Writing Nancy Napoleon
Nancy is very different to the other heroines I have written before. She is old, broken and kind of screwed up.
The world of Siren Beat relies on the idea of numina, a Latin term for protective spirits, or what the Romans had for gods before they took on the Greek style of personifications in an everlasting soap opera. There are a lot of other mythological creatures and characters still floating around, too. Nancy calls herself a Guardian - and the various protective spirits from other cultures all have different names for what they are - and her job is to guard Hobart's harbour from the scary sea creatures that regularly wash up. There's an almost unlimited wealth of sea creatures from various cultures and mythologies for me to throw at her, which is good news for future Nancy Napoleon stories!
I wanted to explore the idea of an Immortal who was damaged - living forever is one thing, but what if you have a busted leg that's never entirely going to heal? Not to mention all manner of psychological problems...
Of course, immortality without consequences is boring. And Nancy isn't all that immortal, anyway. She is almost ageless, and, very powerful, but any manner of supernatural threat she faces could actually kill her. After all, it killed her sister. [Grieving for someone who has been there your entire life - when that life consists of more than a century - sucks beyond belief.]
I always think it's weird that vampires, as an example of popular fictional characters who are "immortal"/eternally-young-until-they-get-staked, choose to spend so much time with teenagers, and in particular that vampire blokes have a thing for teenage girls. I can just about buy the physical attraction (though, ew), but surely once you've been around for a century or two you've seen enough hot young things in your life and are far more likely to be turned on by a half decent conversation? I never really bought why Buffy had such appeal for 100 year old Angel, unless he was just into jailbait - sure, she had a good line in banter, but surely her lack of interest in his favourite bands at the very least would be offputting. And as for Edward Cullen and his mates attending high school over and over, it's hardly surprising that he doesn't know how functional relationships are supposed to work! Actually, the most believable immortal perspective I've ever seen conveyed in pop culture is probably Jack Harkness, who is just as happy hanging out with an old lady as he is flirting with someone young and gorgeous. Though I did love the way that Spike from Buffy was definitely stuck in an earlier decade, and particularly relished the few scenes where he and Giles were shown to have more in common with each other than either of them did with the high school kiddies.
I tried to keep this in mind when writing Nancy Napoleon. She is technically eternally young, but certainly doesn't feel that way. Everyone is a baby in her eyes - even hooking up with an adult in his 20's or 30's is on the squicky side for her, no matter how hot he looks in his leather trousers.
And he does look very hot.
Writing Nancy always brought to mind the experience of being a postgrad student in February, when the uni fills up again with shiny new creatures and we all gazed at each other with weary eyes and said things like "what are they, twelve? seriously?" Age, after all, is all about perspective...
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You can still purchase Siren Beat here for a mere $12/$15 depending on which part of the world you live in.
The world of Siren Beat relies on the idea of numina, a Latin term for protective spirits, or what the Romans had for gods before they took on the Greek style of personifications in an everlasting soap opera. There are a lot of other mythological creatures and characters still floating around, too. Nancy calls herself a Guardian - and the various protective spirits from other cultures all have different names for what they are - and her job is to guard Hobart's harbour from the scary sea creatures that regularly wash up. There's an almost unlimited wealth of sea creatures from various cultures and mythologies for me to throw at her, which is good news for future Nancy Napoleon stories!
I wanted to explore the idea of an Immortal who was damaged - living forever is one thing, but what if you have a busted leg that's never entirely going to heal? Not to mention all manner of psychological problems...
Of course, immortality without consequences is boring. And Nancy isn't all that immortal, anyway. She is almost ageless, and, very powerful, but any manner of supernatural threat she faces could actually kill her. After all, it killed her sister. [Grieving for someone who has been there your entire life - when that life consists of more than a century - sucks beyond belief.]
I always think it's weird that vampires, as an example of popular fictional characters who are "immortal"/eternally-young-until-they-get-staked, choose to spend so much time with teenagers, and in particular that vampire blokes have a thing for teenage girls. I can just about buy the physical attraction (though, ew), but surely once you've been around for a century or two you've seen enough hot young things in your life and are far more likely to be turned on by a half decent conversation? I never really bought why Buffy had such appeal for 100 year old Angel, unless he was just into jailbait - sure, she had a good line in banter, but surely her lack of interest in his favourite bands at the very least would be offputting. And as for Edward Cullen and his mates attending high school over and over, it's hardly surprising that he doesn't know how functional relationships are supposed to work! Actually, the most believable immortal perspective I've ever seen conveyed in pop culture is probably Jack Harkness, who is just as happy hanging out with an old lady as he is flirting with someone young and gorgeous. Though I did love the way that Spike from Buffy was definitely stuck in an earlier decade, and particularly relished the few scenes where he and Giles were shown to have more in common with each other than either of them did with the high school kiddies.
I tried to keep this in mind when writing Nancy Napoleon. She is technically eternally young, but certainly doesn't feel that way. Everyone is a baby in her eyes - even hooking up with an adult in his 20's or 30's is on the squicky side for her, no matter how hot he looks in his leather trousers.
And he does look very hot.
Writing Nancy always brought to mind the experience of being a postgrad student in February, when the uni fills up again with shiny new creatures and we all gazed at each other with weary eyes and said things like "what are they, twelve? seriously?" Age, after all, is all about perspective...
===
You can still purchase Siren Beat here for a mere $12/$15 depending on which part of the world you live in.