I’m seriously considering changing genres for my NaNo novel this year. Usually, I write romances or cozy mysteries. But for this year’s NaNo in November, I’m considering trying a fantasy novel.
Why am I thinking about this? To challenge myself and to grow as a writer. I’m comfortable writing in my little niches. I know what to expect. I have a partial formula.
But I’ve never written fantasy, so it’s a brave new world for me. And it opens my characters to things that I can’t put into my other novels.
I’ve been almost devouring fantasy novels, learning the genre. And there’s a lot to learn. What sub-genre of fantasy do I want to write? Am I going with a novel about a group of human-line non-humans who venture out to find a treasure or a lost scroll or to pitch a ring into a mountain top volcano? Am I going to write a novel about a time traveling teenager who gets into all sorts of scrapes and escapes by the skin of his teeth from angry villagers or sabretooth tigers? Or will it be set on another world in a time undetermined with new creatures and perhaps a bit of magic?
Frankly, I haven’t a clue yet. But I hope to by the first of October, when I need to buckle down and begin planning my 2019 NaNo novel, if I haven’t started already. I need to meet my characters, get to know their world and any worlds they venture into. And by world, I mean their surroundings, whether that be a cave or a city or a forest or an entire new world. What does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it smell like? What does it feel like? What does it taste like?
Oh yes, I have a lot of dreaming, musing, and thinking to do. My novel, right now, is a blank page.