Author Lindsay A. Franklin is back with us today. If you like young adult fantasy, you need to read this book! Here is a little bit of information about The Story Peddler to pique your interest:
Selling stories is a deadly business
Tanwen doesn’t just tell stories–she weaves them into crystallized sculptures that sell for more than a few bits. But the only way to escape the control of her cruel mentor and claw her way from poverty is to set her sights on something grander: becoming Royal Storyteller to the king.
During her final story peddling tour, a tale of treason spills from her hands, threatening the king himself. Tanwen goes from peddler to prey as the king’s guard hunts her down…and they’re not known for their mercy. As Tanwen flees for her life, she unearths long-buried secrets and discovers she’s not the only outlaw in the empire. There’s a rebel group of weavers…and they’re after her too.
Ahh, I (Jill) liked this book so much, I endorsed it. Can’t wait for book two. Today’s panel question is:
Since today is the Fourth of July (for those of use living in the United States, that is), does politics or political topics ever play a role in your writing? If so, how?
Lindsay: In very broad terms, yes. I don’t address many hot-button political topics directly in my fiction, but I do make general observations and ask questions that could be considered political. Like musings about the role of political leaders in society and what makes a good, strong leader.
Stephanie: Not usually, but Within These Lines, which releases in March 2019 from Blink/HarperCollins, is a novel about the Japanese American concentration camps during WWII. I don’t consider myself a very political person, but it was impossible to ignore politics with a novel like that. What I found as I worked on it is that my interest was in the people and how the politics had very real, lasting effects on their personal lives. That I found fascinating and will likely explore again in future novels.
Jill: Politics often play a role in my fantasy novels because what is going on in the government has a strong affect on the world my characters live in. And often times my characters are involved in the government!
But as far as writing politics in contemporary stories, I’ve never set out to do that. I did, naively, hedge partly into the territory of the pro-life vs, abortion debate in my book Replication when two characters were debating stem cell research. I know so little about science or politics, that I didn’t even see that trouble coming until I got an angry book review that pointed it out. I was like, “Oopsy. My bad.” :-0
But I’ve never intentionally set out to be political about modern day topics. I prefer to find natural themes in my stories or characters lives as I write and make statements about my outlook that way. It’s much more subtle and natural when it comes in the form of a situation a character is living through that from my own two cents.