This week, the dragons are delighted to welcome Kayla Ancrum, author of The Wicker King, to the show. Kayla's debut novel is a dark, contemporary YA thriller that delves deeply into hard hitting issues such as mental illness and codependency, which is why Jules and Madeleine were thrilled to have her join a discussion about portrayals of mental illness in YA fiction. Still labouring under the Gothic tropes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as meeting resistance and misunderstanding in the modern day, mental illness can be a knotty issue. In a previous episode (You Fancy Me Mad) the dragons deconstructed the Gothic tropes surrounding MH. In this episode, they look at how literature can help normalise a health issue that is far more common than people realise, and how it can help combat misinformation. What is good mental illness representation in YA fiction? And where are the areas in which it falls down or could use work? Is mental illness in fiction suffering from being, in many cases, an example forced to bear the weight of an entire spectrum?
Join us for a lively discussion and find out.
Title Music; Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 235: The Alchemy of Forever - Immortality in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 234: The Power Behind the Throne - the Hidden Voices of Political Change in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 233: Hidden Cities & Forgotten Kingdoms - Lost Worlds in Speculative Fiction
Episode 232: Murder Most Foul - Killing with Purpose in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 231: Writing for Relaxation - the Therapy of Putting Pen to Paper
Episode 230: Growing Pains - the Coming of Age Narrative in Speculative Fiction
Episode 229: A Tale for Bards - Why Historical Fantasy Works
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 228: Identity Crisis - The Quest for Self Knowledge in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 227: Fighting Fire with Fire - When Good Guys Dabble with Dark Arts
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 226: Continuity Error - Retconning and Misremembering in Speculative Fiction.
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 225: Innocence and Experience - Inadequate Narrators in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 224: The Magic of the Craft - Artists Engineers and Creatives in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 223: Jump on the Train, or get off the Tracks - Pacing, Prologues & Bridging Distance in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 222: Getting the Band Back Together - Subverting Tropes in Fantasy Teams
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 221: A Knight to Remember - Courtly Love, Chivalry and Noble Warriors in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 220: The Greatest Liars - What Actors can Teach Writers about Creating Characters
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 219: Children of the Prophecy - Subverting the Chosen One Trope in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 218: Plotting, Pantsing, Middling and Snowflaking - Creating Outlines for Books and Series...or Not!
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 217: You Are Cordially Invited - Costume Dramas, 19th Century Literature & Dragons
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 216: Sugar & Spice - Nuance and the Nice-washing of Female Characters in Speculative Fiction
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