Balance the Geek

Are there writers of fantasy and science fiction that don’t start off as fans of the genre? I’m sure there’s evidence of some writer, somewhere, who doesn’t have a past where flying unicorns/space ships/insert media here has influence them and taught them some love of the genre. It might be hard for us to get interest in speculative literature without being exposed to something speculative to show us what is possible.

For me, it was reading. My father casually left Alice in Wonderland laying around. I read the encyclopedia of folklore and mythology at the local library. I grew up on a steady diet of Emma Peel, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, and Samantha Stevens. Things…mushroomed.

There were three ways in which I found myself embracing the geek, and actively trying to contribute. I tried to write stories like the ones I enjoyed reading. It was a heartbreaking day when I lost my own Lord of the Rings rip-off story, but it was probably a better thing for the entirety of mankind that that ouevre was lost in transit on a TWA plane somewhere. On and off through the years I continued the writing.

Linked in there was a love of role-playing, the old school kind, sitting around a table with dice, but less like a game, and more like a really bad serial. Very fun and self-indulgent, and a great way to spend my college years. Also a good way to meet my future spouse. And practice story-telling skills, however maudlin those efforts were.

In another life, I could have been a costume designer. I worked during my freshman year in theater shop making outfits, and I continued that as I balanced the geek. In 2006 I gained a Costume Guild master class status, and still like the idea of making a costume from time to time. It’s a different kind of creative skill, touching different parts of my mind and replenishing my creativity.

I love the idea of spending more time on my writing and working my way through to publication. It is important to be a professional and to treat my writing career as a business and investment. It is also important to pay tribute to the imagination that brought me here in the first place.

I stay in touch by watching shows, reading comics and books I like, and still designing the odd outfit or two. I game once a month. Strangely enough, that’s where Oliver Toddle came from, the indirect well of inspiration. I remember that writing is play, as well as work.

How do you play? How do you balance the geek?

Catherine

Author: Catherine Schaff-Stump

Catherine Schaff-Stump writes fiction for children and young adults. Her most recent book, The Vessel of Ra, is the first book in the Klaereon Scroll series. She is currently working on its sequel, as well as penning the middle grade adventures of Abigail Rath, monster hunter.

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