IN TRUST WE FALL
I’ve been making up stories and writing them down since I was a kid. I won awards for my fiction and poetry in elementary and high school. Basically, I’ve always had an active imagination and was lucky enough to have parents and teachers who encouraged me to share those crazy ideas in writing. Somewhere I’m sure there are old notebooks with WILD ideas! I know there are definitely old manuscripts that exist and weren’t publication ready at the time waiting for me to dive back into them and see if they can be saved. I didn’t actively begin thinking about writing a story to publish and share with the world until well into adulthood, however. I was already teaching and an idea just CAPTIVATED me. I knew this was one that I needed to get down on paper for everyone. That story eventually became the Kingdom of Fraun series.
Short stories are, in a way, more fun. I don’t have to spend a lot of time outlining or diagramming plots when I write a short story. I start with the VIBE I want and sort of let things flow. A lot of the technical work of timelines and things comes out in editing but when I draft them, I just let it sort of naturally come out of my brain. When I’m writing a larger novel there’s always extensive planning and outlining involved. They’re very different processes for me.
I don’t think there’s a genre I’m aching to write but there are things I haven’t tackled yet that I may still try. TIME TRAVEL and DRAGONS come to mind, although likely not in the same story!
Don’t be afraid to try something new. The best part about being indie is that no one is going to tell you no! If you want to make a hard-cover, spray the edges, commision some art work, make your own covers, or be a vendor at a festival – GO FOR IT! Try the new thing, even if it’s scary, and reflect on it when you’re done.
