There's no denying that parent characters suffer at the hands of authors, particularly if we're talking about MC's parents in SFF. Aside from the obvious reason (ie if a character is young enough for parental presence to impact on whether they fulfil their narrative destiny) there's really no reason for the casual removal of parents from a story. This week the dragons look at how and why parent characters are removed and why this can have a negative impact on the story. Weeding through the usual parent tropes, Jules and Madeleine discuss how the same stories can be told differently. On the slab this week; Game of Thrones, Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce and many more.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 28: Gobblefunk and Glyphs - creating words in Children's Fantasy
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 27: Harnessing Demons - How Writers use their own faults and insecurities in Writing
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 26: A Touch of Faust - Changing Goals on your Protagonist and when this works
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 25: Death and All His Friends - Themes of Death, Dying and Grief in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 24: Cognoggins and Clockwork - What makes good Steampunk?
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 23: Genius Loci - Writing Real World Places in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 22: Once More Around the Sun - Celebrating Terrible Birthdays in Speculative Fictio
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 21: Down with the Empire - exploring political themes in YA Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 20: Clash of the Titans - Superheroes vs Superheroes
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 19: Was that REALLY necessary? The overuse of Sexual Violence in Speculative Media
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 18: Oh not another Zombie Movie - the Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Living Dead
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 17: Magnus Bane to Jack Harkness - LGBTQA+ Representation and Diversity in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 16: Rattling Bones and Poltergeists - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Ghost Stories
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 15: Moustache Twirling 101 - the Mechanics of writing a Villain
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 14: Main Mission - Gaming Narrative, the Future of Storytelling
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 13 - Man-Eating Monster to Flower-Toting Belle - the transition of Fairies in the Victorian Era
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 12: The Gender Bend - Does the Gender make the Story?
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 11: Teams, Trios and Fellowships - the importance of Friendship in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 10: Fight like a Girl - 'Strong' Female Characters in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 9: From West to East - translating Speculative Fiction into Anime and Manga
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