"Something very meaningful and definitely not the Fall Out Boy lyrics I wanted to put here." - Fancy Header
j.r. dawson
  • Home
  • THE FIRST BRIGHT THING
  • About
    • Press Kit
    • Recent News
    • Contact
  • STORIES

Thoughts on "I Set my Ship to the Brightest Star"

11/7/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
I’ve been trying to do a “Thoughts on” for every story that gets published. I am behind because by doing “Brightest Star,” I’ve skipped over “Woman on the Rock,” and my “Thoughts on” for “Marley and Marley” will be published on the F&SF blog. But here is “I Set my Ship to the Brightest Star,” now available on NonBinary Review. I will warn you, these thoughts do give spoilers, so maybe listen or read the story first and then come back here.
 
This one was a painful and terrifying story to write. I started writing it years and years ago. First, it was a flash fantasy. Then it was a war story. When I heard the call for Hans Christian Andersen stories at NBR, I thought maybe that’s the home needed for this story: HCA’s world of the Snow Queen.
 
The thing that always stuck out to me about this story was the friendship and love between Kai and Gerda, and how for an emo-tastic sassafrass like HCA, this was a very hopeful story of good conquering the darkest and coldest of evils. The Snow Queen isn’t necessarily a bad person, she’s just the epitome of depression and loss.
 
And my story, about two lovers who had once been each other’s everything and now were strangers ... it seemed to fit perfectly. Not in a good way for the characters, but in a good way for the story.

The question I posed was: What if this heroic adventure had been for someone who Gerda perceived as her soul mate, but dangerously was nothing of the kind.
 
But I don’t think it’s the antithesis to HCA’s story of hope. I think our protagonist could have lived a fine life if she defined her goals in a different way. Giving our lives to those who don’t want them is maybe not the greatest of plans. Gerda could have lived out a fine life with a nice girl and made something of herself, maybe open up a candy shop somewhere on a rebel moon, who knows?
 
We don’t have to be alone. We don’t have to have closure for everyone who says goodbye. We don’t have to live in the past, but we can instead look to the future. Isn’t that what science fiction is all about?


TO READ OR LISTEN TO THIS STORY, CLICK HERE.
0 Comments

    What is this?

    Dawson is a writer. This is her blog. In it, you shall read about reading. And writing. And cheeseburgers. Sometimes there are tangents. Huzzah.

    Categories

    All
    Advice
    Angela Patten
    Animal Farm
    Animorphs
    Applegate
    Applying
    Art
    Bad Writing
    Bats
    Bella
    Best Writing Places
    Blue Line
    Bradbury
    Caffeine Dreams
    Chicago
    Colorado
    Community
    Complicated Characters
    Concert
    Dad
    Day Job
    Dead Poets Society
    Death
    Depression
    Draft
    Dundee
    Elements Of Fiction
    Exposition
    Famous
    Father's Day
    Favorite Books
    Fox Hollow
    Frankenstein
    Frozen
    Gaiman
    Game Of Thrones
    Grant
    Grateful
    Harry Potter
    Hermione
    Heroines
    Home
    Hunger Games
    Introduction
    Iowa
    Ireland
    Katniss
    Kevin Barry
    Killing Characters
    Life Of Pi
    Lindsey Stirling
    Mardra Sikora
    Marketing
    Martin McDonagh
    Memoir
    MFA
    Motivation
    Music
    Ocean At The End Of The Lane
    Old Market
    Omaha
    Opera
    Panera
    Paradise Bakery
    Pen Names
    Personal Life
    Pikes Peak Writers Conference
    PitchWars
    Procrastination
    Radical Face
    Reading
    Residency
    Revision
    Robin Williams
    Scooter's
    Self-love
    Set Piece
    Setting
    Shelf Life
    Short Story
    Sick
    Starbucks
    Stonecoast
    The Lion King
    The MFA Years
    Thesis
    Twilight
    UNO Library
    Urban Abbey
    Village Inn
    Wedding
    Women
    Wordsworth
    World
    Writing
    Yann Martel
    #YesAllWomen
    Zen

    Archives

    May 2019
    July 2018
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from smoorenburg, Erik Daniel Drost, prasad.om, Feral78, spbpda, Môsieur J. [version 9.1], markus spiske