Monday 24 March 2014

Magical Realism - Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary! by Kimberley Griffiths Little #ChaBooCha


I love that term,
Magical Realism. Magical Realism added to a story brings to mind all sorts of delicious and unusual story twists, whether delightful, creepy, or just plain enchanting in a unique and unexpected way. Unexpected being the key term here.

In today’s climate of publishing, especially the children’s and young adult realm where vampires, werewolves, fairies and mermaids have been the staple for a decade now, a reader might say that any book with a supernatural twist falls under the category of “magical realism”. You might even put ghosts into that category, as well as super-powers, or creatures raised from the dead; zombies, the undead, etc.

I beg to differ. Magical Realism was coined several decades ago, but began to be more widely used in the 1990s to describe a certain type of book that hadn’t been published very much before. Up until that point, bookstores and libraries were filled with well-defined categories such as, “Contemporary” “Mystery”, “Romance”, “Western”, “Science-Fiction”, etc.

Definition of “Magical Realism”:

A story where the author creates a very normal, regular world, populated with ordinary, regular people (no Vampires or Centaurs, Klingons or Doctor Octopus) but adding a touch—mind you, just a touch—of something surreal, fantastic or bizarre that turns the story upside down while staying very much grounded in our normal, regular world setting. Magical Realism is added as an element, NOT in huge doses—but often that one magical realism element turns an otherwise regular story into something entirely different because it affects the characters and the plot in such a unique way. That one element brings an edge or slant that doesn’t line up quite right with the real world. Instead of looking at the story straight on, it makes the reader look at things in a whole different light—where the story bats its eyelashes and looks askance, perhaps almost coy—which can also help the reader understand the truths of the story in an entirely different way. This is not your average contemporary Young Adult novel or Middle-Grade story.

I love me some edgy, contemporary stories and read them a lot. I also read, and have read, widely in the paranormal and supernatural or dystopian genres. But those are not stories using Magical Realism in the Classic sense. Often readers, including teachers and librarians get Magical Realism and the Fantasy genre mixed up.

A Case Study:

I had a librarian classify my 2013 novel, When the Butterflies Came as Fantasy. But I’m sorry to say, she’s mistaken. My novel takes place in the very real world of a small town in Louisiana about a girl who has grown up on an old plantation (family home since before the Civil War). She’s got ordinary family and friends with quirks and foibles and problems. Her grandmother is a research scientist on another very real world location, an island in Micronesia. My MC is dealing with her grandmother’s recent and unexpected death, her mother’s depression, her bratty, annoying blue-haired older sister, and a touch of OCD she deals with in an effort to bring some sort of order into an otherwise disconcerting life. One aspect of the story that is not *quite* real (or is it?) concerns the unusual species of butterflies Tara Doucet’s grandmother is researching. These beautiful butterflies appear to possess extraordinary characteristics—maybe even magical. But the cultures of both Louisiana and Micronesia as well as the story’s characters are very much grounded in reality.

Here’s another great link defining Magical Realism.

Adult Magical Realism:

Reaching into the depths of my often fuzzy mind, I would have to say that the very first book I read that contained magical realism was, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, a novel that celebrated its 21th birthday this last September and is still selling well in hardcover as well as paperback, audio, and Kindle. Esquivel mischievously appropriates the techniques of magical realism to make her heroine of the story, Tita’s, contact with food sensual, emotional, and often explosive. Love, food, and magical recipes in a kitchen where the other characters’ emotions and fate are determined by the emotions of the cook. If Tita’s sad while cooking, then everybody who eats her food is melancholy and weeping. If Tita is happy while preparing a wedding feast, then her dinner guests are joyful. The magical realism element in a novel that is otherwise the story about the generations of a family on a hacienda in Mexico brings out a fresh way of looking at life and relationships. And it’s done brilliantly.

A few years later, we got the scrumptious novel, Chocolat by Joanne Harris, performing similar dreamlike plot twists through a chocolate confectioner who works her magic on an unsuspecting French village and their trials and loves and relationships.

Hmm, all this food talk is making me hungry. (*Takes break to pop a few chocolate truffles*).

What About Time Travel?

I personally believe that time travel books could fall into a sub-genre of magical realism. You may agree to disagree, but time travel books are grounded completely in an ordinary and historical world with historically based events, but then turn the story upside down by throwing their characters into a vastly different time period from their own where they must often cope with explosive events and try to get back home in one piece.

The Last Snake Runner

Such is my book, The Last Snake Runner where a contemporary teenage boy of the Snake Clan ends up in 1599 in the middle of a war—trying to stay alive while fighting next to his ancestors during a 3-day battle and meeting a girl that he can’t bear to leave—while at the same time knowing he can’t remain in 1599 but has to get back to the future somehow. The events of The Last Snake Runner are based on actual events in a very real place and time period, but the time travel as well as the visions my main character has could be called Magical Realism.

Last Example:

My novel, The Healing Spell (Scholastic, 2010) is grounded in the very real but often spooky world of the Louisiana bayous with its murky waters and hidden alligators. The story is about a family in crisis and where almost everyone is hiding a secret. A Cajun folk healer, or a traiteur, gives Livie, the main character, a nine-knotted healing string that will help wake her mamma from a life-threatening coma. The traiteur sends Livie on a journey to forgive and heal her relationship with her mother—even though Mamma is unaware in a coma in the living room. Guilt and secrets and sisters underpin this story about family and forgiveness—but the ending has a bit of magical realism built in. How else could a nine-knotted healing string strung with tokens and memories of Mamma be otherwise? (Can a tiny mustard seed of faith really move mountains? That is Magical Realism at its grandest!)

The Healing Spell


Other Magical Realism titles:
NINTH WARD by Jewell Parker Rhodes
TANGLE OF KNOTS by Lisa Graff
NIGHTINGALE’S NEST by Nikki Loftin
A SNICKER OF MAGIC by Natalie Lloyd
BIGGER THAN A BREADBOX by Laurel Snyder
BREADCRUMBS by Ann Ursu
PRACTICAL MAGIC by Alice Hoffman (Adult novel)
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Adult novel)

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Kimberley Griffiths Little is the award-winning author of middle-grade books with Scholastic, The Healing Spell (Whitney Award winner), Circle of Secrets, When the Butterflies Came, and the upcoming The Time of the Fireflies (July, 2014). Her Young Adult trilogy, FORBIDDEN, will debut November, 2014 with Harpercollins. Kimberley once survived a night in a haunted castle tower room in Scotland, makes way too many cookies when she’s revising, and the best book trailers in the universe – for reals! Check them out on Youtube and/or her website: www.kimberleygriffithslittle.com
Her Links:
TWITTER:  @KimberleyGLittl
YOUTUBE:  KimberleyLittle1


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Give-away



One commenter will win a paperback copy of "When the Butterflies Came" by Kimberley Griffiths Little. All you have to do is comment on this post to be entered in the drawing. Must be a signed-up member of the Chapter Book Challenge to qualify. Comment before noon on March 30th, 2014. Winner will be chosen by a random number generator on March 30th, 2014 at noon.
*****

Winner



The winner of the paperback copy of Roz Morris's "Writing Characters Who'll Keep Readers Captivated: Nail Your Novel," chosen by a random number generator, is:



Joanne Roberts!


Congratulations, Joanne!

31 comments:

  1. Your books sound awesome, especially the one with the butterflies. I love magical realism, and the chapter book I am working on right now would be classified as such. But I need to be reading more of the genre.

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    1. Thanks for the lovely kudos, Linda! Good luck with your book!

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  2. Congrads, Joanne!! Yoo hooo.

    I will HAVE to buy When The Butterflies Came if I don't win it here. It sounds fantastic, Kimberley. And thanks for clearing up magical realism in my head. I now truly understand the term and would like to add that element to my next novel or chapter book. I always figured it was fantasy. But it's not. Love the suggested reading too. :-)

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    1. You are very welcome for the explanation, Robyn, glad I could help. And I hope you enjoy When the Butterflies Came! That makes my day. :-)

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  4. Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy also have adult novels that can be considered magical realism. It was great to find some young adult and middle grade suggestions in this genre!

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    1. Great suggestions, Kara! Thank you. And I'm glad you found the list helpful. Happy Reading!

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  5. Thanks Kimberley. I've read a lot of magical realism without realizing what it was. Great thoughts to help develop my time-traveling ChBk idea!
    Nd ChABooCha - Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for the giveaway. Hooray! Just in time. The professional critique on my last submission said my MC did not inspire sympathy :(

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    1. Awesome, Joanne. You are very welcome, too! Ooh, I feel your pain on the submission. That happened to me, too, with my book CIRCLE OF SECRETS (kind of magical realism with a ghost). My character was too bratty and unlikable, and I ended up completely rewriting the entire novel to change the MC. The word my editor used that I taped to my computer while re-drafting was "vulnerable". Think of all the ways you can make your MC vulnerable - in her relationships, fears, dreams, goals, etc. Hope that helps! (It helped me get a starred review in school Library Journal after the book was published - wow!)

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  6. Well...I LOVE magical realism. And I love Kimberly's books. Great post, thank you! And double thank you for the giveaway.

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  7. Great post - I think most of my books fit this category, it's just how I see the world!

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  8. Thanks for the post. I have enjoyed adult magical realism for awhile and haven't read as many kids' MR (lots of outright fantasy but not ones with just a touch of fantasy). Would love to try your work.

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    1. Thank you, Sylvia! Hope the book list is helpful. :-)

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  9. I love magical realism in books! I've always thought of magic realism as something that could happen in our world, but on the very edges on what really could happen.

    I had a real life magic realism thing happen to me when I was 14. There was a fire at my house and we lost several animals. Three of the kittens passed away in my closed bedroom closet. After the house was repaired I'd have this weird occurrence that happened every night. There was no light bulb in my closet, but every night at 11pm there was a noise like someone was pulling the chain for it to come on. Right after the handle would turn and the door would come open. I never put a light bulb in my closet to see if it would come on. It's not really a ghost story, because there were never anything beyond that. I'm sure there was a scientific explanation for this, but I didn't know this (still don't) so it was like magic to me.

    You missed a few of my favorites magic realism books:

    Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

    Gods Go Begging by Alfredo Véa, Jr. (Adult)

    Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

    Actually all of Sherman Alexie books are packed full of magic realism. If you haven't read any of these I highly recommend them.

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    1. Yes, yes, yes, MANIAC MAGEE! Thanks for the reminder! And thanks for the other recommendations, too. I keep meaning to read Sherman Alexie the TBR stack is overwhelming. Interesting story that happened to you! Very spoooky! Thanks for sharing, Dani!

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  10. I have discovered a new love called magical realism- and trying to write one book with it (but MG not a chapter book). Thanks for this great post - butterflies are kind of magical anyway aren't they, the way the fragile insects travel thousands of miles. I would love to read your book, Kimberley!

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    1. I agree about butterflies! They really do magical things! The whole idea of a gorgeous butterfly coming from a caterpillar - that alone is magical realism! I use that in my school and bookstore visits and tell the story of the monarch migration - of THOUSANDS of miles. Who's to say that there aren't species we haven't yet discovered that have the abilities of the butterflies in my book? :-) Thanks for the lovely comment, Wendy!

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  11. Congratulations Joanne.

    Love this post - I would love to write Magical Realism, but it just doesn't work for me - it ends up sounding force. Thanks for the input.

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    1. Thanks, Laura! Never say never . . . who knows in the future you'll be struck with inspiration! :-)

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  12. Thank you for sharing this wonderful post! I do love both adult and children's books with magical realism. All of your books sound amazing especially the butterfly one! Congrats on your new release coming soon Forbidden. Sounds exciting!

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    1. THANKS, Kelly! And wow, thanks for the kudos about FORBIDDEN, too! It's been a decade in the making . . . at last! :-)

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  13. I wrestle a lot as a review with drawing the line between fantasy and realism...."fantasy" comes with such baggage that it isn't really the right word for your butterflies, but they are magical. If I were just a reader, I wouldn't mind at all, but when a decision has to be made about which category to put a book in for awards (which I do for the Cybils) there's no getting out of it. We changed the name of "fantasy and science fiction" this year to "speculative fiction" as a more comfortable umbrella for many books,which helped a bit....

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    1. Very interesting feedback on categorizes and reviewing and awards, Charlotte. Thank you! I think it can be tricky. But I find that any story with some sort of fantastical creature or set in some *other* world is definitely in the fantasy camp, while a story set in the real world with magical elements would be called MR. I'm seeing the category named Speculative Fiction more and more these days.

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  14. Thank you for this timely post - I didn't realise that one of my middle-grade manuscripts coould be classed as magic realism. That's good for me to know!

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    1. SO glad this is helpful, Ramona! Good luck to you with your manuscript!

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  15. Oh fantastic! Congratulations Joanna. This was a great interview. very helpful.

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    1. Thanks for the interview kudos, Kelly! Glad it was helpful. Wishing you all good things with your own writing.

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  16. Thank you for the explanation of magical realism. I have never been into paranormal, science fiction or fantasy, however I now realize that both Nana DuPuy and Anya, have a touch of magical realism, which I may amp up a notch when they go through another round of revisions.

    I can’t wait to read When The Butterflies Came, it sounds amazing and is now on my Amazon Wish List.

    Congratulations Joanne!

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