Rough Drafts and Rough Truths
As I work through rewriting 'Tales of Mundus,' I keep stumbling over my younger self's thought patterns and prejudices. Some of it is pretty random. However, there's several ideas that just need a little polish.
Recently, I rediscovered one of my characters - Maman Josephine, retired fairy godmother. This pint-size fearless woman embodies the best in all the 'Old Southern Gals' I've met. She homesteads, keeps goats, and is more than willing to smack a snooping dragon away from the gumbo pot with her ladle.
Maman Josephine doesn't do tiny wings, bubble travel, or sing Bibbty-Bobbity-Boo. There's actually some question to if there's anything 'fairy' about her. However, she is definitely a right, proper godmother for my world of Mundus. (She's more likely to shame the evil-step family in public than turn vegetables into carriages.)
In hindsight, I can see that my over-complicated childhood left deep marks on the idea of 'how godparents should behave.' Unlike many children, I KNEW the original purpose of godparents. It's not just a religious tradition, or two of your parents friends that give you extra presents.
Godparents are the people who protect you if something happens to your parents.
Some Perspective
I remember serious talks with Mom and Dad about, “what do I do if you die?” Yes, four is a bit young to want to know about those things. However, thirty-three is a bit young for a daddy to develop colon cancer. I actually remember the paper signing that would give 'Uncle Art and Aunt Susie' custody of me and my baby siblings. We would not be orphans or street rats trying to outsmart evil adults (like half the protagonists in the Disney movies).
God-parenting wasn't something in a fairytale. I had real life people making real life plans. Those plans did not include leaving children to struggle. Art and Susie would fight tooth and nail for me.
In comparison, Ms. Bitty-Boppity-Boo, and even Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather were all flash and no follow through. Yes, they fixed the crisis with magic, but they broke the first rule. Don't leave the kid to flounder - not just physically, emotionally counts too.
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| Changed her name. Shattered her worldview. Left her crying in a dressing room Not how you do a sixteenth birthday, ladies. |
Good Drama vs. Good Parenting
As I grew, the media portrayal of godparents didn't get any better. There was Nickelodeon's Wanda and Cosmos, the magic vending machines. Sirius Black, from the Harry Potter series, also gives gifts, and then dies. The adults weren't doing their jobs.
The one gem I found was Mandy from Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted. She helps Ella find the loopholes in her 'gift' of obedience, negotiates with the step-family, and comforts Ella when things fall apart. She's a bulwark and advisor to a growing woman.
I've thumbed through the old stories, and Mandy is actually the closest to the original archetype. God-parents and helpful 'old folk' do not typical show up in the middle of the quest. They advise the hero at the beginning of the journey. They even the odds when the villain asks impossible riddles or sets impossible tasks.
Godparents are protectors. Mundus isn't as perilous as some stories, but competent adults are always scare. As a veteran, Maman Josephine has dealt with everything - from christening curses to the everyday nastiness of other people. A dragon trying sneak a taste won't make her blink.
At the rewrites continue, I don't know how Maman Josephine's powers and backstory will change. However, her character is here to stay.
After all, to a child in need, a loud woman with a lock-cutter and lawyer can be more powerful than a wandering mage with a knack for creating formal-wear.
