I’m in a war with my middle-grade fantasy novel. I’m only a few chapters in and already it is refusing to be what I want it to be. Or, rather, what I intended it to be, at least.
As I’ve mentioned on here before, I began writing this book (working Title: Dragon Thief) because I wanted something I could share with my daughters sometime soon. Hence, a middle-grade fantasy. Middle-grade is intended for children ages 8-12. And yet, the book is starting to trend more towards YA and I can’t even completely explain what I mean by that. Maybe just that the characters themselves are maturing as I put them down on paper. I’m not exactly sure why this is happening but I suspect it’s because I’ve spent my free time (Free time? What’s that?) reading some glorious fantasy novels recently. (Pause. Book Rec time: Go get A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. Go. Go buy now. I’ll wait.)
I submitted part of Dragon Thief to my writing class this week to be workshopped and got some fantastic feedback that sent my brain spinning off in a million directions. I’m really excited to see where the book goes from here and I get all wiggly excited when I have time to work on it. Of course, that could also be partly because of the new caffeinated beverage I discovered recently.
I’m also outlining and planning ahead, which is a huge change from how I wrote Mosiac and NML.
I guess I just have to accept that, until it’s finished, I just won’t know exactly what Thief will be. Either way, writing fantastical dragon adventures is a nice respite from editing No Man’s Land.
Ooops, I hear a four-year-old. Gotta run!