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Monday, May 9, 2016

Blending Fantasy With Reality - guest post by Misha Gerrick


Blending Fantasy With Reality

Thanks for having me over, Christine!

I’m a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to genre. Endless, my current book, is Urban Fantasy. My previous one was Epic Fantasy. I think the next one will probably be Historical Romance.

I basically write and work on whatever I feel like, and often don’t assign a genre to the book until after I finished a rough draft. Some people might think it strange, but I think it comes in handy.

Why? Because my mind automatically goes into world-building mode regardless of genre. And because I come from Epic Fantasy, I know how to make it happen. You’d think that my Urban Fantasy world would be simpler to create than my Epic Fantasy one.

Urban Fantasy takes place in our world. So it just simplifies things, right? Eh… no. I’ve found that fitting a fantasy element into the reality everyone knows can be a tricky thing.

Because now there are a lot of things that people can correct me on. I had to create the cultures of my fantasy, but blend it with real aspects to life. Such as medical procedures as well as police procedures. Even then, I bent the rules every now and then and shifted the focus so that the procedures faded into the background. I wasn’t writing Gray’s Anatomy or Bones, even though one character’s a doctor and the other’s an FBI agent.

But I still needed to understand those procedures in order to understand how the characters would function in their jobs. Which choices they would make in a given situation and why. I needed to know the rules so that I could know when and why a character was breaking them.

In short, it’s all about balance. Yes, I had to create a world in which my fantasy elements could exist, but I had to overlay it with reality in order to make my story take place in a place that’s recognizable as our present Earth. Creating a fantasy without throwing away the rules, and knowing the rules without making them obscure the fantasy.

Anyone else have to combine reality with fantasy elements? How do you go about it?

About the Book

First, do no harm.” Blake Ryan swore that oath to become a doctor. Ironic, given that he spent most of his thousand year life sucking souls out of other immortals.

Things are different now. Using regular shots of morphine to keep his inner monster at bay, Ryan has led a quiet life since the Second World War. His thrills now come from saving lives, not taking them.

Until a plane crash brings Aleria into his hospital. Her life is vibrant. Crack to predators like him. She’s the exact sort of person they would hunt, and thanks to a severe case of amnesia, she’s all but defenseless.

Leaving Aleria vulnerable isn’t an option, but protecting her means unleashing his own inner monster. Which is a problem, because his inner monster wants her dead most of all.


About the Author

Misha Gerrick lives near Cape Town, South Africa, and can usually be found staring at her surroundings while figuring out her next book.

If you’d like to see what Misha’s up to at the moment, you can find her on these social networks:


19 comments:

  1. Hi Christine and Misha - interesting way to write your books - but I can see it'll give you options as your story develops ... good luck to you both with your writings .. cheers Hilary

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  2. Many congratulations Misha!! Really happy for you. Wishing you both a super duper week!

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  3. I have only written an epic fantasy. I'm surprised that magical realism is harder, but I'd probably find the same thing as you if I tried it. Congrats on your book!

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  4. I think it would be tough because you'd have to do a lot of research to get reality right.

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  5. I don't worry about genre until I finish a first draft as well. Although, sometimes I have no choice because I'm writing and I have no idea where to put the story!

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  6. I've been writing in the same genre for more than a year but my next ones will be different. Congrats to Misha.

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  7. Wishing you the best, Misha! I read your post at Alex's today--great job there.

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  8. Great topic! Balance is very important in fantasy. I once read a fantasy novel by a fairly popular local author and just could not get into it because everything was completely abstract. The characters were some kind of bizarre creatures with fur and 4 arms and their village was made up of hives made of some kind of weird inhuman material and it was so totally made up that I couldn't picture a single thing. I love a good fantasy story, but I also love being able to picture it and relate to it with at least a little bit of reality.

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  9. Yeah, I can see how the "reality" of your book would be somewhat easier to pull if you were completely in charge of creating it. Having to stay true to the actual reality of the world while weaving in your fantasy would have to be a bit more challenging.

    But somehow... I'm sure you pulled it off beautifully.

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  10. Cool. I'm seeing her everywhere today. Good luck to Misha!

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  11. Thank you to everyone for visiting today. And yay for Misha! It's a thrill to host her today.

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  12. A mixed bag when it comes to genres and books/WIPs is fun! Most of mine are romantic-suspense, but I also put out fantasy-romance and fantasy-mystery. Plus I have so many other genres for books just waiting for me to work on them. ;) I don't think I could ever pull of Epic or Urban Fantasy, though.

    Congrats to Misha! I'm wishing her all the best with Endless.

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  13. Congrats on the book release. I was dealing with that and got frustrated, so now my fantasy is set in the Galactic future, but still have to have recognizable things in it. T'ain't easy either... Kudos to you Misha.
    Juneta @ Writer's Gambit

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  14. Congratulations on your book release Misha! Great post.

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  15. Congrats Misha. Yeah, it's tricky getting the reality bits right! :)

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  16. Congrats to Misha! I've been seeing this book around a lot, which is great!

    And hello, Christine :) Can't remember if I mentioned already, but I finished Big Longing and it was sizzling as usual!

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  17. Making up the world is much easier than making our world fit fantasy. I know I've done more research for my urban fantasy than epic fantasy because of that. Congrats, Misha!

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  18. Yeah, Hilary, I prefer the flexibility.

    Thanks Nicola.

    Natalie, I just find that with epic fantasy worldbuilding, no one knows more than I do about my world. So people are more forgiving.

    Alex, that's definitely one of the more tricky aspects.

    Patricia, I only really care about the genre once I finish the story. Again, the flexibility helps me be creative.

    Susan I like changing up the genres every now and then. Ruts aren't good for creativity.

    Thanks Lee!

    Hey Beer dude. I know what you mean. Fantasy is cool, but I like just a bit of familiarity to ground me.

    Thanks Susan. I hope I pulled it off!

    Thanks Stephanie!

    Thanks for having me over, Christine!

    Chrys, writing whatever you feel like is good for creativity, I think. Thanks for the good wishes. :-)

    It's indeed a fine balance to strike. Thanks for stopping by, Juneta!

    Thanks Kelly!

    It is indeed, H.R.

    Thanks Lynda!

    Thanks Alexia!

    Cherie I've had the same experience. :-)

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