My thoughts on AI are quite clear. But I do enjoy seeing how AI mucks things up, such as the steam from some distant caboose rather than, you know, the engine. 🙂 Bo says that’s cosmic propulsion, lol.

Welcome back my fellow creatives!

As storytellers, we are keen to be unique. We want to our stories to be special, the tales readers love rereading and sharing with others. We love the idea of being the one who creates something readers never knew before, that they love getting lost in OUR story.

I’ve been developing my current WIP since Biff and Bash were toddlers. Granted, was merely an odd assortment of notes, the occasional song or two. Any free time was spent on my Fallen Princeborn and Shield Maiden series instead, while this WIP–named Race the Crying Sky at the time–lay dormant.

2024 brought me to a hard reality: There will never be a “quiet time” to write. If I truly want to tell stories, then I must make that time NOW.

Do I return to my Princeborn series? Not until I can buy the rights back for my first book.

Do I return to my Shield Maiden series? …I could, but there are also soooooooooo many girl-centric stories in the market already…

I also had that short story series with Pips Row, which really could be a lot of fun. A rookie cop stuck in a rural town trying to deal with all the ins and outs of its quirky magic-weilding residents. But Blondie did NOT like the premise of a story I felt was inspired by her, soooo to the desk drawer it went (for now).

And there was Race the Crying Sky staring up at me.

And it got me thinking…why not?

Though the notes were old, the inspiration was certainly still with me: Biff and Bash. Still bickering. Still telling stories. Still fighting. Still laughing.

Still brothers.

Brothers who had crept closer to the age of my protagonists.

And though the love of trains had ebbed a bit, the love of space, of adventure, of the bizarre and the absurd–that was all still there.

So yes.

Why not trains in space? Why not Line the Stars?

So I began my research, gathering anything about trains and the cosmos my library could offer.

And then I found this…

A fictional trilogy about trains in space.

NOOOO! Now what could I do!?!? Philip Reeve is a powerhouse writer in Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction. How could I possibly compete with his storytelling about trains in space?

But then I remembered something from the Book Proposal post I wrote a while back. Part of a strong proposal includes sharing titles that can complement your book as well as compete with it. Van Cleave in particular highlighted that exploring the market helps you better understand what didn’t sell as well as how the current fiction trends are running. If you feel that there are just too many damn space-train stories out there, there’s nothing wrong with finding a new approach, and that is far easier to do in the brainstorming stage of the writing journey than, say, the editing stage.

Jane Friedman also covered this kind of analysis a while back on her blog. By doing this field research in publishing, you can prove that your book has the potential to appeal to readers. After all, if no one else had written a book about space trains, how the heck could I prove to an agent or publisher that MY book would hook readers? I’d need titles of other works to prove that kind of special interest is present.

It’s a legitimate fear many of us writers face: the fear of someone else utilizing our idea before we get the chance, and doing a stellar job with it, to boot. But today I’m reminded that readers love certain kinds of stories. Bo doesn’t own one Marx Brothers history, but several. Blondie doesn’t own one dragon series, but several. I don’t own one kind of cozy mystery, but several. Readers will happily purchase the same kind of story from various authors. Just look at how many reimaginings of different fairy tales and myths are out in bookstores now. And I readily admit that my debut novel was a part of that, being heavily influenced by Beauty and the Beast. One thing can inspire many. That doesn’t mean we have to fight over who gets to use their inspiration.

That realization brought relief to my heart, let me tell you. But I still want to make sure my brainstorming doesn’t bring me toooo close to Reeve’s creation. So next month, let’s take a look at the opening chapters of Railhead to see how he–and I–don’t just build a world. We build galaxies. 🙂

However, we must first have the January podcast. I’ve also got an interview lined up for February, some antagonist music, aaaaaaaand some revamping to mark ten years on WordPress. Ten!!!!

Read on, share on, and write on, my friends!