The Heroic Ethical Tale

I have been reading a critical piece titled Fantasy Literature for Children and Young Adults. It provides an interesting overview of the fantasy genre for young readers and the many purposes it serves its readership. The book addressed many of the issues adults seem to have with fantasy and letting their children read it. Honestly I have never understood the mentality of parents who deny their kids books not because of their content alone but because of their genre in general. Books are my business. I almost take it personally when I here someone bad mouthing a book out of ignorance. I can barely deal with parents who come in looking for Christian youth fiction, openly sneering at Harry Potter. Ya, okay I get your religious viewpoint, but don't bring your sneering face against my literature.
But the book dealth with parents who denied fantasy not only for religious reasons but because they felt it was escapist. Brillliantly the authors pointed out fantasy does not teach escapism but creates a broader sense of problem solving by opening the mind to more possibilities. Where realistic fiction tackles problem solving in a more limiting way, fantasy offers itself as a guide, not an answer book.
I like it.
One of the sub genres the book covered was of the Heroic Ethical Tale. This covers such stories as Alexander's Prydian Chronicles, Lewis's Narnia Stories, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson...basically some of my favorites. Which got me to thinking, I think the book I am currently working on will end up being a Heroic tale. I know I want Mina to set things right, I want her to save Felix, I want her to make peace with the death of her mother and the disappearance of her father. Maybe Mina will join the ranks of Eilowny and Hermione. I think the world needs more female heroes.

Finding Direction in the Quagmire of Creative Thought

I've always rather thought the creative process was similar to navigating your way through a swamp on a cloudy night with a compass that points in every direction except the one you need. Maybe I'm being optimistic...
I believe the philosophical viewpoint I am trying to make here is: beginning a story is sometimes easy, figuring out which direction you want to go after the beginning is a bit tricky. Thats my philosophical viewpoint anyway, I know for some people the beginning is the most bloody difficult part. For me I can always start a story, but then I have to figure out what story I'm setting out to tell.
Happily, I think I am beginning to find a direction for the Blue Zone. Now I just need to be careful I don't go off the scale and create the even more treacherous quagmire of over-complex plotlines. I would prefer the Blue Zone to be a stand alone single novel, not an epic. But I tend to think in trilogies. If I have a set of characters I love, I just want to keep spinning their world. Which has its ups and its downs. Still, I want the Blue Zone to be a singular work, I'm not setting out to write a trilogy, I don't want to create a plot line so complicated it needs a trilogy just to make sense out of it. I think I can find a coherent and satisfying storyline which will conclude hopefully gracefully at the end of the novel, but mostly I want an attainable goal. The problem with thinking in trilogies is I can't often envision the end.