Margie started this blog chain with a two-part question: How did you come to write your YA genre (e.g. contemp, fantasy, etc.)? AND (yep, it’s a 2 parter), if you weren’t writing that, what genre would you be interested in exploring?
I write women's fiction. I think it's because I've never been the kind of girl to live in the moment. In fact, up until about two years ago, I lived about 20 years ahead of my age.
I write women's fiction. I think it's because I've never been the kind of girl to live in the moment. In fact, up until about two years ago, I lived about 20 years ahead of my age.
When my cousins and I were very young, we'd get together at my grandparents house, where the daily routine included a healthy dose of Days of Our Lives and Another World. (Grandma calls them "her stories.") We probably weren't supposed to watch, but as young girls, it's very easy to get sucked into such drama.
When the parents or grandparents finally shooed us outside to play, my cousins and I would come up with an elaborate make believe soap-opera type story to play out. My grandparents lived on a farm with huge orchards, pastures and gardens, so we'd lose ourselves in whatever make believe world we had created.
It was awesome, and the stories we came up with evolved with our ages and crushes.
During my grade school and early junior high years, I'd visit my twin cousin (that's a cousin with whom you're so close you might as well be twin siblings) in Kansas, and we'd set up a make believe lounge called "Knights" in the basement.
In our pretend world there, Duran Duran would stop in for a guest appearance. She'd fall in love with one band member; I'd fall for another. Then they'd whisk us off to happily-ever-after land. (After seeing this in black and white, my twin cousin may never talk to me again.)
Unfortunately, I came to a fork in the road of life. One direction allowed me to continue playing out such elaborate fantasies but included funny looks from strangers and a padded cell at the local asylum. The other direction allowed me to continue thinking about elaborate soap opera-type stories and living them out on paper.
That choice was easy.
Voila! A writer of women's fiction was born.
As for Part II of Margie's question, if I wasn't writing women's fiction, I'd be writing paranormal stories. Oddly enough, a good ghost story was one of the only things that could distract me and my cousins from playing make-believe. (Well, that and our parents.)
Unfortunately, I came to a fork in the road of life. One direction allowed me to continue playing out such elaborate fantasies but included funny looks from strangers and a padded cell at the local asylum. The other direction allowed me to continue thinking about elaborate soap opera-type stories and living them out on paper.
That choice was easy.
Voila! A writer of women's fiction was born.
As for Part II of Margie's question, if I wasn't writing women's fiction, I'd be writing paranormal stories. Oddly enough, a good ghost story was one of the only things that could distract me and my cousins from playing make-believe. (Well, that and our parents.)
10 comments:
Great answer! and HOLY COW...I am up tomorrow?!?! Guess I better figure out what I'm gonna say.
my siblings and I were always playing make believe as well - our favorite game was called Milk Monster and involved my bff and I hanging from the jungle gym in my backyard waiting to be rescued by my brother (for her) and his bff (for me) :D I have a picture book based on the Milk Monster now LOL It sounds funny, but the name was based on the milk weeds that grew in the back yard, not the beverage LOL
Great post (and thanks for the glimpse into your past). Duran Duran, huh? I have my kids enjoying them, actually. I crank up Rio and they know exactly who that is. If you ever do a ghost story though, I'd love to read it. I can definitely see you being good at that kind of thing.
I think the urge to make up stories starts in childhood. Kudos for you for continuing with it!
I would love to try women's fiction someday. And it sounds like we had the same upbringing, lol. Gotta love Days of Our Lives. :D
Love this! What a great fantasy to be whisked away by Duran Duran! :-)
Ha - this reminds me of the stories that we used to make up with our Barbie dolls. There was always lots of drama because we had over a dozen Barbie dolls and only one or two Ken dolls.
I love that Duran Duran would come to whisk you away. Awesome!
Great post! Our experiences provide such richness and fantastic fodder for our work! Thanks for sharing! :D
OMG - too funny because I did the same thing! My friends and I were always playing out dramas borrowed from Days of Our Lives, only the band who stopped in to visit us was Bon Jovi. (I can't believe I just admitted that.)
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