An interesting thing happened the past few days as I've worked on edits to prepare Splinter for publication. I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I modeled the protagonist, Leigh Lorene Lybrand, after my maternal grandmother, Lorene Shull Lybrand. She passed away when I was 12 years old, and was a huge influence on me growing up. Lybrand was a very common name in our area, but thanks to too many generations of girls and, to put it tactfully, decreasing reproduction, the name is dying out (along with Shull, and some others that were quite common around these parts "back in the day"). I thought it would be a good thing to keep the Lybrand's alive, at least through my writing. Plus, it's not like she's going to sue me.
But in doing these edits, I realized it's not likely that she would even if she were alive because I realized, to my utter shock, that she's not Leigh Lybrand. She's not even like me. I don't know WHO that geophysicist is that I shot off to the moons of Jupiter on the eve of Earth's destruction but one things for certain - it's not who I planned for it to be.
At first I tried to say well, it's faulty memory. Nana died 25 years ago this year, and I'm sure that the natural degradation of memory has taken it's toll on my own grey matter. But the truth is that I wasn't satisfied with that explanation, and the reason came to be in a bolt of realization at 1 a.m. I realized: I changed the setting. I don't have that character in 20th century Earth, where she spent her entire life. I projected her 1,000 years into the future, into a 31st century reality that I created. There's no way that the grandmother I knew could be the same person in the future I envision. People change over time. We learn more about the world and the reality surrounding us, and it reshapes us. Think about it: vampires were born in the Middle Ages where disease was a mystery and royality in "darker places" in the world had strange fetishes. Now, they're glittery twerps trying to fit in a world that has explained the truth behind their origin and purged their purpose in the human mind. We've learned; we've grown; we've lost our fears. Or rather, I'd say we've replaced our fears with other things we don't understand. I think more people fear the mysteries that motivate government than communicable disease these days. It's consipiracy theories, mysteries, and how we plot against one another. And if that isn't your thing, then there's the increasing popularity of sci-fi, because we still don't know what's "out there," and can use our noodle to ponder the possibilities, if not in this day and time then in the future.
Nothing stays the same and as a result, people don't stay the same. I think Nana could have been a geophysicists in the Jovan system, had she been born 10 centuries later. Perhaps I could have been one of the engineers on her team, if I were there too. As it is, we are a product of the world we live in. Nana would turn in her grave if she knew I had been on an airplane and flown cross country twice. She's have turned again if she knew that Mom and Dad actually got on the plane with me one time - of their own free will! Yes, my grandparents generation had a number of fears that seem silly to us, and the superstitions of my great-grandparents generation makes me laugh from time to time. But then again, I suppose my own cares and concerns would strike them as odd, if they were here to see it. Or maybe they'd share them. Who knows? We're put on this Earth at the time and place where we fit, and that's it.
Hmm, so maybe I did hit the mark. Maybe Leigh Lorene Lybrand is a perfect manifestation of the evolution of character that Nana would be in my envisioned future. You can decide for yourself when Splinter is released through Whiskey Creek Press in November. Stay tuned!
That's all today. Have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a great weekend.
Bye!
But in doing these edits, I realized it's not likely that she would even if she were alive because I realized, to my utter shock, that she's not Leigh Lybrand. She's not even like me. I don't know WHO that geophysicist is that I shot off to the moons of Jupiter on the eve of Earth's destruction but one things for certain - it's not who I planned for it to be.
At first I tried to say well, it's faulty memory. Nana died 25 years ago this year, and I'm sure that the natural degradation of memory has taken it's toll on my own grey matter. But the truth is that I wasn't satisfied with that explanation, and the reason came to be in a bolt of realization at 1 a.m. I realized: I changed the setting. I don't have that character in 20th century Earth, where she spent her entire life. I projected her 1,000 years into the future, into a 31st century reality that I created. There's no way that the grandmother I knew could be the same person in the future I envision. People change over time. We learn more about the world and the reality surrounding us, and it reshapes us. Think about it: vampires were born in the Middle Ages where disease was a mystery and royality in "darker places" in the world had strange fetishes. Now, they're glittery twerps trying to fit in a world that has explained the truth behind their origin and purged their purpose in the human mind. We've learned; we've grown; we've lost our fears. Or rather, I'd say we've replaced our fears with other things we don't understand. I think more people fear the mysteries that motivate government than communicable disease these days. It's consipiracy theories, mysteries, and how we plot against one another. And if that isn't your thing, then there's the increasing popularity of sci-fi, because we still don't know what's "out there," and can use our noodle to ponder the possibilities, if not in this day and time then in the future.
Nothing stays the same and as a result, people don't stay the same. I think Nana could have been a geophysicists in the Jovan system, had she been born 10 centuries later. Perhaps I could have been one of the engineers on her team, if I were there too. As it is, we are a product of the world we live in. Nana would turn in her grave if she knew I had been on an airplane and flown cross country twice. She's have turned again if she knew that Mom and Dad actually got on the plane with me one time - of their own free will! Yes, my grandparents generation had a number of fears that seem silly to us, and the superstitions of my great-grandparents generation makes me laugh from time to time. But then again, I suppose my own cares and concerns would strike them as odd, if they were here to see it. Or maybe they'd share them. Who knows? We're put on this Earth at the time and place where we fit, and that's it.
Hmm, so maybe I did hit the mark. Maybe Leigh Lorene Lybrand is a perfect manifestation of the evolution of character that Nana would be in my envisioned future. You can decide for yourself when Splinter is released through Whiskey Creek Press in November. Stay tuned!
That's all today. Have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a great weekend.
Bye!
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