Monday, January 03, 2011

Anatomy of an Idea: Bird Out of Water

"Bird Out of Water" has pretty simple origins: it stems from a Fantasy-Writers.org challenge to write about the offspring of two fantasy creatures. I decided to write about two monsters from different environments and a child who was poorly adapted to both. Of course she would wish to be human, but what comes of that wish?

One of the key elements for me in writing Vri was to keep her rather visceral and beast-like - not childish, but without much grasp on niceties and fine details. I also wanted Calis to come out as an ambivalent figure ... much to the dismay of some of my reviewers, who wanted me to "nice" him up.

And, of course, the opening quote was pretty much an inevitability.

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