Today, a colleague and I were talking about the genre. I find it remarkable every time I meet other women who are as keen on the stories of dragons, magic, and valour.
Why do I love it? Why do I seek out these thick tomes when there are many easier (and some would argue, more realistic) books to read? I suppose it has something to do with the epic quality of it all. It's always this big adventure where "not succeeding" brings about the destruction of all that is good --- so they always succeed. It might not be in this volume or the next, but when the series concludes, there is an end that is in essence good.
I want to get back into writing fantasy fiction. It's the only area where I feel truly honest. When I write about "the real world", I think about how I'm supposed to put something "Filipino" into what I write, because that is my heritage. When I do splash a bit of my culture or understanding into contemporary fiction, I feel less motivated because that's not what I wanted to write about. I feel like I'm cornering myself into the Asian genre.
Fantasy is a safe haven for people with ambiguous cultural self-identities. My hero/heroine doesn't have to be any nationality that exists. Man as a species, elf, sorcerer, undetermined being... There's freedom in it.
If I only had the discipline to finish something.
0 comments:
Post a Comment