It's Still There

Since this is to be a musing upon writing, and since my dear heart sister told me to utilize my guest-blogger privileges while she's (mostly) on maternity leave, I'm afraid you'll be suffering my early-morning musings. I have a head cold. If the following makes little sense, blame it on the cold medicine.

First, I have to admit a fear. You see, I'm a speculative fiction writer with a pronounced lean toward fantasy who discovered last year she's an atheist. That's a bit discombobulating. Then I discovered a deep-rooted joy in unvarnished reality, warts, uncertainty and all. That's really disconcerting for a person who wants to tell stories about mythical creatures for a living. For a bit there, I thought about giving up on the fantasy side of things altogether. But my characters don't seem amenable to being recast in a science fiction mileau, and while I love reading and writing about science, I'm not scientist enough to really feel it's my calling. But things have changed, and the story shall have to change with it. We'll get to that over the winter.

At least I didn't have to question whether it's possible for an atheist to write fantasy. Neil Gaiman writes stories hugely influenced by myth, and he's an atheist. Terry Pratchett's even got dwarves, elves, witches, trolls and all manner of other fantastic beings on a flat world swimming through space on the backs of four elephants standing on a turtle, and he's an atheist, too. So one can obviously be an atheist and write wonderful fantasy. No worries on that front.

My real fear, silly as it sounds, was that I wouldn't love Lord of the Rings anymore.

A great many fantasy writers have been inspired by Tolkien. I'm no different. Just because you won't find any elves or dwarves running about in my books doesn't mean I haven't been deeply, profoundly influenced by Tolkien's work. I have shelves full of his writings, other writers' writings about his writings, and stories inspired by his writings. The walls of my bedroom are hung with Tolkien artifacts, including a Two Towers promotional photograph signed by many of the actors. Various Tolkien paraphernalia is carefully arranged atop one of the shelves. And I wear the One Ring around my neck every day, without fail, because I made a promise. But here I was, coming off nearly a year binging on science and atheist literature, facing the fact that in order to be a fiction author I'd have to get back to writing the bloody stuff, and knowing where a good part of my inspiration lies. Did it still?

Or was I going to pop that first DVD in the player and discover the magic was gone?

I'm happy to report it's not. I've been enthralled for two films now. Everything's just the way I remember it. I'm as moved as ever by those characters and that world. And I'm starting to realize it never was about magic. It was about friendship, and fear, and fidelity, and failings. It may have elves and dwarves and hobbits and wizards, but it's still a very human story. It has quite a lot to suggest about how to live a meaningful life. And that's what stories do. They distill things. They make a model of the world. They teach without preaching. They enlighten as they entertain.

This is why Neil Gaiman says we owe it to each other to tell stories. One of the reasons, anyway. There are others, some of them hugely meaningful and some of them not as much, but all of them important.

And it's just what humans do. We walk upright, we build things, and we like stories.

So with that worry gone, I'll be crafting some hugely meaningful (I hope) speculative fiction inspired by Tolkien and all manner of science, by myth and legend but also by messy reality. I'll be building worlds, and telling stories that aren't factually true but (I hope) say something true about what it is to be human, and perhaps a little about what should be, as all good stories do. I'll be writing knowing dear Professor Tolkien's magic is still there as my guide.

After I've finished Return of the King, that is.

What about you? What inspires you no matter how much you change?