FATHER’S DAY SNIPPET

[sarahtales]

Originally published at Sarah Rees Brennan. You can comment here or there.

It seemed an appropriate time for a snippet. Kami’s parents are designedly very present-and-not-evil in the Lynburn Legacy, and in Unmade Jon Glass gets plenty to do, so here’s…

Comments

[millysdaughter]

Seems like any loving father would do that to protect his children - but I am not so sure you can kill a witch with ordinary mortal bullets.

[sarahtales]

Oh, I don't know about any loving parent... I think quite a few loving parents in Sorry-in-the-Vale are colluding with evil in order to protect their children. But Jon wasn't raised with the secret knowledge of magic reinforcing the old concepts of feudalism like the rest of the town.

Unfortunately, as you say, the fact that he wasn't raised knowing about magic means he is also fairly likely to underestimate sorcerers...

[blackoakdreams]

"I think quite a few loving parents in Sorry-in-the-Vale are colluding with evil in order to protect their children" I have my SUSPICIONS about the Prescotts.

[ext_2634565]

I thought you'd already made me love Jon Glass as much as it was possible for me to love him. How can you make me love him even more?

Also, I suppose it's too much to hope that Rob is going to be dead now?

[sarahtales]

Hope is a beautiful thing!

I am always happy when people love Jon. Readers of YA often (naturally) don't care about parents, because the protagonists are their children, but with Jon as with Kami I tried to write people who I at least found as likable as could be (flawed, of course, since where's the fun in flawless, but super appealing in all the ways I like best). And Unmade is I hope a good book for him because he's not clued in in Unspoken, and he's in shock with his marriage collapsing in Untold, but in Unmade he takes the chance to step up. Which is why most YA narratives have uninvolved parents, because boy will involved parents change the shape of the story...

[ext_2634565]

Parent/child dynamics (particularly mother/daughter, but all possible combinations) are one of my favourite things in literature, whether YA or not. They show up in everything I write, so it's always a delight to find some having an active role in a story I'm reading and enjoying. There are so many different relationship dynamics they can have with their children that impact the children in so many ways and whilst it can complicate the narrative having those extra characters and relationships, I think it's nearly always worth it.

Any book that features Jon Glass prominently in a not-dead role (we will have words if he dies) is good for him. And for me, reading about him.

[ext_2634565]

Parents (or grandparents or other parental figures) are super important in people's lives, and sometimes in ways that are only fully realized when we get a bit older. Maybe that's why, as an adult, I enjoy reading your parental characters so much.

About parents changing the narrative - I loved how we got to see both the typical teens-fight-evil-under-the-noses-of-oblivious-parents thing and then the parent trying to understand and support her daughter's evil-fighting in the Buffy series. I loved how that strengthened their relationship and shifted Joyce from being in danger due to ignorance to being in danger and having some agency in dealing with it, and even in helping her daughter deal with it. I won't even get into how much I loved certain parental realizations and involvement in a certain demon book, because I was so crushed by how that turned out. I was really glad for the moment of family connection, though.

- Lenore

[tsubaki_ny]

GO, DADDY!

Not that GoDaddy. You know what I mean.

<3 the Glasses.

[sarahtales]

I have written one kinda functional family and from now on all fathers will be undead creatures on thrones of skulls!

... Maybe. ;)

[tsubaki_ny]

FIEND!

Wait -- they could be complex sympathetic undead creatures on bone thrones who raise their children well, provide healthy emotional support, give them sage advice and go "whoooooo" only on special occasions, and that would be acceptable.

[anna_wing]

OH I had forgotten! Thanks!

Though I also have wide knowledge of the black market for handguns in the UK thanks to Demon's Lexicon research.

Indeed. I remember noticing that. It was a nice clue right at the start about how marginal Alan's status actually was, notwithstanding his self-presentation as a nice, middle-class boy.

[sarahtales]

Class stuff: another thing I am irresistibly drawn to! I am happy you noted. ;) The difference between urban and rural classism was something that was fun to transition to between TDL and TLL!

Also known as, The Intersection of Writers and Criminals. 'Where to get handguns' 'how to dispose of a body' and other dreadful things I have dreadful knowledge of...

[anna_wing]

It's something that Americans, particularly, trying to write novels set in the UK usually miss. I'm glad that you include it, it's such a vital social element, more so than race in many ways.

Though I find it very odd that people on-line keep calling Kami a "person of colour", when she's just a middle-class English girl with one Japanese grandparent.

[sarahtales]

Well, hey, I'm not American, their ways are strange to me. ;) I'm glad you like how I handle class, it is important to me

[kannnichtfranz]

Wah! Beloved characters, please try working together sometimes! Not going off all kamikaze on your own! Bullheaded boys, making us worry about them. And probably making Kami have to save them. Oh, how it makes us love them though.

Thank you for the snippet!