is comfortable and familiar because we’ve been fed it since childhood. For Ran Shaipur, I really didn’t want to write that. I wanted to write something more personal, more emotionally challenging, and more “grown up”. Because we all keep journeying, even after our initial hero’s journey is over. There’s always more to learn and grow.

Sometimes I think with Ran Shaipur I was writing above my pay grade. Vallejo Road is probably a “better” book, with its straightforward hero’s journey and less emotionally complicated MC. But I will always be proud of Ran and his ability to admit that even when he has it all, he could still be a better man. And with Seriah’s discovery that she doesn’t have to be The Man to find the success she needs.

Whether I managed to portray their story well is an opinion always best left to the reader. But I hope you enjoy Ran Shaipur, even with its flaws.

Ran Shaipur book cover

Happy Birthday to the Vampyre Genre!

Posted on by tlryder

The first English language vampire literary story was The Vampyre, written by John William Polidori. First published April 1, 1819, it was originally developed as a contest piece. The writers in the group also included Lord Byron and Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.

Gothic horror became super popular in the English-speaking world in the early 19th century. It’s had a steady fan base ever since. Polidori’s suave, murderous Lord Ruthaven is the sinister grandfather of all our romantic vampire protagonists.

Though people like to point out that The Vampyre, Carmilla, and Dracula aren’t Romances in the modern sense of the word, they do share the quality of the Seductive Other– only without the “happily ever after” required by modern Romance. It’s not so much that the Seductive Other is tamed in modern stories. Modern heroines now have the ability to enter into the Other’s world, which is much more fun than being murdered! 😀

A portrait of the author of The Vampyre
John William Polidori by F. G. Gainsford. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Stellar Fusion

Posted on by tlryder

I like newsletter swaps, if for no other reason that I get to check out books that I probably wouldn’t have heard about any other way. This week I have two swaps. The first one is Stellar Fusion by E.L. Strife. The author is billing it as a Sci Fi Military Fantasy novel. That sounds like what I write as well. Nice! The sample looks intriguing and hints at a robust backstory. And it’s in Kindle Unlimited. Get it Here!

 

Book of Boba Fett: My Review After 4 Episodes

Posted on by tlryder

One way I am definitely still stuck in last century with is my series watching habits. It takes me a while to get through a show, though usually not as long as in the olden days when we got one episode per week. Other times, it takes me even longer than in the good old days ™ because the luxury of getting to watch at my own pace might mean that I wait quite a while between episodes or seasons. I have no ability to plop on the couch and watch hours and hours of something at one time.

But I’ve now watched Boba Fett Episode 1: Let’s Retcon!, Episode 2: Dance with Sand People, Episode 3: Scooter Gang! and Episode 4: Shall we Form an Alliance? And I have thoughts. Lots of thoughts. I’ll try to keep them as spoiler free as possible, but if you’re super allergic to spoilers, maybe stop reading here. 3/5– Might recommend.

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Book of Boba Fett uses and overuses that trope that every beginning writer gets chastised about– dream sequences. At episode 4, things have progressed to a point where maybe we won’t be getting any more heaping servings of backstory via Bacta Tank-induced hallucination. It feels like the main point of all this backstory is less to enrich the story and more to prove to us that Boba, despite being a terrifying mercenary for hire, is a really nice guy who is good to children, animals, and comrades.

Boba Fett on a Pink Dino

I’m not immune to the temptation of shoving a little backstory into a dream sequence or flashback– I did it in briefly Ran Shaipur and more extensively in Blood Gambit. It can be a fast way to shorthand information that’s important but doesn’t fit easily into the timeline of the current narrative.

With Boba Fett, though, this makes no sense. The time jumps in Blood Gambit bounce you back centuries. In Ran Shaipur, it’s only a decade, but it’s stuff that lies well outside of any timeline that could be folded into the narrative efficiently. Boba Fett, it’s like being bounced to last Tuesday. They might as well have started with the Sarlaac pit and worked forward instead of presenting time-traveling in dreamscapes.

So on one hand, I’m enjoying this expansion of Tatooine and the use of peripheral characters like Krrsantan while feeling perplexed about some of the retconning and the frantic, amusing attempts to make us understand that Boba Fett has been upgraded from minor villain to Charming Rogue. I thought I would have given up by now, but I’m in it for the long haul. It’s given me a lot to dissect and contemplate about the way I present my own stories!

Boba Fett Promo Poster