Wednesday, July 6, 2022

#IWSG: Escaping to the World of Fiction

 

Photo by Etienne Boulanger on Unsplash

When I was a little, I used to ask my mom repeatedly (as young children tend to do!) if we’d ever go back to living like they did in the “Little House” books. I imagined with glee the thought of electricity disappearing, growing all our own food, and cooking over a fire. I even liked to pretend our wood stove was the stove in Laura’s log cabin. Alas it never happened, and now, all grown up, I couldn’t do without electricity, thank you very much.

Me at 8, reading with my Grammie and longing for life in Little House land



But I still long for simpler times. Of course, the world in books is often a glorified rendition of another age, the hard parts smoothed over, but these are the books that I long to live in:

Anne of Green Gables

 





I can identify with Anne, because I flub big words and idioms just as much--and she's a writer too. My childhood was much like hers: playing pretend in the abandoned lots and creek near our house. I have a childhood friend, like Diana, who is like a sister, even though she lives too far away for me to see her often. Maybe I’m not longing for the world of the book, but to continue that carefree world of my childhood.

Jane Austen


 



I love this world because of the manners. I like how the characters don’t engage in TMI, and there’s a challenge to figure out about what people are saying behind their words. And people are always spending time together: house parties, balls, and teas. Unlike the Bennetts, we probably dine with less than four-and-twenty families.😀 But I still I long for a time when seeing people in person is more common than social media.

 

Moosepath League novels


I recently discovered this wonderful series set in Maine in the 1890s. Imagine a cross between P.G.Wodehouse, Garrison Keiller, and Dickens. There is always tons of word play (Sundry Moss and Capital Gaines are names of characters) and high jinx. The Moosepath league members are  kind to a fault, eager for adventure, and willing to help others. In the afterward, the author says he bases his characters on people he knows. It's nice to know that people like the Moosepath League still exist today. Perhaps I just need to look harder to find the good in others or aspire to be more like the Moosepath League myself.


As I look over this list, I am reminded of one of my goals as a writer: to write books that I want to read. 

I want to create a world where readers want to live. 

And as we’ve had more than our fair share of darkness in the last few years, I would like to be more like Van Reid of the Moosepath League and remind readers of what is good and true.

What fictional world would you like to live in? If you're a writer, how does that impact your writing?

If you'd like to read more ISWG posts or sign up, please go HERE. You won't be disappointed.







25 comments:

  1. Hello, Jenni!
    I'm hoping people don't get us mixed up. (Online, sometimes people change my name to Jenni. Never happens offline. 🤷🏽‍♂️)
    Moosepath books sound interesting. I've only seen three episodes of Little House on the Prairie, but it didn't seem like a world where I'd be welcomed.

    For the IWSG July prompt asking which book world I would live in, I narrowed it down to three choices.
    One is a short-story I published. One is from a popular series. And one is better known from television, but there are books. It's all on my blog.
    Today's Google Doodle g.co/doodle/5m9rrry This is a tribute to Charlie Hill of the Oneida Nation, the first Native American stand-up comedian to be on a nationally broadcast television show.
    Over at Operation Awesome, our Pass or Pages query contest is open this week with July's family saga genre. Know any writers who might want to enter?


    J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, Reference& Speculative Fiction Author

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  2. Hi, I used to love reading about Orphan Anne. :-) Seriously, your desire to write to give people hope is wonderful. Thank you for co-hosting.

    Shalom aleichem,
    Pat G @ EverythingMustChange

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  3. I have written myself a note: "Look up Moosepath League novels." I loved every Little House book (NOT the TV series though). I have the entire series of Anne novels that my late husband gave me as a Christmas gift many years ago. I love P&P, too, so I'm feeling rather confident that Moosepath will work for me! I too, strive to write books I'd like to read. Thanks so much for hosting IWSG this month.

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  4. A fellow Little House fan! Yay! LOL
    Thanks for co-hosting. :)

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  5. I still love Anne of Green Gables. Can't wait to share it with my 7-yr-old granddaughter. I agree about the lack of electricity. No AC? Noooo. Thanks for cohosting this month.

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  6. It would be lovely to attend an Austen-esque ball! Thanks for co-hosting this month.

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  7. Excellent choices of books. I wonder if the world of women back in those days would annoy me or if I would accept them for what they are. Not sure.

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  8. Great descriptions of those fictitious places! The Moose League sounds intriguing.

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  9. Beautifully stated, Jenni. Thanks for co-hosting.

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  10. OMGosh! How did I forget dear old Anne when answering on my blog? She's my spirit animal if a fictional character can be such a thing. :)

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  11. Hi! Thanks for co-hosting. That line... I still long for simpler times... resonates so much.

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  12. Sounds like you've got your ideal world worked out. Thanks for co-hosting!

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  13. Jenni, we love the Little House books. When we had an ice storm and lost power for several days, we read them but after three days, went to Grandma's and Grandpa's. We are wimps!

    When I was a child, I wanted to be part of the kids' worlds that Enid Blyton had created in her school and adventure stories. But truly, we are born for a time such as this!

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  14. Oh, "Anne of Green Gables," Jenni! I'm excited to know that you enjoyed the book. I did live in that world for real, because my father's people were from Prince Edward Island and his mother was a second cousin to L.M. Montgomery. I was all over the Anne world long before she became famous, and there are so many echoes of my early childhood in the books. Thanks for co-hosting today!

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  15. I think an introvert like me would have been miserable in that social world of Jane Austen. LOL, but the simple world of Anne would be lovely for a while.

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  16. Thanks for co-hosting - we are 'partners in crime' this month! As for me, nostalgia is great, but modern appliances and indoor plumbing is better (wink-wink)

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  17. I was an R.L. Stine fan at an early age, but The Babysitter's Club brought out my young entrepreneurial side. In theory I always wanted to be the heroine of the story. I know now I never truly wanted that character arch. I'm too empathic to watch others suffer. Thank you for co-hosting!

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  18. Personally, I'd skip Jane Austen's times, (sorry) where most English folks lived in conditions we wouldn't wish for our dogs, Jane & her family exempted. The people she wrote about were privileged to a lesser or greater extent. But I'd gladly live in Nova Scotia at the turn of the 20th C. with Anne Shirley :)

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  19. I never thought of this before, but I think that as a writer, I wrote all my stories in the worlds where I wouldn't mind living in. Fair worlds with as little global controversy as I could contrive. So all the conflicts my characters experienced were personal. That is a fascinating realization to get from someone's short blog post. Thanks, Jenni.

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  20. Hi, Jenni! Thanks for co-hosting today for IWSG. Ah, things always look simpler in the "olden days." But like many say here in the comments, things were tough for the regular people. Have a beautiful day!

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  21. While it may be fun to read or watch movies set back in the old days, I suspect I wouldn't like it nearly as much if I were there. No matter how they make it sound, life was pretty harsh back then.

    Thanks for co-hosting IWSG this month!

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  22. Blogger is still refusing to let me sign in, so anyway... Thanks for cohosting this month. And interesting take on worlds that you fancy, but have always got something wrong with them... Better the devil you know, eh?

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  23. Ah! The Jane Austen world would be quiet magnificent to live in :D

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  24. I loved the Little House books when I was a kid and often daydreamed about living in that world. Now I'm deeply thankful I don't have to feed myself exclusively from my garden, because I'd starve. I love the romanticized ideal of simple pioneer living a lot more than the reality.

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  25. It's funny how different people are drawn to different worlds. I would want the opposite of simple. Magic and fantasy for me, thank you! Though I have to admit Jane Austen's world appeals to me...but only if I get to be the character who falls in love and marries above her station. :-D

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