With the start of the new year also comes the start of a new writing challenge for myself. Over the course of the past few years, I have been writing a fantasy novel. It has been an exciting, at times aggravating, but very fulfilling journey. My plan is to explore options to publish it sometime this year.
I haven’t decided what route I want to go yet, but I do know that I want to continue writing. The most important thing I learned about myself this throughout the course of writing the novel is just how important it is for me to continue creating new stories. That is how the Fey Colony project was born.
The novel is set in a world strongly based on a D&D campaign that I played with a small group of my closest friends over the course of several years (somewhere between 5 and 8). I have reimagined it as a metaphor for our own world, with elves serving the role of colonizers. This isn’t dissimilar to many fantasy worlds, but it is an aspect that I’m excited to explore through a fantasy lens. What would a world filled with magical creatures be like if the vast lands were suddenly overtaken by a more dominant culture? What aspects of the previous fantasy cultures would remain?
I’m going to attempt to answer some of these questions by writing 100 short stories set in this same fantasy setting. But don’t worry, it’s not all going to be political and social commentary. In fact, much of it will just be personal stories about characters that live in this world. I love writing character-driven stories that showcase a specific moment in a character’s life.
I’ve already fallen in love with this world by the nature of writing an entire novel set in it. I hope that through these stories, you can start to love it too.
In additional to the short story series and the occasional blog post, like this one, I’m also going to be launching an accompanying podcast called, “Most Writers Are Fans.” I’m going to interview as many writers as I can find that are willing to talk to me about their own writing journey and some of our favorite examples of tropes in fiction. I also expect to record my own journey as a writing getting back into a regular writing schedule post-quarantine.
I hope you’ll join me and read at least a couple of my stories. I’m so excited to discover all the amazing characters that live in this world.