I need to send you a link to this - because I've got a sci-fi story on a back burner and one things I'm currently tripping over is how to make the hero alien in both realistic, interesting, and consistent ways.
Oh, please do; that's absolutely the sort of thing I adore, and would be happy to brainstorm with you 'til the cows come home.
As for Lirael, I would have sworn I babbled about that a lot when I'd finished it, but it might have been to Megan or Cho so I guess I'm not repeating myself too much here. :) The classic version of that trope when you see it in a lot of fairy tales or genre fiction is the sort of thing you see in Cinderella, or the first Harry Potter book. You've got the unhappy misfit child who doesn't fit in, longs for a better, more exciting or magical life, a loving family, etc.; and in the usual happy ending versions, they get all that. The ugly duckling turns out to have a grand destiny or amazing magical gifts, they're reunited with their loving family or discover they're really a long-lost princess, etc., and everything ends happily ever after. It's a very Sue-ish/Stu-ish sort of childish wish-fulfillment fantasy -- you're not my real parents, I don't belong in this boring stupid life, I want to be SPECIAL and loved -- which is probably why you see so much of it in children's/YA fic.
But Lirael twists all of that around in very subtle ways. On the surface it looks like it's following the pattern to a tee -- she's the subject of prophecies, wonderful magical companions and tools fall into her lap, she discovers loving relatives she never knew when she was growing up, and she's the next Abhorsen, one of the most powerful and unique beings in her world. There's even hints of a developing future romance, total fairy-tale happy ending, right?
Except none of this is exactly what she wanted. When she was longing for the Sight, that wasn't a dream of being special and unique: that was a dream of being *normal*, just like all the other Clayr. And all of those magical, unique things that happen just reinforce that she isn't a normal Clayr and never will be. She discovers her grandmother is alive and is much warmer to her emotionally than her aunt ever was -- but the timing is such that she never really gets to build up a real family relationship there. She finds out who her father was, but he's already long dead. So it's not strictly an unhappy ending -- she has at least found her place in the world, friends and a potential love interest, and a sense of purpose -- but a little bittersweet nonetheless, because the things she got were not the things she always wanted, and they actively remind her that her deepest childhood wishes will never come true.
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Oh, please do; that's absolutely the sort of thing I adore, and would be happy to brainstorm with you 'til the cows come home.
As for Lirael, I would have sworn I babbled about that a lot when I'd finished it, but it might have been to Megan or Cho so I guess I'm not repeating myself too much here. :) The classic version of that trope when you see it in a lot of fairy tales or genre fiction is the sort of thing you see in Cinderella, or the first Harry Potter book. You've got the unhappy misfit child who doesn't fit in, longs for a better, more exciting or magical life, a loving family, etc.; and in the usual happy ending versions, they get all that. The ugly duckling turns out to have a grand destiny or amazing magical gifts, they're reunited with their loving family or discover they're really a long-lost princess, etc., and everything ends happily ever after. It's a very Sue-ish/Stu-ish sort of childish wish-fulfillment fantasy -- you're not my real parents, I don't belong in this boring stupid life, I want to be SPECIAL and loved -- which is probably why you see so much of it in children's/YA fic.
But Lirael twists all of that around in very subtle ways. On the surface it looks like it's following the pattern to a tee -- she's the subject of prophecies, wonderful magical companions and tools fall into her lap, she discovers loving relatives she never knew when she was growing up, and she's the next Abhorsen, one of the most powerful and unique beings in her world. There's even hints of a developing future romance, total fairy-tale happy ending, right?
Except none of this is exactly what she wanted. When she was longing for the Sight, that wasn't a dream of being special and unique: that was a dream of being *normal*, just like all the other Clayr. And all of those magical, unique things that happen just reinforce that she isn't a normal Clayr and never will be. She discovers her grandmother is alive and is much warmer to her emotionally than her aunt ever was -- but the timing is such that she never really gets to build up a real family relationship there. She finds out who her father was, but he's already long dead. So it's not strictly an unhappy ending -- she has at least found her place in the world, friends and a potential love interest, and a sense of purpose -- but a little bittersweet nonetheless, because the things she got were not the things she always wanted, and they actively remind her that her deepest childhood wishes will never come true.