Writing Magical Realism and Women’s Fiction

Title: The Moonsparrow Collection

Author: Carolyn Wolfe

Publisher: Avid Readers Publishing Group

Genre: Women’s Fiction/Magical Realism/Short fantasy and feminist stories

Format: Paperback Cover, Kindle version

The Moonsparrow Collection is comprised of a tapestry of Tall Tales, Myth and Magic. This compilation of tales is the best of Ms. Wolfe’s original published and unpublished Short Stories, and includes the stories that she has introduced at local public writing events and festivals.  The subject matter ranges from: A woman who turns a small town on its ear, to: a Magical midnight concert in the woods. It is a light journey into a magical world when anything can happen, and usually does

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Book Excerpt

Mark U. Rye

This does not have any dragons or sword and sorcery, as a matter of fact it is more of a tall tale, but I think you just might recognize the main character, even if he is in disguise….. his name is the clue….

His name was Mark Rye, well actually, he would introduce himself far more formally then his deeply creased jeans would have suggested.  Mark U. Rye, he would grin, with a grin that sticks to you like warm oatmeal swallowed on an extra cold day.  The U. was for Ulysses, a name he was extremely proud of and never did he have the hesitation that some folks have about their middle, and somewhat old fashioned names.

Mark called himself a communicator, although his busted old guitar hardly seemed to command that sort of respectability, at least not at first sight.  But oh, that boy could make it sing with nine tongues and all of them golden!

Read the full excerpt at the author’s website

Guest Post – How I Started Writing Magical Realism and Women’s Fiction

 I have always found the world to be a magical place, and as a child was drawn to many authors who shared my point of view. I especially enjoyed the books that combined the everyday ordinary with the extraordinary. A walk in the woods suddenly became a magical adventure full of various dangers.

Everything always seemed to turn out for the very best though, and even better, the hero/heroine of the story, always learned a bit about themselves when the adventure was over.  Whether it was about the courage that they never knew they had, or that friendship and loyalty was more important than looking out for number one- something transformative always occurred.

This type of story was my bread and butter for years and years. I could never resist a book by Charles De Lint, Madeline L’ Engle, C.S. Lewis, Marion Zimmer Bradley, or  Edward Eager. I simply knew that when I walked into the forest, there was magic all around me. However, I also knew it was right there again, as I walked down my busy city street. It was as if these authors revealed to me what I had subconsciously always known, that magic was everywhere, if you just had the eyes to see it, and the heart to embrace it.

So, I guess it was inevitable, that as a writer, I would pen stories about magic in everyday places. Magical Realism to me, is a way of looking at the world through not only rose colored glasses, but glasses that can see the fey, the fantastic, and the invisible slice of the universe around us, that others may miss. 

I am also a bit of a feminist. I like strong female characters in my books and many times it is the woman who takes center stage.  My female characters work equally as hard as their male counterpart in solving the mystery, the challenge or the riddle in the story.  And they are not above wreaking a little bit of havoc along the way.

My short story “Truck Stop Virgin”  from my book of short stories, The Moonsparrow Collection, has a tell tale sign of my feminist outlook in it.  The title may sound a bit naughty but I assure you there is nothing  amorous going on. This story is about how one woman transforms a  town that is mighty set in its ways, and transforms the women who live in that town as well. It is actually a  fictionalized slice of my own life.

 In the  late 1980’s  I moved from my home in the Washington DC, area, where I grew up, to a small town in rural Virginia.  It was the first of many moves to come,    that would finally land me permanently living in a small town community, but in the 1980’s I  received my first taste of rural living. It was a huge culture shock for me when I realized that the outlook of the  townsfolk that lived there,  was firmly stuck in the nifty fifties. It was as if no one  had ever heard of the sexual revolution or gender equality.

 One night, as I sat sipping a beer by myself in a local Truck Stop bar, (whose patrons really did not appreciate my presence) a story was born. The hero of the story, a woman, did all of the things that I wish I could have done! That is the great thing about writing, you can create the kind of world where you would love to live.

That is what I love to do in my stories, create the world that could be, should be and in many cases is, if we would only just open our minds to the many possibilities that surround us. I believe in women, and I believe in magic, and that is why writing Women’s fiction, with a bit of magic in the mix, is what I do!

They say a writer should write about what they know, well one thing I know for sure is that magic exists, and that women are stronger than they realize.

 Happy Writing!

About Carolyn Wolfe

Carolyn Wolfe is a free-lance writer, published poet, and author of eight books, which range from poetry to fantasy and includes children’s literature. Her body of work includes writing articles for newspapers and newsletters, and hosting poetry events in the Winchester area. Her books include two poetry books “Notes From The Shadow Self” and “WhenThe Moon Speaks”, a collection of original light fantasy stories titled “The Moonsparrow Collection” and four children’s books “The Bedtime Of The Sky and Other Sleepy-Bye Stories”, The Unhappy Little Dragon Lessons Begin” and “The Unhappy Little Dragon, Lessons Learned” and “The Drowsy House“. Her newest  fantasy/romance novella,  “Blades’s Magic”  is a sword and sorcery adventure for an adult readership. Wolfe lives in Winchester VA with her Husband Scott and many animal companions.

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