Linda C. McCabe's Blog

January 19, 2020

Article on Medievalists.net about The Witcher: Magic, Monsters and Medievalism

An article I wrote about the new Netflix series "The Witcher" is online at the wonderful website Medievalists.net . It will help those unfamiliar with the franchise decide whether or not to watch the series.

The Witcher: Magic, Monsters and Medievalism
Enjoy!

Please feel free to let me know your own thoughts about this adaptation.

Linda

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Published on January 19, 2020 10:53

December 8, 2019

Harriet Movie – Chekhov’s Gun versus “White Savior” Trope

Harriet Movie – Chekhov’s Gun versus “White Savior” Trope
I saw the movie Harriet recently and I was impressed by its scope and the power of its storytelling. I wanted to share some positive word-of-mouth to assist in it being a success, but discovered quite a bit of criticism against the movie on social media. This essay is not a review of the film, but rather a discussion regarding a few aspects of criticism I feel is unfair and a misreading of the film’s dramatic intent.
Before I begin, here is a fair warning to anyone who hasn’t seen the movie. There will be spoilers.
Also to give some background information about myself, I took two screenwriting classes at Wayne State University years ago. That trained me to understand the structures and functions of screenplays. I have a Master’s Degree from Sonoma State University as an Historian of Science, which gave me training regarding historical methods. I am also the author of two novels that are epic historic fantasies set in the time of Charlemagne and are adaptations from epic poems written over 500 years ago. Taken together, it means that I recognize the challenges faced with adapting source material with the concept of balancing historical accuracy with dramatic needs. This movie is not a documentary, but instead is a dramatization of the life of a real person and is closer to the genre of historical fiction which includes inventing dialogue, creating characters, and plot points to tell a compelling narrative.
There are many people who objected to the inclusion of Black bounty hunters in the movie, specifically the character of Bigger Long. He is not an historical figure, but instead a character added to this story by the filmmakers. Their criticism is based on his violence and suggesting this characterization adds to negative stereotypes of Black men.
I haven’t seen much discussion about Walter, another Black male bounty hunter in the movie.
I saw the inclusion these characters as adding complexity to the narrative. This time period is not my area of expertise, so I will defer to historians who say there were Black bounty hunters. They may not have been common, but they existed. Including them in the story demonstrates that both Blacks and whites profited from the cruel institution of slavery while at the same time there were Blacks and whites who aided in the liberation of those in bondage. It would not have been easy to recognize who was trustworthy and making a wrong choice could be deadly. Introducing the uncertainty about whether or not someone will betray you, adds tension.
At one point, Walter approached Harriet Tubman and offered his help. He had helped track her down when she ran away, but had a change of heart and wanted to work to redeem himself by assisting her.
I felt unsettled when he offered to help, because it felt like a trap. Except it wasn’t. Tension helps the audience feel engaged in stories and wondering what is going to happen next.
The Bigger Long character never had any such change of heart. He was a cruel and violent man who earned his living by the high stakes/high reward field of being a bounty hunter for runaway slaves rather than being paid low wages for menial jobs relegated for free Blacks.
Another fictional character introduced to forward the story is Marie Buchanon. She was a free born Black woman who ran the boarding house where Harriet Tubman lived in Philadelphia. Marie may not have been an historical character, but she demonstrates the differences between Blacks who were and weren’t enslaved. She gave instructions to Harriet as to how to hold herself with confidence when she went back south on missions to lead slaves to freedom. Marie also handed Harriet a gun.
That introduces the dramatic concept of Chekhov’s gun. Anton Chekhov was a famous playwright who famously held “One must not put a loaded gun on stage if no one is going to fire it.” He felt that this type of prop created a dramatic imperative. (For anyone wanting to know more about this literary convention, there is an excellent short film on Youtube.)
It is known that the historical figure of Harriet Tubman carried a gun. She reportedly used it to threaten any fugitives if they decided to turn back, telling them, "You'll be free or die."
In the movie, we see Harriet holding the pistol many times, but she resists firing it. There’s a scene after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act where her former master, Gideon Brodess, and Bigger Long are in the boarding house in Philadelphia where she lived. Harriet is hiding, but she sees the two men beating Marie Buchanon in an effort to get information out of her. Harriet is holding her gun and almost fires at them, but doesn’t. Marie winds up being beaten to death by Bigger Long.
Had Harriet used the gun in that scene, it would have ended badly. The pistol only had one shot and there were two assailants. Had she killed one, the other would have likely overpowered her. She would then have been hauled back to Maryland facing an uncertain, but bad fate.
Besides, the filmmakers did not want to change history by making Harriet Tubman into a killer. Instead, we see the internal conflict she has with wanting to intervene to protect her friend, but knowing she cannot safely do so.
In the climax of the movie, Harriet Tubman went back to Maryland to rescue her remaining family members and lead them to safety/freedom in the North. During the time she was gathering her family to leave, there were scenes interspliced with the local slave owners who were rallying together after learning she was nearby. They carried guns and torches. Gideon’s mother, Eliza Brodess, urged them to, “Find this thief and burn her at the stake!” That signifies for the audience what awaited Harriet if she was captured.
Harriet Tubman was a high-profile member of the Underground Railroad and in the slave masters’ eyes had “stolen property” from them. She likely would have had a bounty on her head and if caught, would be subjected to torture to extract details of the Underground Railroad. They would want to dismantle the Underground Railroad by learning names of people involved, places they lived and worked, as well as the identities and locations of former slaves who now lived free in the North. And then, she would be subjected to a public execution that be both would be cruel and unusual in nature. All to send a message to those still in bondage that their hero “Moses” was gone and that they should lose all hope of ever being freed. Being burned at the stake like Joan of Arc would have been one possible outcome, and she would have just as likely been lynched like so many other Blacks were in this nation’s history. Tubman’s violent death would have been inevitable if she was caught, and most likely would have been without the benefit of trial.
Those were thoughts that likely were running through Gideon Brodess’ mind. He needed to bring Harriet Tubman back alive. He would claim the bounty before her torture and death. He would also gain fame for being the man to bring her down.
At one point, Harriet realizes that Bigger Long and Gideon are gaining on her threatening her family’s escape. She entrusts Walter to get on the small boat and take her family to safety while she distracted Gideon.
Harriet ran in the forest and scrambled up a large rock to avoid being caught by Bigger Long. They exchanged gunfire with her shot causing his hat to fly from his head.
He became enraged and said, “You goin’ die, bitch!”
Gideon was on horseback and behind Bigger. He heard the threat and rather than try to calm his hired Bounty hunter, he shot Bigger in the head, killing him. “Alive, I said.”
That action is what is being described as a “white savior” trope by critics. Matthew Hughey, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, and author of The White Savior Film: Content,Critics, and Consumption, (Temple University Press, 2014), defined the term as “a white messianic character saves a lower- or working-class, usually urban or isolated, nonwhite character from a sad fate.” One example is The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock as Leigh Ann Tuohy who brought the homeless Black teenager Michael Oher into her family, then helped him on a path to become an NFL player. Another example is The Help where the movie about discrimination against Black domestic servants in the 1960s south is seen through the eyes of a white author played by Emma Stone.
Given this definition, do I think this scene fits the white savior trope? No, I don’t. Gideon is not a messianic character, nor did he want to save Harriet’s life. He wanted her captured alive because bringing her corpse back would be far less valuable. A corpse could not be tortured to reveal secrets and there would be far less spectacle to serve as a lesson for remaining slaves.
This white man wasn’t trying to be her savior. In fact, by killing Bigger, he wouldn’t have to share the bounty.
And no one would really care about the reason Gideon killed a Black man. White men could kill Black men with impunity. There would be no punishment for his act of murder.
However, had Harriet died at Bigger’s hands, she would have had a more merciful death than what would have been in store for her had she been captured by Gideon.
The death of the fictional character Bigger Long, also allowed a climactic scene between the movie’s protagonist, Harriet Tubman, and antagonist, Gideon Brodess.
This was the third and final scene where these two characters interacted. In dramatic structure parlance there was a beginning, middle and end to the drama between these two characters. The beginning was when Harriet was still a slave and was then known as Araminta “Minty” Ross. Minty’s husband, John Tubman a Black free man, handed papers from a lawyer to Edward Brodess that according to a will from Edward’s grandfather, Rit Ross (Minty’s mother) should have been freed years before as well as all of her children. John and Minty wanted to start a family and wanted their children to be born free. Edward tore up the papers, ordered John to stay away, and swore that Rit Ross, her children, and any descendants would forever be enslaved. Later Edward told his son, Gideon, that he should sell Minty since she was troublesome.
Later, Gideon overheard Minty praying for the death of his father. “Oh, Lord. If you ain’t going to change that man’s heart, kill him, Lord, and take him out of the way.”
Gideon confronted Minty. He brought up her fierce faith and remembered her praying by his bedside when he was a child and struck with a fever. She refused to back down from her wishes for the death of his father.
Edward died soon afterward.
Gideon became unnerved by this sudden death of his father and decided to sell Minty. That was the reason Minty decided to run away from the Brodess farm. She had sisters who had been sold “down south” and never to be heard from again. She did not want to be separated from her family in a similar manner.
The second scene between Harriet and Gideon, (and still technically in the beginning portion of the three part dramatic sequence), was during her escape attempt when slave catchers trapped her from both sides of a bridge. She started making moves to jump into the river. Gideon tried using soothing tones to coax her into surrendering. He said he had changed his mind about selling her and wouldn’t punish her too much for running away.
She responded by saying, “I’m gonna be free or die.” This was right before she jumped in the river.
The middle sequence is when she saw Gideon and Bigger attack Marie Buchanon. Harriet saw them, but was quiet so they didn’t know she was there. It marks the dramatic middle of this antagonistic relationship.
The third scene, and the dramatic ending, is where these two characters interacted after the murder of Bigger Long. Harriet Tubman is hiding behind a tree and frantically reloading her gun while Gideon Brodess rode on horseback and slowly made his way up the hillside to her. He was relaxed and confident, while she was summoning all of her strength and faith to survive the upcoming encounter.
Gideon was surprised by Harriet who emerged from behind a tree and aimed her gun at him.His rifle wasn’t in the position to defend himself. She commanded that he throw it on the ground. After repeating herself, he relented and threw the rifle on the ground. She shot, but didn’t kill Gideon. She wounded his hand. The concept of Chekhov’s gun worked. The prop in the story was used, but history wasn’t changed to make her a killer.
Harriet also ordered Gideon to dismount his horse. She then took his horse and rode off, abandoning him in the woods to find his way back to safety.
She confronted a man who had controlled every aspect of her life and of her family’s life. She demonstrated how strong a person she had become and that her faith in God was sacrosanct.
Her final farewell to Gideon was saying, “God don’t mean for people to own people.”
This sequence may never have happened in real life, but it allowed for the closure of a toxic relationship and is an emotionally satisfying scene for the audience. She was the victor by not only escaping again, but by showing that God was on her side.
And then, almost as an epilogue, there’s a scene where Harriet Tubman is shown later in life as a commander of Union Troops in the Combahee River Raid in Beaufort, South Carolina. After delivering a stirring speech to the troops, she sings a song that is the signal to the slaves that the time has come to be rescued, hundreds begin running toward the ships. Then their white masters follow in hot pursuit. It is then we see Harriet shoulder a rifle and say the word, “Ready” as the soldiers get set to shoot their guns at the rebels.
At that point, Harriet’s gun likely killed someone. So the literary concept of Chekhov’s gun was fully used, even if we never saw someone die on screen from the lead character’s actions. And, it is hard to criticize soldiers for killing their enemies in a time of war.
Overall, I simply disagree with the accusation that the film makers for the movie Harrietused the “white savior” movie trope. Instead, I find their narrative to flesh out the life of an historic character to be utilizing the literary concept of “Chekhov’s gun.”

Here is the official trailer for the movie to demonstrate a few of the lines I quoted above.

Please let me know if you have any feedback. I would like to start a productive discussion regarding this topic.

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Published on December 08, 2019 20:10

January 13, 2019

Character study of Bradamante

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Joseph Campbellfamously described the commonalities of myths and stories told throughout the world as “the hero with a thousand faces” meaning that regardless of the name of the particular hero or the locale in which a monster was fought - there was an underlying mythos capturing our imaginations. That is why heroic stories persist throughout the ages and continue to be propagated for new generations. One method that allows readers or audiences to recognize the significance of what role each character plays in the story whether they are hero, ally or adversary is by using stock figures or archetypes. I use the term archetype differently than what was described by Carl Jung, so I am not limited to his set of twelve archetypes. My use is more in line with recognizing stock figures that become icons in literature and drama.

From the Ariosto Room in the Il Casino Giustiani Massimo al Laterano in Rome, Italy. Picture credit to Marco Ferrara.Bradamante is the niece of Charlemagne and a respected warrior maiden. Ariosto praises her beauty as well as declaring her to be equal in “courage, might and expertise” to that of her famous brother Rinaldo, ( Orlando furioso, Canto II, verse 31). Archetypically, I feel that Bradamante’s character had two major influences. The first was the Greek Goddess Athena.

From the Louvre Museum in Paris. She was the goddess of wisdom and victory and known for her cool-headed strategic planning. No man ever captured Athena’s heart. The second influence was of the historical figure of Joan of Arc or Jeanne d’Arc. I find that comparison more compelling and I feel that it was not incidental, but instead a deliberate attempt by Ariosto to invoke the parallels between the literary heroine and the real life French martyr. Jeanne d’Arc who was burned at the stake in 1431 at the age of 19. She had been known for riding a white horse, carrying a banner made of white fabric, was called “the Maid,” had cropped hair and dressed in men’s clothing.

Jeanne d'Arc, St. Étienne Cathedrale in Cahors, France
Bradamante was a young woman, most likely a teenager, and is described as having a white shield with a white plume (Orlando furioso, Canto I, verse 60) and is often referred to as “the Maid.” The color white is known for the symbolic virtues of purity and innocence. Bradamante also had cropped hair, due to a blow to the back of her head by an enemy warrior near the end of Boiardo’s poem Orlando innamorato (Book III Canto v, verse 46) and a hermit cut her hair to tend to the wound. (Book III, Canto ix, verse 61)
Ariosto neglected to mention the length of Bradamante’s hair until finally in Canto 25 when her twin brother Ricciardetto relates a tale to Ruggiero of how people commonly confuse him and his sister Bradamante since they have such great resemblance to each other. The confusion about her sex was compounded when she lost her tresses due to the head injury. (Orlando furioso, Canto XXV, verses 22-24)

Bradamante also disguised herself as a man when she approached the thief Brunello at an inn and sought to have him serve as her guide to find where Ruggiero was being held captive.
“Name, sex, race, family and place of birthShe hides, watching his hands for all she’s worth.” (Orlando furioso, Canto III, verse 76)
The greatest differences between Bradamante and Jeanne d’Arc is that the literary heroine is revered by her king, never accused of heresy, has a love life, and a much better fate than the historical figure.

Here are more artistic renderings of Bradamante.

Illustration by Gustave Doré based on Orlando furioso, Canto III, verse 9. (Doré was inspired to begin his drawings before reading the entire poem to discover in Canto XXV that Bradamante's tresses were cut to make her resemble a boy.)

Plate 20 by Jean Honoré Fragonard of Bradamant fighting Atlante on the hippogriff.
I happen to have purchased that image when a facsimile of it was sold on eBay. The scan is from my copy.

Of all the characters in Orlando innamorato and Orlando furioso, my favorite is Bradamante. She is a strong heroine who rarely loses her temper. Twice she gave into seeking revenge. Once was going after Martisino and the second was Pinabel. Both times she suffered due to her lust for vengeance. In Fate of the Saracen Knight, Bradamante hears rumors of Ruggiero being romantically involved with another warrior maiden. Will she suffer if she sets out on another quest for vengeance?

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Published on January 13, 2019 13:01

December 23, 2018

Interview with Professor Awesome: Annotated

I had a rollicking good time talking with Professor Richard Scott Nokes over Skype on December 8th, 2018.

After finishing the interview, I realized that I had forgotten to bring up a few things I wanted to mention. I gave a lot of advice on the writing process and thought hyperlinks might be helpful for those interested in following up on them.

One aspect of the interview that makes this a little out of the ordinary was the time spent getting the tech stuff working. We spent over half an hour trying to get the Skype application to record. After several failed attempts, Professor Nokes got it working. He started to record, but I didn't see the banner at the top indicating it was recording. I didn't want us to begin talking in earnest and have to start all over again.

I mention this because that mistake on my part is the first half minute of the video. After we stopped talking Professor Nokes spent about an hour editing the raw footage and uploaded the unedited raw footage. D'oh!

What you really missed was the cool introductory musical theme song that precedes his interviews. To get you in the proper mood, here is the music you should hear before his interviews:

And here is a re-posting of the interview with time stamps of my annotations.

At 2:04 I mention that my series is based on the legends of Charlemagne that were told and retold in the south of France and north of Italy for several centuries. For those interested in learning more, Fordham University has a website dedicated to those legends.

2:55 I mention one of the most famous contributions to the legends of Charlemagne, The Song of Roland or La Chanson de Roland. Here is a link to Fordham University's online translation and a link to Amazon.com's trade paperback version.

3:50 I show my copies of Barbara Reynolds' translations of Orlando furioso. Here are links to those copies on Amazon.com Part One and Part Two. Those books are my preferred version of this epic poem. They are in verse and there is a lot of white space, so I find it easier to read. Guido Waldman has a one volume version, and it is written in prose. I find it difficult to read because the font is so small, and there is little white space. Here is a link to his version on Amazon.com

A free online version by Project Gutenberg can be found at this link. A fair bit of warning though. This is the William Stewart Rose translation. I started reading this epic poem by printing out a few cantos of this version and found it utterly confusing. Later, once I read the versions by both Reynolds and Waldman, I went back and checked a few choice passages. Rose refused to translate some of the bawdier ones. Bummer.

(As a side note: I do not recommend the latest translation of Orlando furioso by David R. Slavitt. That is because his publisher heavily abridged his work and deleted numerous cantos that cover the Bradamante and Ruggiero story. I disagree with the editorial decision to cut my favorite storyline from the poem, and so I cannot recommend that version. )

5:50 Professor Awesome asks me to define Saracen. Here is a link to one online definition from the Online Etymology Dictionary.

I use Saracen in my title as one of the magic terms that helps to conjure the genre, time period and meaning of the novel in as few words as possible. Fate is reminiscent of the Oracle of Delphi and those in Greek mythology trying to change their destinies. Saracen is a term that went out of use after the Medieval period. Knight is also a Medieval term used in regard to war and chivalry.

Together the three terms should help readers know this is an epic historic fantasy set in the Medieval period.

8:50 I show my copy of Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo, translated by Charles Stanley Ross. This is the full unabridged version by Parlor Press. Here is a link to Amazon.com's trade paperpack.

Warning: there is a previous edition by Ross that was abridged and did not include Book III of Boiardo's tale. Bradamante and Ruggiero meet in Book III, Canto iv. I was disappointed after finishing that abridged version to realize that it did not include the scene that I most wanted to read.

10:00 Discussion about fantasy elements in realistic settings. I realize in retrospect, I didn't really answer Professor Awesome's questions about this aspect of my story.

I agree that it is difficult to strike a balance between fantasy and realism. I am retelling a story about a war that never took place between the North African Muslim army and Charlemagne's Frankish army. My goal was to make the setting feel like Medieval Europe (and North Africa) that would include historically accurate details about Roman artifacts, cultural beliefs, religious restrictions, etc. And then, there is magic, but few have the ability to cast magical spells. They are: Atallah, Melissa, and Maugis. Aistulf was given a magical book which has allowed him to cast some spells, but he is not a wizard.

For the most part, the characters live in a realistic and non-magical world, but there are times when flights of fancy come into play. The flights of the hippogriff is the most notable.

Orlando furioso included iconic visits to the Underworld and the flight to the moon by Aistulf. I had to include them, but I wanted more realism in the storyline to at least help me to "buy the premise." I feel that if I can't buy it, I can't sell it.

22:15 I mentioned writing a Master's Thesis. For anyone interested in it, here's a link to Sonoma State University's library copy of The Cultural Evolution of the Cave Man.

And here is a link to the Fifth year Harry Potter Fic that I wrote back in 2003. It won the Readers' Choice Award for novel length story on the now defunct website Portkey.org

24:30 Question about how to begin becoming a writer.

25:15 My answer: find a writers group or club. I mentioned the California Writers Club. My branch of that statewide organization is Redwood Writers.

Here are links to other writers groups that focus on genre fiction:
Romance Writers of America.
Sisters in Crime.
Historical Novel Society.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

27:00 I mentioned the challenges of getting the Point of View or POV correct. To give a little more information here is one article about the differences in POV choices. Here is a link to an article about POV violations.

And here is where my annotation, really takes off. There are many other aspects of the craft of writing that I learned over the years from belonging to my writers club. My branch has had workshops about various topic as well as talks at our monthly meetings or sessions in writers conferences. Each one of these topics is worthy of extensive blog posts or entire books.

Here are two books that I recommend:

David Corbett's book: The Art of Character
Jordan E. Rosenfeld's book Make a Scene

Other topics that perhaps I should try to expand on as topics in the future include:

Compelling dialogue
Pacing
Plotting
Establishing setting

***One thing that I meant to bring up in my discussion with Professor Awesome, but forgot are the sheets of paper affixed with blue painters tape to the wall behind me. Those are the months of June, July, August and September of the year 802. That was one way for me to determine when different plot events took place.

The calendar was found at www.timeanddate.com This also includes the phases of the moon. I include that information in my story. If there's a mention of a full moon, I'm not making it up. And, if I have my characters do something outdoors at night and I don't want a full moon's worth of light - I will make it rain or overcast or foggy.

Using a calendar to structure your underlying plot will give backbone to your story. I recommend all writers have a beginning day and year in mind. Then establish your timeline of events accordingly to that date. It will help you to avoid continuity errors.

I had a friend whose manuscript I read as a critique group partner. Her novel had the climax of her story being on the Thanksgiving holiday. The problem was that she had not been as careful in planning the events as she should have been and she had two Wednesdays worth of chapters. There was a line where she stated it was Wednesday, but I knew it wasn't. That's because I ground myself on the days of the week and other nitpicky details. I then gave suggestions as to how she could move certain events to still make her climactic events happen on the day she wanted.

The use of a calendar to determine the dates of plot points is something I recommend every writer use.

The calendars on my office wall are hard to see, but the events in the months of July and August
are written in pencil, because those already took place in Quest of the Warrior Maiden. Fate of the Saracen Knight takes place in the months of July and August. The different color Post-It notes represent different character POVs that are being represented in chapters or are background information for me to know who was where and doing what on that day. For example: blue is for Bradamante, dark orange is for Ruggiero, yellow is either Renaud or Aistulf, light orange is for Rodomont or Akramont.

I tend to write one action/adventure sequence before switching to a different character's action/adventure sequence. Later, to balance the work I will shuffle the chapters together. To achieve balance, I may have to switch the days of different plot points. Having those plot points on color coded Post-It notes helps me visually re-organize and balance my storyline.

Once I start working on Volume III, I will update those calendars and create new months. ***

32:30 I couldn't remember the name of this website that is accessible to all writers wherever you are: Absolute Write online website. There is also Absolute Write Chat and forums.

Wattpad is another global forum for writers and readers.

So if you live in a rural area and/or cannot find any writers groups in your local area you can try one of those two online websites. Go schmooze, find like minded people and engage with them.

38:30 I recommended the book Audition: Everything an Actor Needs to Know to Get the Part by Michael Shurtleff. Oops. There are twelve guideposts for actors, I misspoke and said ten. Humor is Guidepost 4. Here is a small excerpt to demonstrate why I adore Shurtleff's book and his advice.

"Humor is not jokes. It is that attitude toward being alive without which you would long ago have jumped off the Fifty-ninth Street Bridge.

Humor is not being funny. It is the coin of exchange between human beings that makes it possible for us to get through the day. Humor exists even in the humorless.

There is humor in every scene, just as there is in every situation in life. There is humor in Chekhov (too seldom found) and even in Eugene O'Neill (virtually never found). When we say about a life situation, "And it's not funny, either," we are attempting to inject humor into a situation that lacks it. We try in life to put humor everywhere; if we didn't, we couldn't bear to live." - page 53

So yes, as writers, we need humor in our writing. Even if the only humor in a scene is gallows humor.

44:30 There was a mention of Medieval Conferences. I twice attended the International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I delivered papers about Carolingian legends and Ariosto. I will be delivering another paper in May 2019 in a session organized by the Société Rencesvals. My paper is titled "To Die For: Duels by knights in Orlando innamorato and Orlando furioso over swords, horses, heraldic symbols, and women."

I delivered the paper "Orlando furioso's archetypes and the twisting of expected plot conventions" at the 15th Triennial Congress of the International Courtly Literature Society in 2016.
Here is the website for the International Courtly Literature Society North American Branch and to Academia.edu if you are interested in seeing my paper.

( I should at some point finish writing citations of the two papers I delivered at Kalamazoo and upload them to Academia.edu. One of my papers, "Ludovico Ariosto’s Legacy: Inspiring Countless Artists, Playwrights, Novelists, Filmmakers, and Puppet Theater" was filled with images and the challenge I have is finding good online sources for those images and then go through the cumbersome process of MLA citation. That shows my work ethic that I don't want to publish a paper online without my citations being in order. That will probably wait until some rainy day when I am procrastinating from doing other writing.)

I think that's all for now.

Here's a reminder that the both Quest of the Warrior Maiden and Fate of the Saracen Knight are discounted in the month of December. If you know someone who loves reading and would like to fill their physical or digital bookshelves, please send them the gift of reading. Or give yourself a gift and be transported back to the time of Charlemagne.

Cheers,

Linda
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Published on December 23, 2018 15:53

December 8, 2018

At long last, an update on the Bradamante and Ruggiero Series

At long last, an update on the Bradamante and Ruggiero SeriesRelease of Fate of the Saracen Knight, Volume II in a trilogy

For my longtime blog readers, I apologize for the long period of time where I did not update this blog. At a certain point, I was trying to limit or eliminate distractions from my forward progress in writing my sequel. Blogging was one of the aspects of my life that went the wayside. Today, as I post an update for the first time in four years, I went through and tested all the links in my blogroll. Those that no longer worked were purged.So to begin with the good news that Volume II in my trilogy is released, I thought I should share with my readers how I began writing this series. Back in 2003, I read my first epic poem. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was a life changing experience for me. I had intended on only reading a few cantos of Orlando furioso and used an online English translation of it because it was free and readily available. It was confusing, and so I switched to reading Barbara Reynolds’ two-volume set. I became entranced by the epic story with an expansive cast of larger than life characters and multiple interweaving plotlines. The love story of Bradamante and Ruggiero became the one plot thread that captivated my attention most of all and I found myself skimming ahead until I found their storyline resumed. I was astonished at the idea that 500 years ago there was a brave warrior maiden in literature sent on a quest to rescue her beloved. I felt cheated that I had never heard of Bradamante before.

Two years later, I made the decision to adapt two of the largest contributions to the legends of Charlemagne into novels for modern day audiences. I wanted others to know about these fantastic characters and their incredible storyline. I knew from the outset it would be an ambitious project, but I had confidence I had the talent and stamina to complete it. As I embarked on my literary journey to adapt Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto and Orlando inamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo, I naïvely thought that it would not take me as long to complete my task as it took the poets to write their masterpieces. Now, thirteen years later, I am proud to announce the publication of Fate of the Saracen Knight, volume two in my trilogy.

According to the Encyclopedia of Italian Studies, Boiardo began his work on Orlando innamorato in 1478. The first edition of his poem was published in 1483. Boiardo died in 1494, leaving his poem unfinished. He wrote his poem for sixteen years. Ariosto was later given the task of finishing Boiardo’s poem and his work began in 1505. The first publication of Orlando furioso was in 1516, taking only eleven years. A further expansive version of his epic poem was published in 1532, sixteen years later, for a total of thirty-two years spent on his magnum opus.

The focus of my work is on the love story of Bradamante and Ruggiero, so I am not attempting to adapt the entirety of both poems. That was part of my hubris in thinking my adaptation wouldn’t take as long as it did the poets to write their stories. Thirteen years later, and I’m not finished yet.

I began this work not having been a devotée of the Medieval period. However, I have a Masters Degree as an Historian of Science from Sonoma State University and was mentally prepared for the challenge. I plunged in the deep end, learning as much as I could about medieval life, medieval history and Charlemagne. Part of my research included my husband and I traveling to France to see the places I was writing about and museums. On subsequent trips, we visited Aachen, Germany to see Charlemagne’s seat of power and to Ferrara, Italy where the patrons of Boiardo and Ariosto lived.

I have enjoyed meeting Medievalists and lovers of courtly literature. There is a definite passion for the ideals of chivalry and telling tales to entertain and inspire.

To help celebrate the launch of my second volume, both volumes are discounted during the month of December. Here are links for the ebooks of Quest of the Warrior Maiden Fate of the Saracen Knight from Amazon.com, and the trade paperbacks of Quest and Fate . The books are available on other Amazon outlets throughout the world, but availability of trade paperbacks depends on the country. The prices will go up in January.

Some of you may know Dr. Richard Scott Nokes, Professor of Medieval Literature from Troy University. Here is what he had to say about my writing. “Readers will be gripped by the epic sweep of the Bradamante & Ruggiero Series. This second book ratchets up the narrative tension and leaves the reader emotionally invested not just in the Fate of the Saracen Knight, but the fates of all the characters.”

Please consider giving the gift of reading this holiday season for yourself or for others, and supporting an independent author who shares your passion for the Medieval period.

Thank you and may you have a fabulous holiday season,

Linda C. McCabe

My website can be found at www.LindaCMcCabe.com

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Published on December 08, 2018 19:28

September 8, 2014

Celebrating Ludovico Ariosto's 540th Birthday

Statue of Ludovico Ariosto in the Piazza Ariostea, Ferrara, ItalyLudovico Ariosto was born September 8, 1474
"Of ladies, cavaliers, of love and war,
Of courtesies and of brave deeds I sing..."
-Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando furioso
(translated by Barbara Reynolds)

Last year I spent three weeks in Italy in research for my writing. The highlight of my trip was spending an entire day in Ferrara. I walked miles that day searching for sites associated with Ludovico Ariosto, Matteo Maria Boiardo and the noble house of d'Este. Having spent years adapting Ariosto's masterpiece into a series of novels for modern day audiences, I wanted to surround myself in the beauty and charm of Ferrara and to visit the places where Ariosto wrote. It was an inspirational trip and I look forward to returning to Italy, hopefully in 2016 to help commemorate the 500th anniversary of the original publication of Orlando furioso.

To help celebrate Ariosto's 540th birthday, my novel Quest of the Warrior Maiden will have a special discount price during his birthday week. The regular sale price is $4.99 for the ebook and $16.99 for the trade paperback. For this week the e-book is only 99 cents at Amazon.com and the trade paperback at $12. The discounted price will be available until Sunday, September 14th.

Here are some links for my international friends to access a similar discount at foreign Amazon outlets.
Australia ebook
Brazil ebook
Canada ebook
France ebook trade paperback
Germany ebook trade paperback
India ebook
Italy ebook trade paperback
Mexico ebook
Spain ebook trade paperback
United Kingdom ebook trade paperback

Please share this information with your students, friends, colleagues, anyone who enjoys epic tales of chivalry.

I am also happy to share with you some good news about my book with the following glowing review and mention of awards it has won.

"In Quest of the Warrior Maiden, author Linda McCabe reveals an undeniable talent for creating a truly memorable and epic fantasy saga incorporating memorable characters, cliff hanger suspense, magic and Arthurian romance of the first order. Quest of the Warrior Maiden is enthusiastically recommended reading and a first rate selection for community library Science Fiction/Fantasy collections." - Julie Summers, Reviewer - Midwest Book Review

AWARDS• Winner - Best Historic Fantasy by the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA)• Honorable Mention for Genre-Based fiction by the Hollywood Book Festival

For those wondering about the progress of the sequel, I am about a third of the way through. I am currently writing about Aistulf (Astolfo) chasing the Harpies into the Underworld.

My goal is to have the sequel finished in time for the 2016 Medieval Congress and all of the celebrations marking the 500th anniversary publication year of Orlando furioso.

Until then, buona fortuna!

Linda C. McCabe

http://lcmccabe.blogspot.com/2014/09/celebrating-ludovico-ariostos-540th.html

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Published on September 08, 2014 05:18

May 23, 2014

Writing Historical Fantasy: Blending historical fiction with fantasy elements

<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: #141414; font-size: 17.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">It has been far too long since I posted an update to my blog. A few months ago I spoke at a writers conference at JFK University and spoke on the challenges of writing historical fiction and fantasy.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: #141414; font-size: 17.0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">The attendees were an enthusiastic group of writers who asked some insightful questions. My presentation was largely built on the handout I gave. I thought perhaps it might be helpful to other writers, so I am posting it here. If other bloggers would like to re-post, please do so. I only ask that you link to this as your source </span></span><b><span style="color: #141414; font-size: 17.0pt;"> </span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="color: #141414; font-size: 17.0pt;">Writing Historical Fantasy: Blending historical fiction with fantasy elements</span></b></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #141414; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">by </span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #141414; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.lindacmccabe.com/" target="_blank">Linda C. McCabe</a>, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0983..." target="_blank">Quest of the Warrior Maiden</a></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Differences between the genres of historic fiction, historic fantasy and fantasy novels:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt;">Historic fiction</span></b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> is a story written about a real time and place in our history, with or without real historic figures and events. E.g. Philippa Gregory's novels about Tudor England vs. Erika Mailman's novel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307..." target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Witch'sTrinity</i></a> set in a fictional German village but painstakingly describes witch trials of the 16th century.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt;">Historic fantasy</span></b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> is a novel about a real time and place in our history, with or without real historic figures and events along with magic and fantastic creatures. Examples are stories using Arthurian or Carolingian legends. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">If a story about King Arthur doesn't use magic, it is historic fiction and not historic fantasy. An example of that is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1402..." target="_blank">Persia Woolley's Guinevere trilogy.</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt;">Fantasy novels</span></b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">without being set in a real place and time in our history are not constrained to use the correct historical elements such as period armor, specific religious practices, etc. Examples are C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, and George R.R. Martin's Westeros. The challenges of writing in this genre is world building where you have to define the history, climates, locales, countries, religious rules, cultural practices, races of magical peoples, etc.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt;">The primary goal</span></b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <b>of all writing is to create a compelling narrative.</b> Every aspect of your writing should serve that primary goal.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt;">Secondary goals</span></b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">include:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1. Historical accuracy for the time period </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2. Devising a dramatic plot and memorable characters</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt;">Historical research:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1. Perform general research on the time period of your story before you start the creative writing process. (You can do outlines for your plot, but it would be better learning broad historical constructs before you write chapters worth of unusable text.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2. Absorb the information. Go to a library and check out as many nonfiction books as you can find on your period. Browse the table of contents and read subjects that you think will be of interest/use. Follow footnotes, read bibliographies and find more titles. If your library doesn't have the new titles, request them through interlibrary loans. Books that are a treasure trove of information should be ones that you purchase for your own reference shelf at home.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3. During the writing process continually ask yourself about the various details in your story and do ad hoc research as necessary. E.g. Recently I have been reading up on Islamic burial practices including washing of the dead.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">4. If possible, travel to the places you are writing about. Seek out the sites in your story and see where they are, what remains, and breathe in the locale. Become inspired.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">5. Find experts on various aspects of your story who are willing to review passages for accuracy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Including historical research in your narrative:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1. Remember the primary objective is to <b>create a compelling narrative, </b>and not to impress your readers with neat trivia you've discovered in your research.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2. Avoid data dumps where there are block paragraphs explaining arcane information. That is what nonfiction books are about. Instead weave the historical details into your narrative in descriptions and/or dialogue.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3. Use the details you learned about cultural practices, beliefs, gender roles, food, clothing styles and fabrics, architecture, weapons, technology, medical practices to give a richness to your narrative and to demonstrate how life during that time period is different than it is today.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">4. Avoid using modern sensibilities regarding marriage, relationship, gender roles in previous centuries. Unless you are using time travel with modern people being transported back in time and this is to contrast the different mindsets.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">5. Do not turn your average nobleman into a religious expert so that you can have exposition about the religious practices during the Middle Ages. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">6. Describe the religious practices as how they were performed, but do not explain the theological reasoning behind them. Consider that most laypeople simply followed religious dictates without question.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">7. Recognize and avoid including certain historical details from your research will be difficult for readers to follow and/or would derail your narrative. E.g. allowance for the consumption of beaver tails on fast days.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">8. Be on the lookout for terms in your manuscript that would be inaccurate for the time period. Eliminate them when found. For example, clocks were not as commonplace as they are today and so you should not use the terms minutes or seconds. Instead use "a few moments later" or phrases to illustrate the amount of time passed. An example from my novel: "I have seen Rodomont use a woman in less time than it takes for a horse to pass water." It not only demonstrates a length of time, it also serves to reveal crudeness of the character who was speaking.</span></div><div class="Body1" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">9. Try to create a different linguistic style for the period you are trying to evoke. Avoid slang. Consider using curses and swearing, rather than profanity as used in modern discourse. </span></div><div class="Body1" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Cursing: "May Mandricardo's manhood shrivel to match the size of his brain."</span></div><div class="Body1" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Swearing: </span><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">"You must do my bidding, or I swear to make good on my promise to castrate you."</span></div><div class="Body1" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Profanity: "Are you a bastard son of a swineherd?"</span></div><div class="Body1" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">10. Other details such as foods, flowers, etc. Verify that they were a) indigenous to that locale, b) in season c) have a symbolic meaning which agrees with its contextual usage (that's optional, but it adds an additional layer of meaning and depth to your writing.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Balancing dramatic needs vs. historical accuracy</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1. If there is a conflict between your dramatic needs and being historically accurate, remember your primary goal: <b>create a compelling narrative. </b>Boring your readers is the greatest sin of all. I choose to side with Drama and then include my dramatic choice in the author's notes to inform my readers that it was an informed decision and not one made of ignorance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2. Bending of the historical record should be done as sparingly as possible and not for trivial items such as including foodstuffs, flora, or fauna that were from the Western hemisphere and not known to Europe in that time frame: potatoes, tomatoes, corn, sunflowers, tobacco.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt;">Fantasy elements in historic fiction</span></b><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1. Build on existing mythology such as divination practices of scrying, runes, tea leaves, Tarot cards, etc., rather than simply creating new ones. Also knots to seal magical spells, braiding of hair, etc.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2. Symbolic usages of water, caves, labyrinths, etc., add strength to your narrative. E.g. River Lethe, Spring of Mnemosyne, Cave of Trophonius.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3. Include tension between magical and non-magical people. Are magical people thought of as trustworthy or colluding with Dark Evil Forces?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">4. Invoke magic when the laws of physics or nature would otherwise be violated by your plot points, e.g. travelling on horseback a distance of four hundred miles in a single night.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">5. Be creative when creating enchanted realms. For example, you can use unnatural lighting, heating, ventilation, etc., without much explanation as long as you specify it is unnatural.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #141414; mso-bidi-font-size: 17.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">http://lcmccabe.blogspot.com/2014/05/... </span></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogsp..." height="1" width="1"/>

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Published on May 23, 2014 08:52

February 13, 2014

Post-Wonderland Interview: Both sides of the shipping debates are winners

An open letter to the Harry Potter fandom:

The full Wonderland interview conducted by actress Emma Watson with J.K. Rowling has been published and its contents can be read on various websites including Hypable. This was published a week after a teaser article in The Sunday Times had the eye grabbing headline of:JK admits Harry should have wed HermioneThis set off a firestorm in the Harry Potter fandom as more and more news outlets worldwide reprinted the conclusions of that Sunday Times article.Did J.K. Rowling actually use the term "regret" anywhere in that interview? No, she did not.Is it a fair conclusion that her comments in that interview indicate that she now regrets pairing her characters Ron and Hermione together? Yes, it is.During the interview, Emma asked Jo Rowling if she had a new perspective on Hermione. It was an open-ended question, one where Rowling could have gone in a myriad of directions, and she chose to bring up the romantic pairing of Hermione with Ron. She said their relationship was written as "wish fulfillment," she was "clinging to the plot as I first imagined it" and the choice was made for "very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility."Ouch.That implies that the Ron/Hermione relationship is not credible.Rowling went on further to say that there was too much "fundamental incompatibility" and that "in some ways Harry and Hermione are a better fit".Those phrases are what I think led to Claudia Croft's conclusions in the Sunday Times article that Jo Rowling admitted she should have paired Hermione with Harry.Rowling and Watson had seemed a bit nervous once the discussion dealt with incompatibility of Hermione and Ron. Jo then said,

"I know, I'm sorry, I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I'm absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility. Am I breaking people's hearts by saying this? I hope not."

and

"I can't believe we are saying all of this – this is Potter heresy!"

Jo and Emma went on to discuss the tent scene in Deathly Hallows:

JKR: ...I'll tell you something very strange. When I wrote Hallows, I felt this quite strongly when I had Hermione and Harry together in the tent! I hadn't told [Steve] Kloves that and when he wrote the script he felt exactly the same thing at exactly the same point.Emma: That is just so interesting because when I was doing the scene I said to David [Heyman]: "This isn't in the book, she didn't write this". I'm not sure I am comfortable insinuating something however subtle it is!JKR: Yes, but David and Steve – they felt what I felt when writing it.
Emma: That is so strange.
JKR: And actually I liked that scene in the film, because it was articulating something I hadn't said but I had felt. I really liked it and I thought that it was right. I think you do feel the ghost of what could have been in that scene.

At the end of Watson's interview, Rowling attempted backtracking by saying that perhaps Ron and Hermione would "be alright with a bit of counseling."Wow. Now that's a ringing endorsement.They also discussed Ron's self esteem issues and Hermione's "weakness for a funny man."This allows a shadow of a fig leaf for the Ron/Hermione shippers to cover themselves and feel confident after having the author and the actress who portrayed Hermione in the films discuss the romantic pairing in unflattering terms. Jo did not come out and say "I should have written things differently" nor did she say "I am thinking of re-writing the last book with an alternate ending." Therefore, we can assume she was just being honest in an interview, but does not currently plan on changing anything.The websites for Mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldron were quick to provide their own interpretation of the full interview in an attempt to reassure nervous Ron/Hermione shippers that there was nothing to worry about. Mugglenet gave the headline "The TRUTH behind the J.K. Rowling 'Wonderland' interview."With this as their end analysis:

"WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? Well, in our view, all J.K. Rowling has admitted was to feeling that the scene in the tent was a shared vulnerable moment between two characters that revealed an intriguing degree of compatibility between each of them, emotionally. In saying that Ron needed to get over his self-doubt, Rowling is mentioning a key component that readers would agree could certainly cause some trouble in an adult relationship. However, by the article's end, Rowling and Watson have both found a value in Ron that Harry doesn't possess: Ron's humor and his ability to level Hermione's character. Thus, for all of this talk, the result is that the characters end up safely nestled where they were before, inside the canon of the Potter books."

Similarly The Leaky Cauldron's article was titled: "Full 'Wonderland' Interview Reveals Ron/Hermione Shippers Can Relax."

"The full text of the Wonderland issue that caused a Ron/Hermione vs. Harry/Hermione shipping riot this week is now out, and rumors of the death of the canon pairing have been greatly exaggerated. J.K. Rowling repeats previously made comments that there are certain characteristics between Harry and Hermione that may have them better suited, but does not indicate a wish to pair them off or any regret over how she wrote the books. Emma Watson and J.K. Rowling simply discuss the hypothetical post-Hogwarts world and what Ron and Hermione's relationship might have looked like."Rowling said that regardless of their issues, Ron and Hermione "would probably be fine."

and

An excerpt of the interview published in The Sunday Times on Feb. 1 caused a controversy when Rowling said she "wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment.""For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron," Rowling said.Many fans took this to mean that Rowling had changed her mind and would have preferred Harry and Hermione as a pairing. It resulted in shipping wars intense enough to give some of us flashbacks to 2005."

I have a little quibble with that analysis, and will cite in part a subsequent interview Melissa Anelli had with Jo Rowling that was published in her book Harry, a History.

"I tried very hard to soften it, I suppose," Jo said. "Just because someone had a view on Harry/Hermione didn't mean they weren't genuine, or that they were necessarily misguided...Steve Kloves...after he read book seven he said to me, 'You know, I thought something was going to happen between Harry and Hermione, and I didn't know whether I wanted it to or not.'...There are two moments when [Harry and Hermione] touch, which are charged moments. One, when she touches his hair as he sits on the hilltop after reading about Dumbledore and Grindlewald, and [two] the moment when they walk out of the graveyard with their arms around each other...

"Now, the fact is that Hermione shares moments with Harry that Ron will never be able to participate in. He walked out. She shared something very intense with Harry.

"So, I think it could have gone that way."(snipped for length)

The difference is that Jo Rowling pointed out two different scenes to Melissa that she felt were charged H/Hr moments and neither were the tent scene that she discussed with Emma Watson. Jo Rowling has now admitted three separate charged moments in book 7 where Harry and Hermione were pulled to one another. That means that the Wonderland interview wasn't just repeating previous comments, but instead it represents an extension and revision to her previous remarks on the subject where she concluded "it could have gone that way."
I now want to analyze the major differences between the 2014 interview and the one in 2005 performed by those two websites Mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldron. Emma Watson's interview was civil and polite. Jo Rowling was candid and was not in an atmosphere colored by partisan fandom politics. Watson is without vested interest in making herself seem "right" and others be "wrong." Back in 2005, Emerson Spartz and Melissa Anelli were hand selected by Jo Rowling to be representatives of the Harry Potter fandom and to ask her questions after the publication of her sixth novel Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.That interview caused a lot of heartache for fans of the series. Here is a link to my analysis of that online interviewand why I felt insulted by it.While I did not appreciate being called delusional, the biggest insult for me was being told by Jo Rowling to go back and re-read the books because I must have missed clues. I hadn't missed clues, I had studied the text so well I was seeing sub-text and evaluating clues that weren't intended by the author to be clues.That off-hand remark made me step away from the fandom that I had enjoyed for several years, and I have only read the sixth and seventh book once whereas the first five books I know forward and backward.After reading that 2005 interview where Jo Rowling categorically stated she was going to write Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione as the love pairings in Book 7, I wrote my concession messages on a few boards. I also abandoned the writing project I had been working on which was detailing the arguments used in the Harry Potter Shipping Wars. I was partnered with a R/Hr and H/G friend, who had served as a beta reader for my novel length fifth year fanfic. We were putting the common arguments into a manner that was easy to navigate for newbies while trying to make it as free of invective as possible. The project was rendered moot not by the content of the sixth or seventh book, but by an interview. The aspect that bothered me the most was the tone of that interview and how it made the author look bad. I feel J.K. Rowling was done a disservice by the fandom representatives she chose. They knew that shipping was the most controversial and divisive issue in the fandom. They could have tried to make peace in the fandom by trying to metaphorically put baking soda on a stove-top fire, instead they threw gasoline on it and watched the flames scorch the ceiling.Four years after that interview I was a speaker at the Azkatrazconvention held in San Francisco. I live in Northern California so getting to San Francisco is a day trip. I decided to dip my feet once again in fandom waters, if for no other reason than to meet up with some friends I hadn't seen in a few years.
A few days before the symposium, I sent a message to Melissa Anelli and asked to meet with her. I wanted to give her my thoughts in person about that controversial interview.I wasn't just a random run of the mill Harry/Hermione shipper asking the webmaster of a major Harry Potter fansite for a few minutes of her time. No, she knew who I was and we had met, albeit briefly, at the first HP symposium in Orlando in 2003. I had participated in a live ship debate and was the second chair of the Harry/Hermione side. She even mentioned me in her book.

Here I am giving a speech at the 2003 Nimbus Symposium supporting the Harry/Hermione ship.I honestly thought I would have only about ten minutes (at most!) to tell her my thoughts on the matter, that she would nod, listen and then make me feel as if I had been heard. I was surprised when she engaged with me on the topic. We talked for about an hour and I felt at the end that nothing I said could make her recognize how her actions as a R/Hr partisan in the interview did not serve the needs of the fandom as a whole, and especially how hurtful it was reading her editorial comments inserted into the text such as: [All laugh; Melissa doubles over, hysterical, and may have died.] I felt that they were laughing at the expense of others. It was akin to gloating or spiking the football and doing a dance in the end zone.She was a professional journalist and I had expected more from her. I had expected her to be an ambassador from the whole fandom and not as a partisan shipper. I compared it to reporters covering political candidates and trying to keep their personal political opinions out of their news coverage, unless they are writing editorials.She did not like that analogy because she thought the difference was reporters inserting their opinions in electoral politics might have an impact on elections and that her interview covered fiction and what had been written. So it wasn't going to influence anything. Therefore, yes she had her opinions and to not mention them in the transcript would have been dishonest.She considered the transcript she compiled as an accurate chronicle of the interview, and Jo Rowling approved the transcript before it went online. Therefore it was fine. She also felt that it wouldn't have mattered what was said because Harry/Hermione shippers were going to be mad because their side lost. I disagree with that opinion. I was mentally prepared prior to the 2005 interview to be told by JKR that she was planning on the R/Hr and H/G pairings, but I was not prepared to have my shipmates ridiculed in the manner that we were. My conversation with Melissa was cordial, and we left on good terms, but I continue to feel that Jo Rowling would have been better served if she had chosen different fandom ambassadors for such an important interview.
Here is proof that we spoke at that conference.

Me and Melissa Anelli after we spoke at Azkatraz in San Francisco, July 2009.
Now, nine years later after the interview by The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet, we have the same fandom members who interviewed JKR in 2005 having found themselves in the uncomfortable and unexpected position as to worrying for a few days about what Jo Rowling said in an interview regarding shipping and whether or not she has changed her mind. After the full interview was made public, they have chosen to only focus on certain aspects of it and try to minimize or ignore others.
It now appears JKR recognizes and acknowledges that the Harry/Hermione pairing had canon support and possibly, quite possibly, could have been a better fit for her heroine.Yes, in the full Wonderland interview, Jo refers to Hermione as her heroine.

"I know that Hermione is incredibly recognisable to a lot of readers and yet you don't see a lot of Hermiones in film or on TV except to be laughed at. I mean that the intense, clever, in some ways not terribly self-aware, girl is rarely the heroine and I really wanted her to be the heroine."

Hermione was not referred to as a side-kick or as a best friend, but the heroine of the series. Pairing the hero and the heroine of a series is not an unusual or delusional pairing by any means.

I would like to see, nine years after the interview that caused so many hard feelings in the fandom, a joint statement of recognition written by someone on the staff of The Leaky Cauldron and/or Mugglenet. I would like it to read something like this:

"We recognize that Harry/Hermione shippers are loyal fans in the Harry Potter fandom who have provided spirited support for their ship before and after the publication of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Now, seven years after the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Jo Rowling admits she might have followed another direction if she followed her muse, but she stuck with her original plot line. So recognizing that we were all right in some aspects of this series, we should put aside our differences and embrace our common interests, namely our love of the Potterverse. Those who prefer H/Hr might be inspired by this latest interview to write more fanfic with their favorite ship, and we shall hopefully put this divisive topic behind us. We want to take this opportunity to apologize if our celebratory actions in 2005 made you feel alienated from the larger fandom."

Instead it seems both websites' analysis of the full Wonderland interview was designed more to maintain the position that the only thing that matters is the Ron/Hermione ship sailed and the Harry/Hermione ship sank. I do not think it would hurt their credibility in the full fandom to show a little respect for those with an alternate point of view and say, "as it turns out, your opinion had some merit."

In the grand scheme of world and life events, betting on the wrong couple in the Hogwarts Love Sweepstakes isn't a catastrophe. It is good however, when people can be civil with one another. We should not be casting aspersions about people's intellect or morality because they came up with a different interpretation while reading literature. Especially when those romantic pairings are validated by the author. Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny were what J.K. Rowling planned and wrote. Now that J.K. Rowling has had time to reflect on her series, it appears that Harry/Hermione might be what she wishes she had written. That means both sides of the most divisive topic in the fandom can claim to have merit to their position.My last point, in 2012, J.K. Rowling was quoted as saying that she would like to go back and re-write two of her books. Imagine if she were to really regretpairing Ron and Hermione, she might decide to change more than just syntax and sentence structure to please her inner critic. I'm sure Bloomsbury and Scholastic would be willing to have new releases in the HP franchise and bookstores would love to have the Harry Potter money pipeline turned back on as well. Should she choose to change her romantic pairings then the H/Hr shippers wouldn't just have to settle for alternate universe fanfics, it could actually be "new canon."
I asked my teenaged son if he would be interested in reading a new Harry Potter book if it was re-written by J.K. Rowling. Without hesitation he replied, "Hells yeah!" I imagine that there would be many fans of the series who would also be interested in buying any new canon if it were written and published.So please R/Hr shippers, take this opportunity to make peace with us, since we all profess to love the series and we can all claim to have support by the author. In other words: both sides won.

After the Nimbus live ship debate, the two ships were smiling for the camera.
Proof that we can all get along.

Sincerely,
Linda C. McCabe AKA Pallas Athena (or just Athena)Second chair for the Harry/Hermione ship debate in Nimbus 2003. Yeah, eleven years ago I debated this subject in person in front of a ballroom full of people!
Author of the First Readers' Choice Award on Portkey.org for the novel length fifth year fic, Secrets, Lies and the Daily Prophet as well as a few H/Hr themed short stories.
Author of an epic historic fantasy set in the time of Charlemagne, Quest of the Warrior Maiden, including flying hippogriffs. Yes, it was inspired during my ship debating research days.

http://lcmccabe.blogspot.com/2014/02/post-wonderland-interview-both-sides-of.html

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Published on February 13, 2014 08:38

February 2, 2014

J.K. Rowling, belated Harry/Hermione shipper

My friend John Granger clued me into a story about an interview with J.K. Rowling and how these revelations are burning up the internet and being posted and re-posted as news.

Now, I readily admit that this story isn't hard news. It does not impact the world economy, ameliorate climate change or make any movement toward establishing world peace.
Nope. It is simply a human interest story, and there is a lot of interest in it. I believe this story is more important than detailing the legal troubles of Justin Bieber (My thoughts: deport Bieber) or anything having to do with anyone with the last name of Kardashian.
I feel this story about an author's change of heart in regard to the romantic pairings of her fictional characters *is* newsworthy, if for no other reason than due to the sheer popularity of the series.
The Harry Potter series is one of the most popular series in literature with millions of copies sold worldwide in many different languages. (I don't even want to take the time to verify what the current numbers are, but I know it is mind boggling how many copies sold which made her a billionaire.)
The series served as a refuge and escape for me back in the early 2000s. I began reading the Harry Potter novels in November of 2001 at the time that the first movie was released. I was impressed by the intricate world and bizarre cast of characters in the Potterverse.
I read the first four novels in a short span of time, then began re-reading them and then searching the internet to find out more information. That is when I discovered the online fandom.

The attacks on September 11, 2001 were recent and I found news from the real world to be painful and hard to bear. It was a nice diversion from news about world terrorism to instead attempt to decipher clues with other adults in the Harry Potter series.

I became a member of the Harry Potter for Grown Ups (HPfGUs) list serv and engaged in discussions looking at the smallest turn of phrase that might be helpful in predicting where the series was going and which characters were EverSoEvil! or ESE! Literary criticism with other nerdz was fun. I enjoyed reading wild and inventive theories and spinning my own with others who loved the series as much as I did.

I started reading Harry Potter fan fiction and became inspired to try my own hand at writing in order to flesh out my own wacky theories. It was in the process of writing my fifth year fic that I started really questioning the characters' motivations and I came to believe that Hermione was in love with Harry. That she was devoted to him, but knew he didn't feel the same way about her. So she kept her feelings to herself lest he begin to feel uncomfortable about her hanging around him all the time. "Eww, I don't like you in that way. I want to just be friends, but..."

She might get frozen out of being a part of the Trio and then it would just be Harry and Ron on the grand adventures.

So Hermione loved Harry, but kept her feelings close to her vest. That's what I thought. That's what I wrote and had a fic where at the end of the fifth year the two characters became a couple.

After finishing my fic, I began posting on the HPfGUs list serv again. This time I posted my thoughts on shipping. I made what I thought was a simple post about Hermione and Krum showing how it was pro Harry/Hermione or H/Hr. That post wound up being noticed by other shippers and after a request to reprint portions of my post on a debate thread on FictionAlley.org, I found myself being lured into the great H/Hr vs. Ron/Hermione (R/Hr) shipping debate.

Later, I wound up participating in the only live H/Hr and R/Hr shipping debate which was held at the first Harry Potter Symposium in Orlando, Florida in 2003.

The Shipping Debates were a big deal. JKR didn't know it at the time, she learned about it later. She was shaken by the intensity of the arguments when she stumbled upon the online debate threads.

Then she toyed with the fandom by making posts on her website that mentioned shipping and teased her fans about it. Then after the publication of the sixth book she invited two well known people from the fandom to interview her. That was when she unequivocally stated that the romantic pairings were Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione. The tone of that interview was not what I had hoped. There was laughter and mirth about the shipping choices and the word "delusional" was used to describe Harry/Hermione shippers. My full thoughts on that interview as well as quotes from JKR on her website about shipping can be found here.

(JKR's website has been revamped and those shipping quotes from 2006 and 2007 are no longer online, but they are in my blog post.)

The last volume was published in 2007 and many of her new fans have no idea of the debates that raged when the series was incomplete.

Therefore, as a recovering Harry Potter fandom addict, I welcomed learning that J.K. Rowling now feels that Hermione should have been paired with Harry Potter over Ron Weasley. Check out these quotes:

"I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment. That's how it was conceived, really," Rowling says in the interview. "For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron."
"I know, I'm sorry," she adds. "I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I'm absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility. Am I breaking people's hearts by saying this? I hope not."

Those quotes make me feel that I and my shipmates did not deserve being called "delusional."

Rowling also says that Ron and Hermione would have needed “relationship counseling.”

Counseling. Ron and Hermione would have needed counseling.
Sigh.
Yeah. I didn't think the manner in which Ron taunted Hermione showed a depth of compassion, but instead a manner of trying to control her.
I wrote a post which detailed my dislike of this relationship and described how unhealthy I thought it would be due to Ron's underlying disrespect for Hermione. It reminded me of emotionally abusive relationships.
It was my reaction to the text and explaining why I did not need to see quotes from the books repeated on the bulletin boards again. I knew them, I had read them, and having someone reiterate the same points wouldn't make me stop and go "You're right. There is something's going on there." I could tell that Ron was possessive toward Hermione, but I didn't see that she had a similar interest in him. Instead the possessiveness and cutting insults (including Hermione's insults toward Ron) made me feel uncomfortable if a romantic relationship came from that dynamic.
My post became known as the Abusive!Ron theory, but it wasn't a theory at all. It was a lengthy discussion about my response to the interactions between Ron and Hermione in the text and why I thought it would be unhealthy basis of a romantic relationship if Ron didn't change his behavior toward her.
I felt that the politics of house-elves best demonstrated the problem of the Ron/Hermione relationship. I had also written an extensive post on the politics of house-elves and why Ron needed to change his underlying attitude toward the oppressed magical species or there would never be a chance for Ron and Hermione to be a successful couple.
As it turned out, Ron and Hermione finally became a couple when Ron made a mention in the thick of defending Hogwarts Castle by mentioning the welfare of the elves at the end of Book 7.
That plot point helped me feel somewhat vindicated, but these articles showing teaser quotes from the full interview (and I will want to read the full interview!), makes me feel even better.

Yes, I will admit there were anvil-sized clues pointing to R/Hr in the series, but I was a careful reader and saw subtle hints to Hermione caring for Harry. Maybe it was JKR's subconscious inclusion of the Harry/Hermione loyalty dynamic that led me to think H/Hr was a better romantic fit.
The problem was H/Hr went against JKR's the planned symbolic following of literary alchemical formulas. Here is where we go deep into symbolism, and I credit John Granger's numerous writings on literary alchemy:
Ron represented elemental sulfur and Hermione represented mercury. Both are necessary in creating gold through alchemy.

Yeah, I know how weird that sounds, but that was what JKR was doing. Harry's girlfriends had the following hair colors: black (Cho), white (one date with Luna), then red (Ginny) which correspond with three stages of alchemy: nigredo, albedo, rubedo. There was no room for a brown haired girl for Harry. Yet JKR subconsciously wrote Harry/Hermione as a relationship based on trust, loyalty and devotion. I was hoping that Jo while using alchemy as her underlying plot structure would not feel totally constrained to have follow it completely. I was hoping she might alter it to fit her own dramatic needs and have Harry/Hermione as the final romantic pairing and not Harry/Ginny with Ron/Hermione.

Now in retrospect, she is looking back at her story and the characters as they evolved during her story telling and she admits that Harry/Hermione would have been a better way to go!
It would have been emotionally satisfying to have her hero become romantically involved with his best friend who had been by his side from the beginning of his magical adventure, but it would have made Ron and Ginny jealous. There would have been a big love triangle within the Trio, and many, many Ron/Hermione shippers simply couldn't bear to think of Harry hurting Ron in that manner.
Yeah, and Jo thought of killing Ron.
Had she done that, I think Ginny as a romantic partner for Harry would have disappeared altogether.

Anyway, I feel vindicated by this admission by Jo Rowling. Perhaps the Ron/Hermione shippers who gloated when they did their victory lap might remember some of the arguments that I and my shipmates posted years ago and consider we weren't as wrong, wrong, WRONG as they thought we were at the time.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this human interest story.
Thanks,

Linda AKA Pallas Athena

http://lcmccabe.blogspot.com/2014/02/jk-rowling-belated-harryhermione-shipper.html

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Published on February 02, 2014 22:08

January 26, 2014

Medieval fast days and beaver meat

I was recently interviewed on the Newbie Writers podcast with hosts Damien Boath and Catharine Bramkamp. I had a fun time discussing various aspects about writing historical fantasy as well as the challenges of writing a sequel.

Catharine asked me about the urge to want to include information found during the research process, basically to incorporate what I learned into the narrative. I understood the urge, but told her that I resisted that temptation. Especially when I thought it might be confusing to the readers or yank them right out of the narrative.

As an example, I mentioned a bit of trivia that I came across several years ago regarding Medieval religious dietary restrictions on fast days when meat and other animal products from were not to be consumed. I mentioned the book Fast and Feast: Food in Medieval Society by Bridget Ann Henisch as the source of this information about Medieval fast days. It is a wonderful book and I recommend it for those interested in learning more about Medieval diets and religious customs.

There were periods such as Lent and Advent when fast days lasted for weeks, but there were also fast days every week: Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. To clarify, these fasts was not when no food was consumed, but rather that there was a deprivation of what could be eaten. The foods to abstain consisted of meats and poultry as well as other animal products such as milk, butter, cheeses, and eggs.

That did not mean that people became vegetarians during this time, but instead they were allowed to eat fish because it was from the sea. Here's a quote from Henisch explaining the theological reasoning why fish was allowed to be eaten on fast days.

Fish, providentially, had escaped God's curse on the earth by living in the water. Water itself was an element of special sanctity, washing away the sins of the world in Noah's Flood, and the sins of the individual in baptism. Its creatures might be said to share something of its virtues. Once the choice had been justified, the rest was easy. - page 33.

The part that I found so memorable about her discussion about what foods could and could not be consumed in Medieval times on fast days was the inclusion of beavers as food from the sea.

Beavers.

By Steve from washington, dc, usa (American Beaver) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia CommonsYes, I didn't have my own picture of a beaver, so I found one from the Wikimedia Commons. Enjoy.

I knew when I read that people could eat beavers on fast days that it was something I could not bring up in my novel. My readers would be pulled right out of the narrative by laughter at the mere thought of eating a beaver.
Damien was especially amused at the inclusion of beaver meat in our chat. He inspired me to re-read the passage by Henisch describing the reasoning behind the acceptance of beavers on the Fast days menu.

The rule forbidding meat on a fast day was the one most strictly enforced and conscientiously obeyed, but some desperate ingenuity was applied to the definition of meat and fish. Reluctantly it had to be conceded that the beaver was a mammal, even though he spent so much of his life in the water, but his tail, being covered with scales, looked distinctly fishy. It was permissible, therefore, to brighten a fish menu with a dish of beaver tail. - page 47

I believe that if I used either term "beaver tail" or "beaver meat" in a novel that it would cause my readers to laugh out loud and in an inappropriate manner.

That is why I chose not to include any mention of the consumption of any portion of the beaver, but it sure makes for an amusing anecdote.

Damien was so taken with the discussion of beavers that he entitled my episode "The Mythology of Beavers."

The podcast is the Newbie Writers Episode #117 and can be downloaded from iTunes

or can be listened to on YouTube where it was streamed live and has the title "Greek Mythology and Fantasy with Linda McCabe."

Heck, if I knew he was going to give it a title regarding Greek mythology I would have talked more about that subject than just mentioning Athena and Hector of Troy in passing. Oh, well. It was a fun chat and I hope others might enjoy hearing the interview and my insights.

This Tuesday, January 28, 2014 is the 1200th anniversary of Charlemagne's death.

So to help celebrate that I am ending this post with a picture I took during my trip to Germany in 2011. This is a statue of Charlemagne outside the town hall of Aachen (the Rathaus) that was built where his palace once stood.

Twelve hundred years ago. That's a huge anniversary and this year there will be many celebrations in Aachen to mark the landmark anniversary. For those who might be interested in traveling to Aachen, here is a link to some of their plans for the year.

Please feel free to leave an example of weird Medieval trivia you may have come across over the years.

http://lcmccabe.blogspot.com/2014/01/medieval-fast-days-and-beaver-meat.html

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Published on January 26, 2014 22:14

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