Lauren Carroll Reads and Writes: A Writing Crisis

I'm having a moment.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who has ever had this moment.

So I'm sharing the moment - mainly for self-cathartic reasons.

So I've been working on my book Prince of Blades since last August. The novel is the first in an YA/adult crossover fantasy series and it is my sweet baby cinnamon roll. I have lived and breathed this novel since I first got the idea for it. I'm honestly in love with the characters, the world and the story, and like I mentioned in my last post - I'm currently 70k words through the first draft.

To explain my 'moment'...I need to take a little step back in time to when I first conceived the idea for Prince of Blades.

Come with me if you will...

STORYTIME

Before the idea for this book came to me, I was actually working on something else. For years and years I had been cooking up an idea in my brain, and that idea began to take shape in the form of a novel called Joel. Now, Joel is a YA psychological thriller and it was my very first real idea that I knew was workable. It was my first-born - so-to-speak. I have been so very attached to this idea, and finally decided to begin writing it last summer. The writing was going really well. It felt natural, easy, and I was excited to be finally telling this story. I managed to get around 25K through the first draft.

Then...

Val and her ragtag group of misfit pirates literally walked into my brain and demanded I tell their story. I fought with myself. A big fantasy story was something VERY different from the contemporary psychological thriller I was writing now. And Joel was the story I had wanted to write for so long!!! But in the end, Val won. I closed the document for Joel, and began work on something that would later become Prince of Blades. It felt wrong, but I made the decision and stuck to it, eventually detaching myself from the first project or so I thought. I absolutely ADORE Prince of Blades and have not looked back since.

Until now.

Cue....the MOMENT I am now experiencing.

Out of nowhere, Fleur has popped back up. Fleur is the main character of Joel - and she does NOT like being ignored. She has sat on the back-burner for months but she isn't happy with that anymore. All of a sudden, all I can think about is Joel, and how much I NEED to tell that story. And not just that one. When I started writing Joel, I got another idea for a story that was ALSO a YA psychological thriller. It would appear that THAT is my jam. And TODAY - lo and behold...idea number three came into my head...and guess what - its a YA mystery/thriller!!!

Oh Lauren what's the problem...you are getting too many ideas....oh boo hoo...I hear you say.

The problem is, I feel like I can't do both. I adore fantasy, to read and to write. I am loving writing Prince of Blades and I'm excited about it.....but I also want to work on Joel...and possibly these other two stories in the future. Is that possible? Can a writer produce stories in more than one genre...or is it best to stick to just one.

The general consensus is that you should fit in somewhere. It's very difficult for a publisher to take a gamble on you, to market you...when they don't know what you will write next. If an audience LOVES Joel...they will come to expect more of the same from me...the same applies to Prince of Blades. What do I do? Where do I fit? Why can't I do both?

So I'm stuck. I don't know what to do. I don't know I don't know I don't know. For now...I'm going to do both. I'm going to finish the first draft of Prince of Blades...put it to one side to simmer...and work on Joel. I'm going to perfect both of them and eventually query each of them to agents. Then I'll just see what happens and go from there.

I just know right now that both of these stories need to be told...and it has to be me that tells them.

Moment over....for now