Why I Wrote My Novel (And Why It’s Unique)

Dragons. Spells. Curses. Magic. Enchanted lands.  Supernatural creatures.

Fantasy.

Even if it’s not your preferred genre of reading, I’m willing to bet a fantasy story captured your heart at some point in your life.  How could you not love the tale of a beautiful bookworm who falls in love with a beast who’s actually a prince? Or an immortal boy who can fly?  Or a hobbit who teams up with an elderly wizard to destroy a cursed piece of jewelry? 

Fantasy is a portal. An escape. A dream put on paper.  It whispers of a world beyond the tattered curtain of reality. It beckons us to believe in something bigger than ourselves.  It rescues us from the doldrums of laundry and cubicles and carpool lines. 

Admit it.

There’s a little fairy dust coursing through your veins, isn’t there?

Growing up, fantasy stories were the hope that sustained me through a dark childhood.  And now as an adult with very grown-up responsibilities, the genre is perhaps even more important to me.  A necessary respite from an often-disappointing world.

Fantasy is what I love to read, but it’s also what I love to write.  Eight years ago I was neck-deep in writing a novel about vampires (don’t look at me like that.  We all fall victim to trends sometimes—I used to wear low-rise jeans, too), when I scraped it for a young adult story I had been day-dreaming about for years.  Back then I had only a handful of unrelated material: a teenaged protagonist named Danger, a fantasy land called Freedom, and a weird interest in prisons that I knew I wanted to somehow incorporate.  I began to brainstorm and world-build in earnest, and after another handful I years I started to write a cohesive story.

In short, this particular novel-baby of mine has been in the works for a long time.

I’ll never forget how excited and proud I was when I finally finished the first draft of that book. It had been such a timely endeavor, and to see it come to fruition is still one of the greatest accomplishments of my adult life.  I am currently working on the second novel in what I hope will be a trilogy, while simultaneously trying to get the first novel published.

It’s a whole thing, you guys.

And take it from me, the market these days is absolutely saturated with young adult fantasy novels.  So why should anyone bother to publish, purchase, or read my book out of all the others in the genre? 

A novel question (lol, am I right? Just kidding, please don’t stop reading).

I’ve tried to answer that with the points below:

               1).  They say good things take time, and as stated above, this project is the product of a lot of time. Now I’m not saying that time=quality, but…it helps. J. K. Rowling spent five years planning out the seven Harry Potter books.  J.R.R. Tolkien made the Lord of the Rings his life’s work.  Gone with the Wind took ten years (nine drafts!) for Margaret Mitchell to write.  Not everyone needs that much time to produce something great, but generally speaking, labors of love aren’t rushed. 

               2). I wrote what I wanted to read. Tony Morrison said, “If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” Ever been through a reading slump? They’re actually the worst.  Not being able to find a book that speaks to a certain want you have inside is a horrible feeling.  There are unnumbered wonderful books out there, but there was a time when I couldn’t find the book I needed—a book about a boy and adventure and a certain mute little sidekick who isn’t altogether human. 

I think that’s where good books often start from—a need.  And I guess I figured that if I needed my little novel, maybe, just maybe, someone else out there might need it too. 

               3). I wrote my book, not someone else’s. There is a right way and a wrong way to imitate your favorite authors. The wrong way is to mimic their work (like I did with my vampire story).  The right way (dare I say the write way—I’m on a pun roll today) is to learn from their techniques.  How do they structure their stories, where do they draw inspiration from, how to they craft believable characters? I did my best to learn the art from the pros, but what I ended up creating was uniquely my own.  I’m not talking about originality (it has all been done before); I’m talking about authenticity. 

My novel is all Hillary, all day, guys. Happy reading, and please leave me a comment below!

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