When one of my UF novels ended up in a boxed collection of 8 novels
by 7 authors, a publicist sent out questions for each of us to answer.
And here are mine:
QUESTIONS
In Urban
Fantasy the location of the story is often more than just a setting;
it’s a character, and influences in what happens in the story. Does the
city in your story have such and impact and how?
The
Sunspinners series is set in a wealthy neighborhood where neighbors
politely ignore the protagonist’s household. Possibly they assume there
is an insane auntie in the upstairs room, complete with a Jane Eyre
nurse. This allows the paranormal family to function without
interruptions. Across town is the neighborhood setting of the Mudflat
Magic series and is the opposite in that all the low income families in
Mudflat know everything about each other. This creates totally different
plot complications.
Some Urban Fantasy stories have a
divide between the people and creatures who use and know magic and the
normal everyday humans. Do you think this affects how some characters
respond to emergencies?
Weak magic runs through the
Mudflat families and results in them covering for each other. The
paranormal sunspinners would love to have a little magic. It would make
their lives so much easier. Instead all they have is a normal everyday
human to cover for them and yes, it affects their behavior. They have
added more security devices to their home than ADT ever dreamed of.
While
not every Urban Fantasy story uses classic monsters, there’s a lot of
them in the genre. How has the use of monsters changed over the years
and what makes your monsters unique if you use any of them?
There
are earthdemons threatening the sunspinners, and they are a specific
race and unrelated to classic monsters. In Mudflat the monsters usually
look like normal people so are hard to spot. None of my monsters are
based on any I have ever read about. I like to think up my own
creatures.
While Urban Fantasy is popular right now, not
every one enjoys all aspects of the subgenre. To keep the genre going,
what are some of the more unique trends in UF and what would you like to
see more of?
Originality. Each book or series has to have new
ideas. That’s why I came up with the heroine of the Turning Vampire
series. She is a sweet teenager who has to learn to survive as a vampire
but works hard at being a good person and never harming anyone. When
all your nourishment has to come from human blood, fresh from the
source, it ain’t easy being sweet.
Most Urban Fantasy
stories center on magical beings or creatures, normal people still have
an important role in the story line. Do normals have much of an impact
in your UF story and in what way?
Always. It is the normals who have to solve the problems created by magic and by paranormals. Sorry, no superheroes here.
As
we know, magic in these UF worlds can take many forms. Some are able to
use it and some aren’t. Why do you think magic (of any form) such a
popular concept?
Wouldn’t we all love to mumble a few spells
and have our problems solved? But then there would be no story. Instead,
the protagonists have to plod on alone, suffer a lot, and learn to
depend on their wits rather than physical strength. Unlike romances,
urban fantasies do not require ‘happy ever after’ endings.
Monsters
have been around for ages in stories. History is full of them. What
kind of impact has Urban Fantasy had in dispelling some of the myths
associated with some of these creatures from the past and how do you
think it will shape the future?
Hmm. Maybe Homer was the first
urban fantasy storyteller, earning his livelihood by entertaining his
audiences with tales of real cities and normal people and scary
monsters. Did he try to shape the future with his tales? I don’t think
so. If I had the smarts to shape a better future for the world, I would
go into politics, I guess. Instead, I write stories to entertain.
