Under Construction

I am fiddling with my layout and such, so bear with me if some of the tabs and things don't work.  There's this thing called...html?  I know I learned about it in college but that was like, six years ago and I'm pretty sure the class was at eight in the morning and attendance wasn't required...so....yeah.

Other things under construction:
Short story number two!  I've just jumped the 'how do I get my protagonist from set-up into ACTION!' hurdle.  I am really excited about it, not only because it's my story and I can do whatever I want, but it's about *spoiler* magic.  When things are about magic, you can really do whatever you want.  (ps, I love italics and bold text.  They are awesome.)

In a magic story, there can be magic items and magic conundrums.  Magic quests and curses and witches and super powers.  If a scene isn't working and you have no idea what should come next, just write shazam! and make something impossible happen.  It's great.

That said, a certain level of credibility must be maintained.  My magic is happening in the 'real world.'  Nothing like Harry Potter, but there are still things like cell phones and jobs and such.  The trick is finding the right combination of my own willing suspension of disbelief and 'what? That could never happen!'  With luck, this is the same balance you all have and we'll get along fine.

I've been reading some retold fairy tales by Cameron Dokey.  I'll be the first to admit it's total teenage chick-lit.  Sometimes, you need something silly and fluffy.  I can't read Poe all the time; I'd poke my eyes out or wall someone up in a catacomb.  (pps, I love semicolons.)

What I like most about the few I've read is how the style changes.  Each one is written in a different tone or from a different point of view.  It keeps each book unique.  I mean, how many times can you retell 'once upon a time/prince kissed the girl/happily ever after' before everyone is yawning?  She has done a great job of it.

Thus inspired, my magic story is going to follow the fairy tale format.  I don't have a specific one in mind, just the elements that make up the style.  I have a heroine, a hero, a villain, a curse, a quest, a looming disaster, and magic, of course.  I am toying with having a second sort of anti-hero to contend with the heart-of-gold hero.  But then I have been playing Lego Star Wars and perhaps it is subliminally influencing my creative id.  (ppps, I lurv Han Solo.)

Which do you prefer?  Do you prefer the dark, brooding, might be a bad guy protagonist?  Or the more solid and dependable, never-say-die sort of hero?

E. T.