First Cup of Coffee - April 8, 2024

Shaking my cane today at the concept of being "yanked out of a book" by something or other and in particular by what someone thinks is "not fantasy language." Spoiler: there is no such thing as fantasy language and I'll tell you why.

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Transcript

00:00.17
jeffekennedy
Good morning. Everyone this is Jeffie Kennedy romantasy author of epic fantasy romance I'm here with my first cup of coffee. Ah today is Monday April Eighth solar eclipse day going to be a full solar eclipse here in the United States not quite where I am and we have I think about 80% totality here. But it's also overcast. So I hope. If you traveled somewhere to see the solar eclipse that you can see it. Um I've been hearing from friends and so forth who've traveled to seeing the eclipse and it's it's sounding like a lot. Um, there's a lot of enthusiasm for this one. So maybe it's great. Um I hope it's great.

00:54.58
jeffekennedy
I'm glad I'm not down in Texas because there are it sounds like an awful lot of people down in Texas right now. Ah so um, I actually had to restart the podcast today because I don't have my intro practiced enough. But. Ah I said it wrong the first time but we're getting there. We're getting there. Um, yeah, so here we are brand New Week Busy week for me. Um I've mentioned some on Friday's podcast I'll be traveling this week to the Jack Williamson lectureship there are going to be some other amazing people. This is one of my favorite things to do because it is both good for my favorite thing me and my work ah that I can you know sort of ah but yeah, not be able to speak. Ah.

01:53.33
jeffekennedy
I want to say like promote my work. It's a new audience. It's a great way to reach people even if it is a small crowd and um, the other authors there are so much fun and it's going to be just great conversations. So. My friend Kelly Robson a fabulous and amazing. Kelly Robson is flying in on Wednesday at which point I will pick her up and she and I are going to go stay at a spa this wall in um of all places near to their consequences. New Mexico a Ted Turner resort so this is an experiment should be interesting I am excited to do this It's always really great to spend time with Kelly who's one of my very favorite people and closest friends. So I'm looking forward to that connectedness. Becca Syme! yes that connectedness of spending time with a very good friend and then so we'll stay there Wednesday night thursday we'll head over to portalis New Mexico at the garden spot of New Mexico ah where Eastern New Mexico University is located the university campus is actually quite lovely and we will be doing various kinds of othering things party that night and then on Friday morning I am going to record.

03:24.30
jeffekennedy
Podcast from the new podcasting studio. So we've got a plan to do that and I will hopefully get it uploaded that morning. Ah note to self I need to ask Kelly to if she's willing to interview me. So it might be a conversation with me and Kelly it might be just me babbling on as usual, but we'll see it'll be interesting to do it from the the actual studio I feel like I'm being. Dragged kicking and screaming into higher production values here. Um, and then on the rest of Friday we'll be doing things. Martha Wells is the guest of honor so she will be.

04:10.56
jeffekennedy
Ah, keep thinking of things I need to check with assistant Carien on something that reminded me that assistant Carien is looking to get a signed book from Martha Wells so that I'd better. Ask her about that getting my decks in a row here. My decks are kind of running around quacking. Headless set chickens probably anyway, she'll do a reading. She'll do a keynote at the lunch. We'll have panels that afternoon party that night Saturday morning. The amazing fabulous Connie Willis will be giving her talk. Um, who knows she always does a writing workshop on Saturday morning and gets all the authors to sit up front and join in so it ends up being like this um group teaching thing and we learn from each other connie picks the topic and she's very organized and she has all of her notes and everything. So. I'm interested to hear what she's going to do this year. so um so yeah if you're anywhere nearer the Texas panhandle or want to be I've come on over to the Jack Williamson lectureship at Eastern New Mexico University

05:28.12
jeffekennedy
Ah, yeah, so that's going to be a fun week and then I'll be back on Saturday Kelly is going to come home with me and stay for a few days. So maybe we'll make her be on the podcast a week from today though she might not be awake yet. Well. We won't drag her out of bed to do it. Um, so let's see where am I in my life who knows who knows I had an okay week on reluctant wizard last week it was not fan tabulous. It was not terrible. I had a couple of very low word count days. But I feel like I am I am picking up steam Friday was.

06:16.50
jeffekennedy
That's why I get for sending out messages now people have replied to me but it's good. It's good. Karen does want a signed book and I thought of things that I needed to remember to tell Kelly about our plans. Ah so anyway, um, Friday Friday was I was it was a. It was not a good writing day but it was a good day. Um I did get I did deal with some lawyer phone calls and a few other semi crises and I got interviewed by a Washington post reporter. Which was interesting talking about generative Ai and where sivwa stands on that these days so that was good conversation and then I had to run out in the afternoon and I don't even remember what I had to go do. Oh well, it doesn't matter so it was a low word count day I only did an hour of writing and got very little done during that hour but I'm I'm increasing I'm slowly increasing and it's feeling like the book is gathering steam I had a good I'm having a lot of good connectedness lately. So. I don't know if I'm doing that on purpose but on Sunday I um had brunch with some wonderful friends with Jim Sorenson he of writer coffee and his wife Ming-Li came along who is a kickass trauma surgeon.

07:47.68
jeffekennedy
Down at un mhospital in Albuquerque and is so interesting she we were really happy. She came along and also Sage Walker Science fiction author and lifelong doctor. She was a emergency room doctor for many many years up in to and. Sage is eighty now and so we do this brunch in part just get to spend time with her. She ends up being in the house a lot because of family stuff and so it was great to get her out and we have a really good brunch and I got. A lot of finances done that afternoon on Saturday I got some done I also sat around and read for like half the day I didn't get out of my rogue till like noon. It was really nice. It was I woke up to snow Saturday morning. So I um. I went on complete strike and I sat in my armchair by the fire and read my book I am reading Kristan Higgins out of the clear blue sky I really like Kristan's books so so yeah that was that was great. Oh and I wanted to tell you all something. I recently bought a Nora Roberts book because it was featured on but book bub. It was a book bub featured deal and I thought oh this is a new contemporary romance and I haven't read ah a Norah contemporary romance a long time and so I should read this so it was. It's called the right path.

09:21.70
jeffekennedy
Did any of you buy this I mean it was a dollar 99 so I'm like oh sure I'll snap this up. Well I did not read the fine print people. Ah so I'm reading this book and reading this book and it's it was so raped tastic. It was shockingly so and not. Sexy it was you know like this guy is like sneaking into a room and she's telling him to leave and he's does into he's like pressing her down and forced seduction and I know I know I used to love that stuff I'm sure I love the Nora stuff. And but I was like what what's going on in Nora's head what is she thinking um and I looked it up and it was a 1985 book that they had you know St Martin's repackaged b bless her hearts I mean I guess they're you know making money so that they can pay people like me so I can't begrudge them. But ah, that really annoys me that it was like the repackaged 1985 book and it showed it just showed and I I know we talk about the rapetastic eighties and and I'm I'm a big I love um. You know, dubious consent and I love a little bit of forced seduction and clearly not like that so that was an interesting revelation I d and f it I was like not enjoying it.

10:58.85
jeffekennedy
So that's how it goes right? Ah, but the Kristan Higgins is feeling like a I really love her blend of women's fiction and romance and her insightfulness into human minds. And it kind of makes me want to write that not any times because I have enough to do. Um, yeah so I actually had something industry wise. Oh okay, so I feel like all of my fodder comes from threads these days.

11:34.50
jeffekennedy
It's funny because I finally unfollowed that one author that I mentioned before because they were on their posting so often and and I'm starting to notice that people are saying things like um I notice people talking about X Y Z So I'm going to weigh in with my hot take. And it's um I don't know it's not really a doesn't feel like a positive environment. It's it's Weird. It's like there's some great conversations about publishing. But then there's also some toxic shit and I don't know.

12:12.00
jeffekennedy
We'll see but anyway I am getting fodder from there because there was somebody who said that they felt like we should not be using the f word in fantasy because it um, ah soon as they saw it and I'm being good right? because you all know um I have a potty mouth.

12:31.25
jeffekennedy
I deposit to sneeze there. Um, but I'm trying not to be potty mouth because of the whole Youtube monetization thing they have this thing on there for those of you who don't upload stuff to Youtube where you have to? um. For the advertisement you have to say whether or not you've got like all these different kinds of graphic content you know and including certain kinds of curse words and it's mostly like at the beginning but I'm trying I'm trying to be a lady here. People. So anyway, um.

13:04.50
jeffekennedy
The f word I mean this is the thing about social media and I talked about this on Friday right? with the whole let me Google that for you is that people think that because they think a thing that they know. That they that they're right with like out doing any any kind of research or getting context. So anyway, some some dip shit I feel like I can say that right out there is like oh I hate it when a fantasy book is the f-word in it. Because it's too modern and it yanks me out of the story. So you know like this whole thing about all these people out there who complain about getting yanked out of the story. It's like maybe getting yanked out of the story is actually you. Needing to work on your attention span and not the story at all I'm just gonna throw that out there people right? because there's um, oh it just feels like this level of entitl entitlement and I hate to be all shaking my cane and telling the kids to get off my lawn this morning. But apparently that's where I'm at. Ah, it's like it is not the job of the book to prevent you from being yanked out of the story. Ah, and it seems to be something that the younger readers talk about a whole lot and I don't know who gave them this lingo who started talking about it.

14:31.94
jeffekennedy
But you'll like if they run across a word. They don't know it yanks them out of the story If it's word. That's too modern. Ah, if it's word they don't like it yanks them out of the story and it's like you know, maybe you just need to concentrate on the story darling. Ah.

14:51.24
jeffekennedy
Getting myself into trouble for saying these things but um, so of course lots of people pounced on this because in point of fact, anyone who has done a modicum of research if somebody if you typed into. And I could do this. Let me Google this for you if you type in how old is the Ford you will find out it is indeed a very old. It is one of our oldest square words and know it is not an acronym. For fornication under consent of the king that is a myth but it is a perfectly valid word but the larger issue here is this whole concept of fantasy language and if you're not on video I'm putting great big air quotes around that because. Fantasy language is not a thing I'm just gonna put it out there. It is not a thing all right people talk about and I have ranted about this before that talking. Is the gold standard for fantasy right? I have had a friend who wrote science fiction and we were talking about putting. Um, we're putting together and a fantasy thing. Promo thing.

16:21.57
jeffekennedy
And there was like fit urban fantasy in there or something and he said well you know when I he thought it shouldn't be in there. He said when I think fantasy I think told him and I'm like really so that would be like me saying when I think science fiction I think hindline you know we just go to like. The the last white man to have set a standard in the genre and then we stopped there and nobody else is allowed to write anything different. Definitely filling sausage this morning aren' time. Um, so so for reference. Um, not even have well I did Google it but this is here's some actual information to work from yes Tolkien is well known of course for writing ah the lord of the rings. The hobbits the Simarillion associated books he created. Ah, language several languages to go along with it. Um you yes undeniably great I've read all of Tolkien's books not quibbling there. But if we look at the dates. So the hobbit came out in 1937 okay, and he started writing its I'm not gonna be able to find it very quickly. But the lord of the rings came out 1954 Nineteen Fifty five and the hobbit came first obviously and he started writing that. Um I'm not gonna find it quickly but something like.

17:53.14
jeffekennedy
He worked on it for like ten or twenty years so the point there and I do have one is that that book came out nineteen thirty seven right he started writing it. Let's say 10 years before okay 1927 he he started writing it. Postworld war 1 right? Well for those of you not doing the math at home. This was a hundred years ago a hundred years ago right literary language was different than it even without him having created. Languages for the races and his books talking wrote in a different literary style and we don't require this of any other genre right? We don't ask that women's fiction I'm not saying that. Well, you know, but Kristan Higgins doesn't write in the same style as Jane Austen therefore um, it's this weird thing where like tolkien got canonized and now any fantasy that doesn't use tolkienesque language. Is like somehow yanking readers out of the story and it's just ridiculous. Um I am this is a hill that I will if not die on at least plant a flag and March around waving my cane to mix a metaphor that you don't have to write.

19:21.83
jeffekennedy
In fantasy language. There is no such thing as fantasy language right? What makes a book of fantasy is something entirely different and maybe that's what Kelly and I should talk about on Friday because she not incidentally said she would love to be on the podcast on Friday. So. You know, like what makes a book of fantasy. You know the presence of magic ah a secondary world. Ah mythological creatures very often in fantasy. You can create an entire. Mythology an entire religion. You can create different races of beings. It's it is a world that is not our own but you don't have to make the language be the same thing that J R Tolkien wrote a hundred years ago. Waving my cane at you ho all right feel free to wave your cane with me and on that note I'm going to try to make this be a more productive week despite the traveling and I will talk to you all from Easter New Mexico University Campus on Friday. You all love a great week and take care bye bye.