A Jealous Writer

            Writing, for me at least, involves a lot of jealousy. I wish I could be one of those people who enjoys some else’s brilliance without thinking, “I wish I’d written that.” But alas, that’s not going to happen. If I’m not thinking, “I wish I’d written that,” then I’m thinking, “I wish I thought of that idea,” or “I wish I could write that well.” I think this with almost everything I read, because the truth is, if I’m not loving it by the end of the first page, I’m probably not reading it.

            My current “I wish” meter is being directed toward E.K. Johnston, author of The Story of Owen: Dragon Slayer of Trondheim and Michelle Knudsen, author of Evil Librarian.

            Johnston had the brilliant idea to take a modern day Canada and introduce one fantastical element – dragons. She then rewrote history for a world that has evolved to deal with dragons, hence Owen, a teen dragon slayer. But, Johnston’s gift doesn’t end with world building. In Owen, his bard Siobhan, and his family, she’s created people that I care about. So much so, that I’d almost want to live in their world and have them as friends even if that meant having to take driver’s education over again to learn defensive dragon driving maneuvers.

            The Story of Owen is such an incredible idea, I’ve been trying to figure out how to come up with something equally as brilliant. It apparently just takes inserting some mythical creature into the modern world. Except Johnston has done dragons. Vampires, werewolves ,and demons have all been done. So what’s left, I wonder?

            Knudsen’s novel does something I thought would turn me off. The villain after all is the librarian. And I rather like my librarians to be heroes. But in Evil Librarian the protagonist is so normal, so goofily funny, so ready to take on demons without any powers other than being the one person who can see the librarian is a demon that I couldn’t help falling in love with her. Here’s a normal teen girl madly in love with a boy who doesn’t know she is alive, able to withstand a demon’s attraction, and with an encyclopedic knowledge of musical theater. None of those are the things of superheroes and yet, Cynthia is a superhero.

            So, I’m thinking I need a normal teen with vast knowledge of some topic, an evil creature, and voila! But musical theater and demons go so well together. And of course, writing as well and funny as Knudsen does would be the onerous part.

            Still, hope springs eternal and there must be a good side to jealousy, right?