Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies

Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies

Just in time for Christmas, I wrote "Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies, A Story for Demented Children", the fifth installment of the Stories for Demented Children.  It's a humorous adventure story featuring three pretty little sugar plum fairies and their quest for equal rights . . .

Stories for Demented Children

My first story for Demented Children, "The Emo Bunny that Should" has been wildly popular.  I then wrote Zachary Zombie and the Lost Boy, which is rated and reviewed higher than any other story I've written.  The series is becoming popular and probably creates the best chance of getting me noticed.

When I write these stories, I try to think of something or someone that wouldn't normally be a hero.  A common term is anti-hero.  Emo bunnies, rainbows, cows and zombies are definitely not the standard hero.  Then I put them in an odd situation and try to figure out what they would do.  Throw in a dash of humor and there you have it.

The snowflakes were added to the cover using a brushes pack for GIMP

The story

I decided a few months earlier that I wanted to do a Christmas story.  Various ideas came to mind, but some of them had been done and others just didn't really catch my imagination.  I honestly don't remember how I came up with this one, but it started with the title, "Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies".

Next was figuring out the plot.  I had to have attacking Sugar Plum Fairies.  Why were they attacking?  How many of them?  It's not always easy to come up with something odd.  One of the biggest issues was that I had to limit how many characters I actually showcased.  In a short story, there is very little time to develop characters or a plot.  The key is to keep the characters to a minimum and the timeline of the plot to a single event.

I remembered in "The Emo Bunny that Should", I wrote about labor issues with the Easter Bunny and woodland creatures.  In it, I commented that elves had organized a labor union.  I decided to latch onto that idea and have it so that the Sugar Plum Fairies weren't treated fairly in the original contracts.  Then I came up with the concept that they always had to wear skimpy outfits and were being exploited.

At this point, I'd like to remind you that they are stories for "Demented Children", not normal children.  I gear them towards older kids too.  Plus, I think I have more adults reading these things than kids, so . . .

When I went to write it, I made up the three fairies that were the main characters.  Araedae is the leader of the group. She's brave and smart as any leader should be.  Sydae is the wise-cracking fairy and Zannae is an MIT graduate . . . because I needed a computer hacker . . . Remember, the title says "A Story for Demented Children".

I generally have little favorite parts of a story.  A lot of people may not notice them, or think they're all that great, but I find them enjoyable and fascinating to write.  In this book it was the descriptions of the fairies and how each had their own color.

An excerpt:   Her brilliant violet eyes sparkled in the light from the nearby streetlamp.  Every Sugar Plum Fairy in the world had different color eyes with wings and hair to match.

The tutorial I used to make the candy cane text.  It isn't the best tutorial, so I spent a lot of extra hours trying to get it right.

Description

The Sugar Plum Fairies are tired of dancing for nothing. To make matters worse, the North Pole is freezing, they have to wear skimpy outfits and their poor little legs get worn out quickly. When the Elvin Labor Union was formed, the poor little fairies were left out of any sort of fair bargaining agreement.

The time has come for all of that to change.

Everyone knows Christmas Eve is the best time to attack the North Pole. Santa’s getting ready to deliver toys, the elves are partying and the reindeer have finished playing their reindeer games. Can the legendary North Pole withstand yet another attack? Will Christmas come to a screeching halt?

Join three stealthy fairies: Sydae, Araedae and Zannae, as they try to make life easier for all Sugar Plum Fairies. Will they be able to succeed in their mission? What’s happened to Santa? Will the elves stop the fairies from their task? And what secret is Mrs. Claus hiding from the world?

This is a short story approximately 4600 words long.

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Diesel

"Attack of the Sugar Plum Fairies" is also included in "A Collection of Stories for Demented Children", a compilation of all five of the Demented Children stories.  Each story can be had individually for free and I encourage you to download them.  I charge a token price of $2.99 for the collection in hopes of increasing my chances of becoming a self-supporting writer.  :)

Writing by mood and humor in stories

Humor

I like to write humor.  A lot of my stories are filled with comedy and my novels have funny banter intertwined through various parts.  Not everyone finds it funny or amusing, but that's okay as long as I'm grinning while I write. ;)

Here's the thing though.  It's not always there.  Right now is one of those times.  I want very much to write funny things, but I can't.  I could try, but it would be forced and whatever I'm trying to joke about would likely come across as lame or even downright offensive.

Even when the comedy is working, it's not consistent.  I can write five straight chapters where everything has a laugh or two then the next three have one or two moments only worth a smirk or groan.  Not only that, the types of humor change at times.  Sometimes it's completely absurd, others it's witty and at times it's thoughtful humor.

My short stories are a great example of this.  The Stories for Demented Children are absurd in every way possible.  A lot of people love them and others absolutely hate them.  "Blue Haired Alien Girlfriend" is a bit juvenile, but it's supposed to be.  It took me back to a time when I was a teenager in the 80's and I really drew from my experiences.  "Test Pilot" is an example of working with running jokes.  'Not my job' is said often as is 'Is it complicated?'

On the other hand, "Don't Ever Change" has no humor in it.  It's very dark and a bit gory.  I didn't even realize I was doing it at the time.  Everyone hates the ending of that one too.  I'll have to fix that one of these days. ;)

Reality

The reason this is on my mind at the moment is that I'm writing my fourth novel and through the first three chapters, I have absolutely no humor in it at all.  I've been contemplating it a great deal and there's a part of me that wants to go through and add it. 

The problem is that it's just not there.  I'm in a dark mood in real life at the moment and it feels good to write dark things.  The entire first three chapters are completely on edge and rightfully so.  The reader should be on edge when reading these chapters.  They should worry about what's going to happen.  There's nothing funny about their situation.  It's a desperate, scary life they're living, yet there's so much hope.  The reader will know that it just can't last.

Sometimes I get very serious and introverted, which is the mood I'm in now.  At times there's a reason for it and at other times, there's no reason for it at all.  Right now, I'm just evaluating everything about life,human existence and our place in the universe.  My conclusions are bleak and it's showing in the words that are flowing.

The third book was similar to this for a little while.  Everything became dark, but then I took a little break and came back when things were brighter.  The humor flowed once more and the entire thing brightened up.  It really worked for that book.  The same thing will happen.  At some point, the lightness of being will come back and suddenly everything will look bright again.

So my conclusion in all of this is that I'm totally insane and it's showing up in my writing.  The reader will never know what they're going to get from one chapter or short story to the next.  In all seriousness, the humor can't be forced, but neither can the moody stuff.  I'm finding that it's best if I go with the flow of whatever I'm writing.

I mentioned that writing the dark stuff feels good.  It's hard to explain, but that's the way it is.  The weather so far in this book is overcast and snowing.  The city is evil and danger lurks around every corner.  The building that's safe is an inn that's built of stone with a wall around it, both signs that the surroundings are dangerous.  Another safe place is a manor that looks like a haunted house with ivy, roses and willow trees around it.  Another setting is a dark church with crows.  These are all indicators of my mood.

Writing about these places is like a soothing caress on my soul.  Trying to force humor would be like rubbing a cat backwards right now.   I'm learning every day as I write.  Sometimes the scenery of the journey I'm on fascinates me and that's what I'm going through now.

I always find myself wondering what's going to happen next.