Experimentation

I write fantasy.  It's as pure and simple as that.  I haven't been working on When the Star Fell at all in the last week.  I'm a bad ninja for it, I know.

But I have been writing.  And I've been writing romance.  There's this short story that's been sitting on my computer for a couple of years.  Maybe even longer.  I tinker with it from time to time.  Once I even deleted everything but the first paragraph and started over.

This is a very experimental piece for me.  I've written a novel that was romance, but not really.  Very close 3rd POV but never the guy's perspective.  All from her POV.  The fact that it was pretty much straight up romance without any sort of plot beyond getting those two together was an experiment for me.

I like me some action, something going on besides the budding feelings of attraction.  (One major reason I left every Twilight book so utterly disappointed.  There was all this buildup and then the action was glossed over in a paragraph or two.)

Maybe that's why the idea of reading romantic suspense pulls at me.  But I don't want to end up reading something totally blush-inducing because I'm branching out or anything like that so I've been staying away since reading my first romance novels.

Now I'm experimenting again.  This short story that's romance?  Instead of my usual (and the standard) 3rd person POV, I'm writing in first.  I'm writing two first person POVs, the MMC and FMC.  I'm liking the FMC's voice a lot more right now than the MMC's, but I think it's because I originally set out to tell the story from only her perspective.  Then he just sort of stepped up, grabbed the microphone, and just took over.  His parts aren't as long as the FMC's yet, but that could just be because he's got a secret that he's hinting at but if we stay too long in his head we might find it before he's ready to tell it.

So, yeah, experimenting is fun.  I'm writing this just for me.  Maybe I'd try to get it pubbed someday, but for now it's just for me.

And I'm enjoying it immensely.  I'd struggled to get this story off the ground until a couple of days ago and the story took this new direction.

Experimentation

I am officially a fan of being an unpublished author.

What freedom!

What joy!

What choices!


While I stil intend to work on Lodestar and all its needed revisions, I am fully invested in experimentation.

First short story?  Adult romance

First novel? Adult romance

Second novel? YA high fantasy

Third novel? Adult urban/contemporary fantasy

Short story of last weekend?  Steampunk and dragons

Next planned novel? Adult adventure

I love this freedom to explore and experiment.  Have I found my voice yet?  Maybe.  But perhaps not.  That's the joy of being unpublished.  I can experiment, write whatever I want, and seek out my voice.

I can play with the rules and buck tradition.

In other words, I have complete and utter control and the absolute freedom to exert that in whatever manner I see fit.

I love being an unpublished author!

What about you?  What do you love about the stage you're at in this publishing journey?