Speculative Genres

“Respect the genre you’re writing in.  In an effort to put your own stamp on it, don’t ignore the established conventions of that genre – or you’ll alienate your core audience of loyal buyers.”             Kathleen Krull

In Fantasy the established conventions are called “tropes” and include world building, swords, dark knights, wizards, quests, heroes, dark lords, ancient worlds, and magic.  Readers look forward to reading about these various things appearing and combining in their story.  I can’t blame them, ever since I was hooked by Fantasy stories three years ago, that’s nearly all I’ve wanted to read.  Not single books, but entire series because I love the worlds so much.  The magic is enchanting and the stories of heroes and quests and wizards are mesmerizing.  Add a little romance to it and, I want that!

I wanted that so badly that I wanted to write my own books, but in the middle of my first draft, toward the end, in fact, I learned that I had cancer.  I couldn’t write in my manuscript during treatment.  I was too worried and ended up just looking at my notebook, night after night.  Even when I learned it had only been a treatable form of stage one cancer, I couldn’t work on my story until the radiation treatment was complete.

When I finished my story afterward, I found out I no longer liked my story.  “Anyone could write this,” I told myself.  So I went about changing it.  I made some of the bad people good guys and I made it a Fantasy story.  Kind of a modern day Urban Fantasy, but Fantasy nonetheless, with links to ancient myths and tropes and I even had an idea for a sequel.

Ideally, I’d like to make four of this series. It is based on a story of how I wish my own life went.  I enjoy my novel so much now, but I realize there is so much that goes into a novel – scenes, showing, settings, conflict, structure, and that thing that concerns me the most, being beautifully written.  If I can master that, I tell you, I will have it all wrapped up.  Then nothing can stop me.  Not anything.

I’ll just keep taking breaths, a little at a time,