Well, I went on a little hiatus there. I’ve been plugging away at a series of short stories, all revolving around a common central theme. Also still working on some flash fiction. One flash piece has inspired me to try writing it as a longer story or possibly even go novel length.
I’ve also been throwing around some ideas for a novel that I’d like to try as a YA book, but I’m not sure. I thought about going with more a of middle grade style, too, but I see the main characters as adults, not kids or teens. I could probably alter that, but it will take some thought. Maybe I’ll just have to write a portion geared towards each level and see what works best for the characters and the story ideas. The stories have a supernatural bend to them and involved ghouls and ghosts and other critters. But that brings the question, can the main characters of a YA or Middle Grade books be adults? I’m thinking mid to late 20s, 30s, and 40s primarily. I’ve been under the impression that to appeal to kids and teens, you’d need characters close in age so they can relate better, which makes perfect sense. I’ve been trying to think back on the books I loved when I was in those reading levels but I can’t really think of any examples where the main characters were adults. What do you think?
I’m also taking a Creative Writing class this semester. I thought it would be a great way to share my writing and get some feedback. The course is a basic beginner level course, so we’re covering a number of areas in writing. Our first large assignment was poetry. I slogged through that and now we’re starting memoirs. I’ve never tried to write a memoir, so this should be interesting. After that we tackle flash and short fiction, which I’m considering to be the meat of the course. Very much looking forward to getting to workshop some of my stories. I’m glad I signed up for the course for this semester. With all the budget cuts this year, I have a feelign that the smaller community colleges here in the Phoenix area will also be feeling the crunch and seeing smaller programs getting cut. The Creative Writing program the course is part of is only a certification and not a full out degree program. So there’s a chance I may not get to take some of the fiction writing classes. Here’s hoping though, as taking this sort of thing through the community college is affordable and works with my schedule.
