changes....

Writing has seemingly taken a back burner these past few months.  Becoming a father, changing jobs and training for the Greater Manchester Marathon have all been a factor – but ultimately I feel I lost my mojo a little.  I don’t think it was recent knockbacks, more a case being not really sure where I wanted my writing to take me anymore. 

This blog has always been focussed on science fiction writing due to this being the genre I wanted to write.  But I have started to wonder if I am actually suited to it.  I always feel forced when writing science fiction which is not a good thing.  At first I thought it was that I started writing for all the wrong reasons.  Being unhappy in my last job pushed me into writing.  I had always wanted to write, but being unhappy in a job meant I probably saw writing as my “meal ticket” out of a boring, stressful job, instead of writing for enjoyment and seeing how it went.  But now in the new job, which is less stressful and more enjoyable my writing cut back. 

However, I fell upon an article.  I can’t remember where I read it and how I discovered it.  Twitter or a writing magazine I assume.  I will even be honest and admit I only half read it and it was only digested a few days later.  The gist was simply saying that if you are stuck in a rut, maybe a change of genre or market is the answer.  Bingo.  Or Eureka.  It came to me; maybe science fiction isn’t for me after all.  So I started thinking of other genres to try like horror, mainstream or contemporary? 

I had read some Stephen King in the last year or two and used to love Nick Hornby.  I know they are two very different writers, but also two authors not writing science fiction (well in Stephen Kings case, not SF in the classic sense as some of his stories may have SF in them). 

So I started to experiment a little.  There is a competition in the latest SFX magazine where you enter a 1500 word zombie short story and I wrote a first draft in an hour or two.  It wasn’t great, but it seemed easier and more natural to write.  A rewrite has brought about a short story I’m rather pleased with.  It is raw and needs tidying up, but it isn’t far from being a finished story and one I am happy to send in.

Last weekend, I sat and simply wrote what would be the opening chapter to a novel.  No planning, just an opening scene to an idea I have had for a while now.  I again felt a natural flow to my writing.  It was again more horror based with a brutal scene.  I’ve kind of worried myself that I have a bit of a sick mind to come up with this scene, but maybe that is a good thing, my imagination is better suited to that than a future history or SF in general.  But it has potential and when reading it back last night, it doesn’t need much of a rewrite – which I was very pleased with.  I need to plan a novel before I actually carry on writing it, but as an experiment it worked.

Finally, I also got round to carrying on with the writer bureau course.  I will admit that I am finding non fiction tedious and in hindsight should have done the fiction first, but felt non fiction would be easier to get published.  With some help from a Triathlete buddy of mine, I have done a first draft and a rewrite.  Its almost there, but the by having lots of projects I can keep writing regularly – whist I give is a day or two before checking, I can work on something else.

I feel now, my writing mojo is back and I’m doing it for the “write” reasons (sorry, poor pun!) – For enjoyment.