Ashley J. Barnard is the author of the
award-winning Shadow Fox series (Champagne/BURST), as well as
In Byron’s Shadow and Cast of Illusions. She has
three published stage adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels, and is a
staff writer for Fantasy-Faction.com. Visit her website at
http://www.ashleyjbarnard.com.
I asked Ashley to write a little something about her experiences with writing urban fantasy, so keep reading to learn more about it in her words. Enjoy.
When Nice Girls Write Dark
Fantasy
by Ashley J. Barnard
I’m a nice girl. A very nice girl.
I’ve been told many times that I am the nicest person so-and-so has
ever met. And happy too! I sing Broadway show tunes when I clean the
house. I wave at fellow Beetle drivers, especially the yellow ones
like mine. In fact, my car looks like one giant happy face. I despise
conflict, and I want everyone to love me. I go out of my way to help
people, and have a bad habit of lavishing compliments. People who
know me as a mom from school, a next-door neighbor, or that
lady-who-always-sings-while-she-shops, probably envision my nightlife
consisting of sewing, watching Friends re-runs, or organizing
the next PTO meeting. To them, I am Giselle from the movie Enchanted.
The niceness is genuine; it’s not a
face I put on. But that’s only one part of who I am. When I sit
down at the computer, however, I like to write about dark, nasty
urban fantasy, with sexually dysfunctional drug- and alcohol addicts.
A couple of my books contain threesomes, gay sex and S&M. Bad
things happen to good people: there is sexual abuse and rape, limbs
lopped off in battle, attempted suicides and insanity. The F-bomb is
not only present, but ubiquitous. In essence, the things I write
about are the last things on earth most people would associate
with me. So you can imagine what usually happens when someone finds
out about them.
Last summer, my husband took me to
Missouri to visit his in-laws. They are a conservative bunch: they go
to church every Sunday and many of them have biblical sensibilities
about gays and so forth. They are not my ideal target audience. I’ve
kept my writing a secret from them for almost seventeen years, but my
mother-in-law read – and, to her credit, was pretty nice about it –
one of my books and told them that I was a writer. They cornered me
at a pool party and wanted to know everything. What are these books
about? Where can I find one? I set it up with my usual disclaimer to
warn them about the content, and watched their eyes glaze over and
their faces slacken. When I checked my website stats that night, sure
enough there was a big spike of hits from the Missouri area. They all
had to check it out, but when I saw them again the next day, they
were very quiet. Needless to say, I haven’t heard from them
since. The same thing happened with some of the moms at my daughter’s
school. They all wanted bookmarks with my website on them, and since
then they’ve never brought it up again. Although one of their
husbands came up to me and said he bought the first book and was
enjoying it. Whenever I see his wife, however, it’s like the giant
pink elephant in the corner.
Fortunately my shocking people can also
have really good results. People who thought I was rather shallow and
two-dimensional have been delighted to discover the opposite is true.
More than one friendship has deepened as a result of someone reading
my books. I’m more approachable now as a flawed and, well,
basically fucked-up person. The beauty of it is, now that they know
the “truth,” I can be more genuine with them. I’m still nice,
but we can skip the small talk and discuss things that really matter.
I guess my books sort of act as a filtering device. Since I despise
small talk anyway, my writing scares off the people I’m not
compatible with, while attracting the ones to whom I am.
But regardless of whether or not I make
or break a friend over my writing, the important thing is that I
stand by it no matter what. I ought not to be ashamed. I can warn
people, but really – I shouldn’t start fidgeting, ripping off my
cuticles and getting heart palpitations when someone I don’t know
very well says they’re going to rush out and buy one of my
urban-fantasy novels. One day – and I am getting better – I’d
love to be able to say to myself: This is who I am. What you think of
it does not change that, nor does it really matter. I am being true
to myself, and so should we all.
Okay, here goes. To the gal who always
gets my deli meat at Safeway, my neighbor who says “Howdy”
everyday, and the mom who wants me to get involved in Girl Scouts: Go
ahead. Try the Shadow Fox series. I dare you.
*****
You can click HERE to learn more about Shadow Fox via its product info on Amazon.com.
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