Behind the Story with Nikki Watson
BtS with Nikki Watson
I don’t know when it was that my interest in the fantasy genre became a little bit more particular. I remember it wasn’t that long ago that I couldn’t conceive of a workable urban or mythical fantasy story. It was like the perfect vampire story. I’m intrigued by the idea of writing an epic vampire novel. I just don’t think that what I could put out there could compete with the multitudes of vampire fiction already in circulation. Maybe one day…
When I started with my "Of Elves and Men" trilogy (the first title, "Changeling", published with New Concepts Publishing), I remember taking a very loose look at the difference between such a magical race as the elves, in comparison to the men who perhaps were less magically inclined, and how the interrelation between the two kinds would work in a modern setting. That was the premise for "Changeling". I spent hardly any time going into the background of the magic used at first, expecting for it to be a stand alone novel. Then I went back to it. In "Ascent", coming soon to New Concepts Publishing, I gave more time to the background mythology, in an approximation of the Dark Ages. I endeavored to write a story over the premise of how magic was first passed between elves and men and how it was kept from being abused. "Haunted" will be the third book in that trilogy, and that tells of how the magic was lost in the midst of witch trials, and the rush forward of technology.
I only ever meant for that to be a standalone trilogy of three books, but this idea of another race existing alongside our one is something that still fascinates me, and now I’ve finished writing the "Of Elves and Men" books, I’m still thinking of sticking to my modern fairy stories. There is still so much on the subject to be said -not to mention read about, and researched, and explored, which are all things I delight in doing anytime I find an interesting subject- and indeed, people have found it an interesting topic to explore for centuries already.
A lot of writing has come out of this mythology, and is being written still. In Celtic mythology, the Sidhe (pronounced "shee"
are seen almost as gods, or spirits of ancestors and nature of that culture. European folklore sees fairy kind as the sort who would steal human children and sometimes leave one of their own in their place. There have been countless stories and poems, from W. B. Yeats’ well known poem ‘The Stolen Child’, to the brownies and pixies many of us remember from Enid Blyton books as children.
I’m aiming to write about the fairy tale romances for mature readers in my own writing. Find me talking about fairy lore and fiction in my blog.
Nikki Watson can also be found at MY WEB and My SPACE
"Changeling: Of Elves and Men" can be bought from New Concepts Publishing:
