With thanks to Dale Musser, after considering some things about writing, it occurred to me that there is an avenue I had been unwilling to consider. I have my pet projects - especially the first novel Middle of Nothing. I like the depth and philosophical direction. I like profound reading and I want to produce the kind of book that people read and just think "wow" when they finish.
For that reason, I had never really considered myself a genre writer. I never wanted to be that guy that simply created popular fiction through some formulaic concoction; a paint-by-numbers approach to writing. Nothing in my inner revelations today changes that thought. I am not going to jump on the vampire/werewolf erotica bandwagon just to make money. Even under a pen name, I don't think I could do that. One of two things would happen. That kind of writing would seep into my other writing and destroy the inner artist that has driven me to write; or my inner muse would seep into the "pop fiction" and a pen name would provide inadequate disguise.
Despite that, there are some ideas I have which lend themselves naturally to other genres than general literary fiction. Specifically, my story Shattered Mind, which centers on a man that wakes up in Columbus, Ohio, with a diagnosis of retrograde amnesia, lends itself well to another genre and I have already begun developing on paper the direction that could take.
And as I did more research it also then feeds right back into an area of intense interest which I have done some reading - quantum mechanics. How in the world does a guy who writes about sexual compulsions and the role of socio-economic status in the middle class of America venture into genre writing that infuses physics into the story? For that you will have to wait and see!
I have the other project ahead of it which I am excited for because that one allows me to use my knowledge of football and the recruiting process to craft a story I liken to a football version of the Chad Harbach novel... only mine will still have my basic themes which I can never fully escape.
I am very, very excited, though, about the potential for this project which I have a new title in mind for which I cannot say yet, because I need to get considerably further along in development before I make it a real working title.
The best part of this project is that it lends itself into a series of books and that is something that really brings readers home. In the mean time, I can work on perfecting some other projects that have already been out there and making them better.
The future is definitely a busy time, that much is assured.
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