The fun in fiction

Today, on the day of our successful book launch, I thought I should write about why I love ya fiction.

Fiction in general is amazing to me. You can create an alternate world where there are flying pink monkeys, where Sarah Palin became president, where the flu is an alcoholic beverage and no one should tell you anything about it. I love fiction because it is so totally freeing. As a writer of YA fantasy, you're unencumbered by the rules of society, free to alter the world in whatever way you see fit. But fiction to me is more than just freedom. Fiction is a platform for your beliefs-- a place where you can (subtly) talk about and comment on whatever you want, the things that resonate with you the most.

 Today I read a post criticizing my characters' names, of all things. It was like a flash back to third grade. Ever since I was a child people have made fun of my first name because it was different. Despite everything that America stands for: the freedom to be different, to be original, to forge your own path, people have always asked me why my parents didn't conform. Why I wasn't named Sally or Susan or Alicia.

Overtime I have grown to love the oddity that is my name, but I realized that their are other people who haven't had that luxury. People who are ashamed that their name is different than the traditional. So I wanted some of my characters to have those same issues. People will always ask me why I picked "weird" names, such as Hyalee and Dephon for my lead characters. I picked it for the people who will never see their name in a book or on those key chains at souvenir shops. So for just a brief glimmer in time, people can be absorbed into a character who isn't normal, right down to the spelling of their name, and hopefully everyone can identify with that on some level-- even the Sallys, Susans, and Alicias of the world.

This is why I love fiction. For just those moments of freedom.