Nearing the end of September and the month has flown by. Last weekend involved a trip to Birmingham to join FantasyCon 2021, an annual convention celebrating the weird and wonderful worlds of SFF.
It’s years since I visited Birmingham, so was pleased to be able to squeeze in a few sights, including the canal side and its iconic Black Sabbath Bridge:
And the centre’s impressive buildings lit in the warm glow of evening light:
Not least of which was the underground, overground library:
But aside from stepping out for a breath of fresh air, it was a weekend of readings, talks and panels. Arriving with Blood Gift Chronicles, my reading was the first of the weekend.
Then onto panels with a range of exciting topics:
Representing Women is a particular favourite of mine. After decades of political and social change, with conventional narratives and gender stereotypes being challenged, progress is filtering through into the genres and there’s loads to get excited about. Click here for my previous blog and some great recommendations. As for my own work, challenging stereotypes is a highlight, both in my female characters, and in the men and boys. Redefining conventions around who does the nurturing, who the intrepid explorers are, who holds a candle up to courage and conviction, is something I believe can inspire and assert change in the real world. I look forward to making headway through my own reading list, and discovering more heroines and heroes of every variety.
In many ways, representation was a general theme on various panels I sat on, including how and why we represent sexuality, as well as representation in the broadest sense. I create worlds and seek to populate them with unique characters. Representation matters, and, when building characters, I draw on life experiences, spend time fleshing the characters, give them histories and backdrops and perspectives of their own. I want to know how they relate to one another, and to their environment. I want to consider diversity and representation, although I think this comes with a warning. Writing characters is not a tick box exercise, and I’ve seen some dodgy examples of stories paying lip service to marginalised voices. Done badly, the results can be unbelievable at best, and offensive and harmful at worst. My own rule of thumb, forget boxes and seek out characters you’re interested in. Watch out for the stereotypes and where necessary, challenge yourself and do something different. There are so many awesome characters out there, but also many more to write. I came away with much food for thought.
And to finish off, rather bleary-eyed by late Sunday morning, we chatted all things magical. It’s interesting to reflect back on Return of the Mantra and The Warder, and realise the diverse nature of magic that can be found in the story so far. There’s been a necessary pause on writing the third book in the series, and I’m excited to return: among other things, we’ll be discovering the origin of the omnipresent gifts.
In other news we have moved house!!! It’s not far from where we used to live; still, it’s no small thing, packing up your world. We’re settling into our new home, although with books still packed in boxes, I’m reminded of how important stories are to me. Shelves will soon be here and I can’t wait to fill them. Meanwhile, Mia the cat is slowly acclimatising to her new view:
So far some of the highlights include our adopted lilac tree, realising we are in the middle of Hedgehog highway, and the discovery that a resident squirrel appears to have buried nuts in our garden. It’s hours of fun watching it relocate its stash, much to the bemusement of Mia who has never seen a squirrel before.
I’m looking forward to being able to unpack the rest of the boxes, and recreate a workspace conducive to writing. More news on that later, as well as from my world of art.
Until next time…
Happy Reading!
