I've got a few "real-life" (e.g., general fiction, adult contemporary [?]) books in my head right now, rotating against a couple of fantasy books. I'm not sure which I'm going to do right now. I've wrestled with a lot of painful stuff over the past couple of years, and so part of me craves the escapism of the fantasy novel, to craft something beautiful and fanciful; but because I'm wrestling with that stuff, too, part of me wants to address that in "real" stories, too, in hopes that people can perhaps benefit from that, and maybe because I feel like I need to get that out of my head so I can face life cleanly.
I'll do both, eventually, but am unsure which I'm going to do first, yet. I'm just in an unproductive and painful place right now, and while I know that my writing will make me feel better, I also dread the emotional and intellectual commitment to get it rolling. The real-world story will flay my heart; it just will lay it all bare. I'm not one to step back from that kind of stuff, believe me; whereas the fantasy book would just be
fun (and I'm in dire need of fun right now). I'm going to try to get my feet under me again and start up again -- the Olympics threw me off-kilter!
Fuck it.
I'll flip a coin and decide.
Heads: Real world novel.
Tails: Fantasy novel.
(flipping coin)
Heads. So be it.
Real-world novel, here I go! Note that a coin toss doesn't imply "flippancy" (ar ar) on my part; rather, I'm equally capable of doing either type of book -- I just can't decide which I should do first.
I'll keep you posted.
