I suppose most folk would look at my current project, the story of Rowan Hayes and the Fey World she stumbles into, and call it an Urban Fantasy, it’s got all the trappings – a magical romp, much of which takes place in our world – but I don’t really think that calling it such really captures the essence of the story I’m telling. Instead, I prefer to think of it as a Modern Day Faerie Tale, which sounds much more pretentious than it actually is.

So why the distinction? For people who follow my other blog, A Dribble of Ink, it might seem especially strange that I’m so picky about the sub-genre under which my story falls – I’m rather outspoken in thinking that it’s fucking nuts how deep and obtuse the sub-genre’s in SF and Fantasy go… it’s like we’re a bunch of metalheads. That being said, I think the Urban Fantasy is generally viewed, at least by the audience that has made Jim Butcher and Laurel K. Hamilton so damn popular, as being very similar to serialized crime fiction (a gritty, singular character around whom each novel revolves, battling against a secret underworld of magic that us regular civilians are blissfully unaware of, maybe solving a crime or two along the way) only with some magical elements thrown in to spice things up.

My novel, despite taking place (for the most part) in our world, and having magical elements thrown in for shits and giggles (not really, they actually drive the story and couldn’t be removed, even forcibly against my will), is very different than the average Urban Fantasy, in fact, I feel that it’s as different from The Dresden Files as it is from The Lord of the Rings. Big words, I suppose, from an aspiring writer, but I think it would be dishonest to call a horse anything other than a horse. I could call it an Urban Fantasy and try to jump on the bandwagon, but really… I’d just be fooling everyone. Myself included.

So, why a Modern Day Faerie Tale instead of an Urban Fantasy?

Well, it has faeries, for one thing. And a lot of them. In fact, a large portion of the novel takes place in the Fey lands so closely associated with Irish legend and lore. The faerie creatures (and they aren’t all just little pixie dusting, winged beings, either. I get to have fun with it. Just wait until you meet Fítheal…) are more than just set pieces. They’re characters as important as any of the humans, more important perhaps, and I’ll try my damnedest to make the reader care about them, believe in them, just as strongly as they do for Rowan and the other human characters.

Another big theme of the novel is travel and discovery. Rowan is travelling in a new land and constantly discovering things (places, people, magic, emotions within herself) that she never really knew existed. I hope to instill the reader, through Rowan, with a sense of wonder as they read the novel and experience the Fey world and its inhabitants alongside Rowan.

In many ways, what I’m trying to do reminds me a lot of Fantasy movies from the eighties, such as Labyrinth, The Neverending Story and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (yes, yes I know they were also novels, but I first experienced as movies. Back you devils, back! *cracks whip*): a young, naive protagonist thrown in well over her head, relying on charismatic, but questionable companions and having to find a deep well within themselves to find the strength to deal with a strange new world.

Has this been done before? Sure, stories about a person from our world being transported to Fantasyland are as old as storytelling. Has my version of it been told before? No. I wouldn’t say it has. But my job is to make you feel like you’ve never read it before, to bring back memories of the first time you cracked open a story.

Setting the bar a little high, perhaps? Sure. But you’ve got to dream big, right? You’re not going to reach the stars if your only aim for the clouds.

Rowan’s got a heck of an adventure ahead of her and I hope that my readers will marvel at the sights, laugh at the jokes and feel their heart wrench just as strongly as Rowan does. If that happens, well, I’ve done my job. If it doesn’t, well, that’s another story.