***
Saddles and skateboards.
Sometimes people express surprize when I
tell them that my latest release is a young adult /paranormal. To me it seems
perfectly natural. After all, I've been writing YA for almost as long as I've
been writing romance. In fact my first milestone was to win a place on a
residency co run by the Queensland Writers Centre and Allen&Unwin in 2010
with my teen, fantasy novel The Overlander. Since then, along with several
rural romances, I have written The Overlander Trilogy, a literary novel; The
Silent Ticking and another YA fantasy; In The Beginning. Occasionally I even
have a dabble at poetry.
So, how do I skip from saddles to
skateboards? From outback to urban? And
why. Perhaps the answer lies with my reading. For decades I have read
voraciously. I love to read. I didn't start writing until I was in my forties
and so my reading experience was way ahead of my writing. When I went to school
(in the Dark Ages) I understood genre as falling into five "types".
These being prose, fiction, poetry, drama and lyric. But in my young mind I
conveniently refined them into two. Fiction and nonfiction. I guess it was a
mindset that I never grew out of. I have read acres of books utterly oblivious
to classification. And so, when I write,
I have no problem travelling from one genre to the next. Indeed, it is
only very recently that I have been forced to deal with the whole genre
concept.
When I get an idea for a book I just go
with it. For instance, The Children Of The Mist came to me after a conversation
with my paranormal crazy daughter. It started with a question. "How would
you feel if you woke up on your 16th birthday and discovered you had become a
vampire?" And so, Morven Smith was born. When I'd finished, I had to sit
down and work out which genre it was a fit for. Not a smart way to write I
know, but that's just how it is.
So, as I loved to roam and read in an
uninhibited style, so too I like to write without boundaries. Some people ask
"why change genres?" and I say "why not?".
***
Born in Britain, I arrived in Australia as a young woman in 1985 for an impromptu holiday and never left. I fell in love with the Australian bush, its unique flora and fauna and the colourful personalities that inhabit the country. I live on a small acreage close to Toowoomba with my family, dogs, cats and ponies.
I love to write. I write rural romance, young adult and, more recently, literary fiction. When I'm not writing, I'm reading, walking or riding my Connemara pony, Romeo. Rural romance is a natural extension of my passion for all things country. I believe that romance is the universal language of love. And besides, I'm a sucker for a happy ending.
Jenny around the web: Facebook Twitter Website Author Page
The Children Of The Mist
An original paranormal YA about an unconventional girl, an unconventional boy, their extraordinary
When skater girl Morven Smith turns sixteen, she develops boobs, acute appendicitis...and a pair of pointy teeth. While she is stunned by her metamorphosis into vampire, her best mate, the enigmatic Zest, is not. For the young werewolf, Morven’s transformation is an answer to his lonely prayers.
But they are unable to celebrate their mutual paranormalcy for long — there are too many dangers, too much suspicion, and too many questions. It’s only in Scotland that Morven can learn the truth about her past. But she discovers more than she bargained for when she meets her birth family — an ancient feud between vampires and werewolves. They may both be Children of the Mist, but only one species can survive.
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A Kindle copy
giveaway of THE CHILDREN OF THE MIST for one commenter.
***
Why not indeed? Jenny you're a woman after my own heart! I read a wide variety of genres too. For now I'm sticking with one writing genre, but I don't know what the future will hold.
How about you? Do you like reading and writing widely or do you prefer to stick with one?
