Over the next week, I'll be getting ready to release the first book in an urban fantasy trilogy. The Graveyard Girl features a necromancer named Rose, and so I've been thinking about death a lot recently and searching for interesting death-related tidbits of information as well as pondering my own experiences with death.
My first semester in physical therapy school I took gross anatomy. I spent hours every week in a lab studying a dead body. It remains my favorite class ever, and I wish I could take a refresher course every ten years or so. Working on a human body is irreplaceable when it comes to learning how we're all put together. I'm amazed and awed that there are enough people in the world who donate their bodies to the purpose of educating those in the medical field.
As what happens so often when we're surrounded by death, we resort to humor to dispel the seriousness of the situation. When I went home for Thanksgiving break that semester, I endured many jokes about being the one to carve the turkey since I'd had so much recent experience with a scalpel. Normally my family is a sarcastic bunch, but I think, in this case, there was a little discomfort mixed in with the usual cynicism. After all, none of them (to the best of my knowledge) had ever cut open a dead human before. For a great article on what it's like to take gross anatomy, check out this article.
As what happens so often when we're surrounded by death, we resort to humor to dispel the seriousness of the situation. When I went home for Thanksgiving break that semester, I endured many jokes about being the one to carve the turkey since I'd had so much recent experience with a scalpel. Normally my family is a sarcastic bunch, but I think, in this case, there was a little discomfort mixed in with the usual cynicism. After all, none of them (to the best of my knowledge) had ever cut open a dead human before. For a great article on what it's like to take gross anatomy, check out this article.
So for the rest of the next week or so, I'll be talking about death and all sorts of assorted facts, from shows like Six Feet Under to books made of human flesh (like the book of magic in The Graveyard Girl).
I'm preoccupied with death having had a near death experience about 2 years ago. I feel a disconnect to a lot of horror and supernatural fiction since then so interested to see what you have to say.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Maggie. I'd love to hear your perspective along the way so long as you don't mind sharing.
DeleteNo problem with sharing. Dying - like so much in life - is a highly individual and subjective experience, plus the chemicals involved (drugs administered along with the brain's own reactions) so I never think of my experience as particularly illuminating. Email me if you have specific questions: maggiedr@gmail.com
DeleteI might take you up in it in a couple of weeks, once things have slowed down a little around here.
DeleteI think a lot of genre writers have those morbid inclinations. I know I do.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on that lovely cover!
Thank you! And I agree, writers do tend to think more about unusual topics than other people do.
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