I’ve been asked recently why I don’t write just children’s books. I admit, most authors find one thing and stick with it. It’s not that I’ve become bored with what I have done or that I’m chasing the dollar. I don’t have a formula. Even if I had a formula, especially if it was successful, I highly doubt that I would be able to stick to writing just one type of story. I simply write the stories the way they come to me.
I blame the characters. They’re stubborn and just do what they want to. Most of the time when I get an idea and a story begins to form, the main character will show up and do or say something completely unexpected. This usually takes the story in a direction that I initially didn’t plan.
Illithor, one of the main characters in The Egg Quest, decided that he was going to be a little different. He brings content that makes the book more YA than middle grade. Part of his backstory began to manifest in the way he reacted to Reyden and later on, Reyden’s outbursts. If you read between the lines, you may be able to see a little more about him than I wanted to reveal in the first book.
There are a lot of authors that I admire. They usually write one type of genre and are very successful at it. I wish I had that kind of problem. For now, I’ll just work on the second weird fiction anthology, the cookbook, and several other works in progress.