Fiction Writers as 'mad scientists'

As a fiction writer I feel like a ‘mad scientist’ observing lab mice negotiating a maze to find the cheese. My beloved characters are those mice. The cheese is their goal. I put up obstacles and write about the characters overcoming challenge or facing disappointment. I love the “what if?” followed by the “How?”

What if…a young woman wanted a different life than her family, her society had carved out for her? What if…like most adolescents, she didn’t know what she wanted? In my first book, Dahlquin, seventeen-year-old Eloise Dahlquin bristles under the patriarchal culture of medieval Ireland. Like most of us, she wants to choose for herself. Her cheese, her quest is for self-determination. Lord Roland enjoys his freedom to move about, unencumbered. The Scragmuirs want to see the Dahlquin’s vanquished. Ireland has been conquered by England, but the petty kings still govern themselves, yearning for an independent Irish voice. Power of choice motivates all the characters. But, what if…every thing is preordained, is anyone truly free to choose?

The ‘mad scientist’ fiction writer must put up road blocks, obstacles, ‘red herrings’ to test the mice, deem them worthy. What if…we don’t like our choices: The proverbial rock and the hard spot; with nothing, you have nothing to lose? What if…we can’t make up our minds? Circumstances change with the turn of a page and there are no choices. A future lost with the speed of a dropped call. How will Eloise save her family? What is she willing to do? How will Roland serve two kings? What treachery will Scragmuir devise to bring Dahlquin down? How will Ireland shed the English yoke?

Love, lust, betrayal, loyalty, fraternity, happily-ever-after…or death and subjugation…

And, how can I, the mad scientist, make my story fresh and alive. How will I retell the same old legends with new insight, joy and surprise? It has all been done before…around ancient campfires…Greek amphitheatres…Nordic ships…The Globe…lecterns…and preschool circle time.

For just that reason. We are endlessly entertained by those stories, the Who, Where, How, Why and ultimately What If…? Strong, memorable characters with universal motives, struggling against all odds for…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…simply people, seeking pleasures…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness)…Will the rebels defeat the Evil Empire? Can Tom Builder and Phillip the Prior construct a cathedral? Will Dorothy ever get home? Can a 15 year old boy with Aspergers negotiate the London underground? Was Penelope really so steadfast, and Odysseus worth waiting for?

Writing stories is so wondrous, so powerful. I love my characters. I love the Middles Ages, and I want to do them justice, continually learning and growing.