We all have preconceived notions about what we want to write.  Usually it closely echos what we read.  For myself, I’ve always read Science Fiction and Fantasy so that is what I try to write.

But is that what I should be writing?

Two years ago I wrote a story aimed at Juvenile Readers and I had a real blast doing it.  I truly enjoyed watching the characters develop right in front of my eyes.  There were scenes where I actually teared up and others where I laughed out loud.

I suppose it was a fantasy of sorts, but it wasn’t the kind of fantasy that I read now.  Was I straying from what I SHOULD be writing?

Not at all.

You see, I read books like the one I wrote, when I was younger.  The book was one that I had been trying to write literally for years.  My kids enjoyed it and I thought it worked out pretty well.  The only problem I had with it was it wasn’t real fantasy!

In my mind, I had drifted away from what I wanted to write and had therefore written a book of no consequence.  It simply couldn’t be as important as the adult fantasy I had written previously.  Except, it was a much better book than the adult fantasy.  I just couldn’t see it.

It all started to become clear when I did my 30-in-30 self-challenge.  I wrote some SciFi, some Fantasy, some horror, and several other genres too.  I realized that I could write stories about pretty much anything and apply whatever genre felt appropriate at the time.  Naturally, I can write some genres better than others, but I shouldn’t limit myself.

There are authors out there who specialize in one or two genres and that is where they play.  There are others who write in a few and there are still others who write in many.  So which is right?

In my mind, they all are.  They write what their muse tells them to write.  They don’t try to control or limit their creativity.  To them, one book is just as important as another regardless of genre.

When I finally came to that realization I suddenly had a wave of new story ideas.  Some are for Juvenile Readers, some for Young Adults and some for Adults.  The story that speaks loudest to me will be the one that I write.

Personal Update

As I mentioned last week, I resent “Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero” to another publisher.  That happened last Tuesday, so I don’t expect to hear anything for a while.

I’ve also got a start on my newest Juvenile Reader book.  I’ve been averaging about 500 words per day (yeah, I know, not quite up to my usual tallies) and I’m sitting at a solid 2,500 words right now.  This is the story that my son is already out telling his friends about.  My goal is to have the first draft completed by June 8th.  At that point, I’ll get my first readers to review it (AKA my kids) and prepare for the first full edit.

I’ve also got a story idea for ”The Writing Show’s First Chapter Contest“  I’m thinking about writing the first chapter of a Young Adult story I have in mind.  The rest of the story will be written during Nano this year.  Somehow, I’ll have to fit writing that chapter in since the contest ends June 20th (I believe).

That’s it for now.  I hope you have a great week!

I’ve been looking for First Readers for a while for my adult work with little success but I really haven’t bothered with my young fiction.  I think part of the reason for that is I’ve been focusing too much on adult fiction.  I’m not sure why that is; I enjoy writing stories for a younger audience so why don’t I do more of it?

That’s about to change.

I had a couple of story ideas that really reached out and grabbed me by the collar.  Both ideas were for younger readers, one for age 9 – 12 and the other for young adults.  As soon as they hit me I jotted them down as I usually do and got on with my day.  But, as I worked, I couldn’t shake them.  I kept thinking about them.

I decided to pitch the ideas to my kids since they were the intended audience for both stories.  I told my son the story for his age group as far as I had imagined it.  When I finished he asked “Keep going Dad.  What happens next?”.

Very cool!

I had to admit that I didn’t have the entire story quite worked out yet.  He assured me that it was a story he would read.  My daughter agreed.  I was on a roll so I told them the other story idea.  My daughter was skeptical at first because she thought it sounded like something she had read before.  When I further explained the idea, both kids were on board for that one too.

A day later, my son came home from school to announce that he had told his buddies about the first story and they wanted to read it too.

I think my First Reader problems for my younger fiction are over.  It also appears that I have some built in marketing machines in my family too.

I’m really excited about both stories.  I’ve decided to write the Young Adult story for Nano this year.  I already have a pretty solid premise that I’m going to build on and have outlined for November.

Why am I waiting so long?

Well, I started writing the story for ages 9 – 12 yesterday.  I’m going to try and bang that one out in a month.  My goal is to have it finished, edited and polished before fall so I can start sending it out.  I’m also reworking my adult fantasy (to be done by October).  There’s also a few of my short stories that I’m going to edit for submission.  Ideally, that will mean that I have three books and a hand-full of short stories making the rounds before Nano starts.

Oh yeah, and it’s summertime so I will be trying to get a couple things done around the house too.

That ought to be enough to keep me busy for a little while.