When I was little, we had this kid record player and one of the records we had was The Hobbit. I remember listening to it a lot.
I loved fantasy and adventures and mythical creatures.
Finding My Voice
In the ’90s a TV mini-series of Merlin aired with Sam Neill playing Merlin. I’m embarrassed to admit how often I watched that mini-series. When I was a teenager, I devoured The Lord of The Rings trilogy and felt transported to The Shire with the movies. Fantasy was my jam. I couldn’t get enough of it.
When it came to writing stories of my own though, I was drawn to the real world, real people, real-life problems. I enjoyed escaping to other writer’s worlds, but when I created, I needed it rooted in reality.
I still have not completely unpacked what that means about myself. Perhaps, it’s because I want people to see they can conquer the real-life dragons in their life, just as their heroes conquered the mythical kind.
I didn’t put words to the genre I wrote until the last few years. Young Adult Fiction felt appropriate. I prefer a fast-paced story, younger characters, simple writing style, and as I already said real-life problems. I’ve found some people, and even some writers, find it puzzling to have a favorite genre, but when it comes to writing, having a voice in a completely different genre altogether. It’s never felt odd to me.