As we head into the last half of October, I’ve been thinking more and more about NaNoWriMo and which novel I’m going to write in the month of November.  

There has been a lot of teetering in my head, I would love to get EMPIRE book two completed, and I know I could give it to my parents as part of an Xmas gift for them, but I would also like to tackle a Genre I love but is outside of my comfort zone and feel that the month long challenge would be a great opportunity to do so. 

The working title is Shadow of Magic and it is indeed a fantasy novel.  Fantasy is not my genre of strength.  I love fantasy but because the world is so open for anything it is a challenge for me.   

I used to think writing for a fantasy world was an easy task, the world was your oyster.  You could write anything and no one could dispute it because it was your world – I mean Stephenie Meyer wrote Sparkling Vampires, and Giant Wolves.  The world had to be open to anyone to make anything up – even with the gods of the field setting the ground rules for the worlds we fantasize about.  I mean J.R.R. Tolkien’s works is the baseline of how I view elves, dwarves and halflings in fantasy.  Bram Stoker’s Dracula is my baseline for Vampires, the creatures of the night.  J.K. Rowling opened my eyes to the idea of how magic could be hidden in the society I see before me. 

These authors defined what I see as magic and fantasy and I began to believe that what I wrote had to fit into their boxes.  It became a mental block for me.  I couldn’t step outside the realm of Bram Stoker’s dracula for the fear of the ridicule, I mean – sparkling vampires? really?  Then I stop and remember – that is the world Stephenie Meyer created – it is her world and vision for a different take.  I shouldn’t judge based on my baseline.  Now I may not like it because of my baseline being what it is, but it’s still her take on a fantasy and it should be seen as that.

Trying to get over that hurdle in my head is a challenge, and makes writing in the genre a challenge for me.  Writing in the suspense and thriller genre is easy – you write what you know what you see and what is possible.  The Mythical world opens us up to endless possibilities.  I could create my own race, my own language.  I could create my own world and no one could say it wasn’t real because it would be fantasy. Technology wouldn’t need to be possible, just a product of my imagination. 

Yet, I constantly find myself in the middle.  Is it believable?  Is it too similar to someone else’s magical world?  Is it unique? It’s magical?

So as NaNoWriMo comes, I’m promising myself that no matter what I write, EMPIRE or the new book, I will commit to writing again.  Putting it at the forefront of my desire – and maybe I’ll make a female hero instead of the male heros I tend to lean to.