Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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Faerie, fairy, fey, whatever . . .

If I decided that the current poll was a wee bit of market research I’d be feeling quite happy that my next book1 is a fairy book. Thing is though that it’s not a f-a-e-r-i-e book. It’s a f-a-i-r-y book.

What’s the difference you ask? Well, in YA and children’s publishing land there are dark, scary faery like those that Holly Black writes about, who would as soon gouge your eyes out as look at you. And then there’s your pink, glittery, tinkerbell kind of fairy. A la all those of the Disney books etc. etc.

My fairies are probably more Disney than Holly Black. But they’re not pink. They’re not even visible. And um they help you do specific things. Like there are good-hair fairies and loose-change-finding fairies. You can’t fall in love with them, they can’t break your heart, or gouge out your eyes, and they don’t wave their magic wands to make pages turn.2 Like I said you can’t even see my fairies.

Thus I’m not sure the overwhelming popularity of Faery in the poll oppposite is going to help me any. It’s also made me a bit despondent about my Zombie Quintet. Not to mention the snow-boarding werewolf epic. And the daikaiju versus ghouls manga series.

Just as well I have an genuine certified-as-real-by-Holly-Black faerie story coming out at the same time as my fairy novel. It’s called “Thinner Than Water”3 and you’ll find it in the pages of Love is Hell edited by Farren Miller. I’m sure there are other faerie stories in there, too. Though Scott’s isn’t, but if you squinted as you read it, you could convince yourself it was . . . Sort of.4

Though if the poll were accurate vampires would be in the lead, given that there are way more vampire books than anything else. So bugger the poll! I’ll write my Zombie Quintet anyways and the snow-boarding werewolves and the daikaiju/ghoul manga. Maybe I’ll work my way through the list. I’ve already written about witches (Magic or Madness trilogy), and as mentioned above both faerie and fairy. I have a devil story, but that’s not on the poll. It just means figuring out a new take on vampires . . . Piece of cake.

I’ll go back to writing my next novel, now . . . Hava good weekend and don’t forget the aerogard!5

  1. coming in September of this year and no longer called The Ultimate Fairy Book [↩]
  2. A very old person reference. My apologies to those under thirty-five who read this blog. [↩]
  3. previously titled “Lammas Day” [↩]
  4. Other stories are by Melissa Marr, Laurie Faria Stolarz, and Gabrielle Zevin. [↩]
  5. Not that you need it where I am right now . . . [↩]

Posted by Justine at 10:01, 2 February 2008 under Frippery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Research, Words & Language, Young Adult literature | 12 Comments »

Comments

  1. R.J. Anderson Says:

    There is one very sad omission on your poll: aliens. You have robots and cyborgs; where is the alien love? *sniffles*

    February 2nd, 2008 at 10:43 am

  2. Harmony Says:

    Fairies! Yay! I’ll read it whether it’s called faeries or fairies.

    Snowboarding werewolves…sounds like a good book :)

    February 2nd, 2008 at 11:08 am

  3. _iris_ Says:

    “there are dark, scary faery like those that Holly Black writes about, who would as soon gouge your eyes out as look at you. And then there’s your pink, glittery, tinkerbell kind of fairy. A la all those of the Disney books etc. etc.:”

    I agree, when i think of faery I think of something feral and merciless. But when I think of fairy I think of something much more benign. Spelling makes all the difference!

    February 2nd, 2008 at 1:45 pm

  4. Mary Elizabeth S. Says:

    Never give up on zombies! (After all, they won’t give up on you, no matter how many reinforced steel walls you put up!)

    A new twist on vampires? Easy! Just don’t do what any of the hundreds of other books have done, and you’ll be fine. I mean, hey, I’m giving it a try…

    ~Mary

    February 2nd, 2008 at 2:55 pm

  5. David Moles Says:

    maybe you should do another poll on “which are you least sick of seeing shelves and shelves of bad books about?” I bet ghouls and daikaiju are a lot closer to the top.

    (seriously, why doesn’t anyone ever talk about the terrible effects daikaiju attacks have on the corpse-eating undead community? live privilege at work, I say!)

    February 2nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm

  6. 6. Justine Says:

    R.J. Anderson: where is the alien love?

    I am anti-aliens.

    Harmony: Snowboarding werewolves…sounds like a good book

    Except that I’ll have to learn how to snowboard and that involves snow and cold and other erky things.

    _iris_: Spelling makes all the difference!

    Indeed it doth.

    Mary Elizabeth S.: Never give up on zombies!

    I was just joshing. I would never give up on ‘em. Never!

    Mr Moles: maybe you should do another poll on “which are you least sick of seeing shelves and shelves of bad books about?” I bet ghouls and daikaiju are a lot closer to the top.

    You are absolutely correct. My poll was entirely misconceived. What a fool I’ve been! In fact I think I’ll go pop up the new one right now.

    February 2nd, 2008 at 3:23 pm

  7. J Says:

    I love comparisons of Fairy and Faerie! There’s so much difference there, and it’s all fascinating to discuss. And its fascinating to discuss how one became the other. My Tolkien Society spent weeks on this. Tolkien wrote an influential paper on the subject.

    February 2nd, 2008 at 4:00 pm

  8. MooseGuy Says:

    I think robots/cyborgs have been seriously neglected here.

    Goblins, too.

    February 2nd, 2008 at 5:38 pm

  9. serafina zane Says:

    snowboarding werewolf epic? NOOOOO!!!!
    *I* have a snowboarding werewolf story!!!!! no!!!!!!!! similarities!!!! noooo!!!!!!
    well…to be fair, the werewolves spend more time just chasing people down ski slopes than anything else.
    actually…no—i cut the only scene where anyone actually snowboards.
    so now they’re just werewolves who happen to live on a ski resort.
    they spend the majority of thier time playing lacrosse, not snowboarding.
    also, crashing thier cars into the cars of witches.
    okay. i think i’m safe.
    and it’s more a long short story than an epic.

    February 2nd, 2008 at 6:39 pm

  10. Malcolm Tredinnick Says:

    Hold on … your book universe has a loose-change fairy, but not a page-turning fairy? That’s just cold.

    February 2nd, 2008 at 7:03 pm

  11. Electric Landlady Says:

    In Hogfather, Terry Pratchett defines fairies as “beings who are currently employed under supernatural laws to bring things or take them away.” Something like that, anyway.

    The thought of the Electric Drill Chuck Key Fairy still makes me laugh. In short, yay for your fairy book!

    February 4th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

  12. rebecca Says:

    “It just means figuring out a new take on vampires . . . Piece of cake.”

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

    um. anyways….

    February 4th, 2008 at 8:31 pm

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