Changing Your Mind....HELP

[BmasterofdeathB]

I'm currently working on a novel that I have very high hopes for. This is the one, I can feel it. It's a realistic fiction novel, and I've written two and a half chapters so far. (9,500 words) The characters are finally perfected and everything. The only problem is that my heart has always been set on writing a science fiction/fantasy novel similar to Harry Potter, and I've been thinking about changing the genre, but I don't want to change anything I've written so far. HELP!!!?!?! Any advice?

[Wab]

It's entirely your call but as Alfred Bester said, "the book is boss".

Or as Stephen King put it: "[There is a mistaken] assumption that the writer controls the material instead of the other way around".

And Tara Moss: "You don’t pick the story, the story picks you."

IMO, if the book is working as is, you'd be mad to change it.

[Goddess_Clio]

You'll have years and years to write a sci-fi/fantasy. Write the book that's calling to you now, don't put it off because it's not what you always dreamed of writing. As much as you're thinking everything is perfect, nothing comes out perfectly on the first try. Finish writing what you're writing now. Don't get hung up on the idea of what you wanted to write or what you thought you wanted to write, write what comes out of you.

It may turn out that you don't write sci-fi/fantasy well. That may be the reason this non-sci-fi/fantasy novel is the one that's working out for you. I don't know if you've tried to write sci-fi/fantasy novels before or not but if you tried and kept not being able to finish them that might be telling you something about your natural tendencies in writing. I know that sci-fi/fantasy is very very difficult for me; I do better when I stay very grounded in reality and I have to be very careful to find my in-roads into sci-fi/fantasy stories in order for me to write them and not come off sounding like a fraud. My HP fanfics don't include a whole lot of big spell-casting, I tend to feel incredibly silly writing that kind of thing and when I do write it it ends up sounding really trite and fake, but I'm comfortable writing about classwork and using the idea of non-verbal spells as a way to work magic into my stories. The point is, I recognized that the overt magicalness of the HP world is something I struggle with working in to my own stories so I have to find other ways of doing it.

Sci-fi/fantasy is a hard genre. In order to create something unique you have to put a whole lot of work in on the front end of the project. You'd need to work out the setting/world and the basis for your science or your magic system to start off with. It may include naming systems if your story is not earth-based or somehow linked back to earth or if your story includes an alien race you'll have to come up with a way to name the characters... IMO, it's quite alright to start off your novel-writing career with a more reality-based story.

This first book of yours, genre aside, will give you lots of experience in the process of completing a novel. Use this time to find those areas of writing that you excel at, to find your strengths and see where your weaknesses are. Don't stop writing because it's not what you thought you'd write. Finish the novel. Get feedback from your friends and family - and a publisher if that's where you want to take this - and tell them not to hold back. Let them tell you where they think the story is weak and what they feel you're best at writing and listen to them! They are your reader and they're the ones you have to communicate the story to. If they don't understand something or get lost in too many details or feel there is missing components of the story that's important for you to know. Get to know yourself as a writer and start to explore ways in which you can create those in-roads into the sci-fi/fantasy genre you want to write.

Just don't stop writing!

[AldeberanBlack]

Originally Posted by BmasterofdeathB

I'm currently working on a novel that I have very high hopes for. This is the one, I can feel it. It's a realistic fiction novel, and I've written two and a half chapters so far. (9,500 words) The characters are finally perfected and everything. The only problem is that my heart has always been set on writing a science fiction/fantasy novel similar to Harry Potter, and I've been thinking about changing the genre, but I don't want to change anything I've written so far. HELP!!!?!?! Any advice?

What do you mean, you want to write a novel similar to Harry Potter?

You want to write a story about a boy who discovers he's a wizard?

Why abandon something that's working for something that someone has already done?

[BmasterofdeathB]

No, I don't want to write a novel about a boy who discovers he's a wizard. What I want is for the novel to attract a similar fandom...it wouldn't be about wizards attending a school or anything like that, just somewhat similar. Do you know what I mean there?

Wow! Thanks for the advice!

Wow! Thanks for the advice!

[Desraelda]

You know the old saying ... if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

A friend of mine writes fantasy and does very well at it, but she had this itch to write something in a totally different genre. She set aside her tried and true genre and wasted months of her time trying to be something she's not. She's a fantasy writer and that's what she now sticks to.

I write romance (contemporary, fantasy, historical), but I really, really want to try my hand at a murder mystery. I'm not going to do it until I finish writing my current series and I have some leisure time. It could very well be a failed experiment, but I'll at least get it out of my system and I won't be putting off the wip (work in progress).

[canismajoris]

Originally Posted by Desraelda

You know the old saying ... if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

A friend of mine writes fantasy and does very well at it, but she had this itch to write something in a totally different genre. She set aside her tried and true genre and wasted months of her time trying to be something she's not. She's a fantasy writer and that's what she now sticks to.

I write romance (contemporary, fantasy, historical), but I really, really want to try my hand at a murder mystery. I'm not going to do it until I finish writing my current series and I have some leisure time. It could very well be a failed experiment, but I'll at least get it out of my system and I won't be putting off the wip (work in progress).

On the other hand, if she hadn't tried writing fantasy in the first place she wouldn't even know she could. I'm sure you'll agree that writing is as artistic as anything else, and I believe a crucial aspect of art is experimentation. So who knows if it's really a waste, it may have made her better in a number of intangible ways. There must be a few bad ways to write, but I think ultimately that trying new things is one of many ways to write well.

[AldeberanBlack]

Originally Posted by BmasterofdeathB

No, I don't want to write a novel about a boy who discovers he's a wizard. What I want is for the novel to attract a similar fandom...it wouldn't be about wizards attending a school or anything like that, just somewhat similar. Do you know what I mean there?

Not entirely.

Though I think if your novel is good enough to connect with a readership, you'll get your fans anyway, regardless of how similar it is to Harry Potter.

[BmasterofdeathB]

Excellent advice! I've tried writing a fantasy series before and I do like it, but the novel I'm currently working on is a realistic fiction/romance. I feel that I can write more than one genre, but definitely not all of them!

Yes, that is very true.

[Midnightsfire]

Originally Posted by BmasterofdeathB

I'm currently working on a novel that I have very high hopes for. This is the one, I can feel it. It's a realistic fiction novel, and I've written two and a half chapters so far. (9,500 words) The characters are finally perfected and everything. The only problem is that my heart has always been set on writing a science fiction/fantasy novel similar to Harry Potter, and I've been thinking about changing the genre, but I don't want to change anything I've written so far. HELP!!!?!?! Any advice?

Reality is a shifty shifty thing...

I am still writing some stuff..sci-fi/fantasy that seems to have promise, but my focus was on very specific material. (Palladium books, Rifts' series to be precise), but I've differentiated on a lot of it so that it can stand on its own. (and thrown at another publisher ) And curiously, I do have a school and university of magic of a sort mixed in.

Now, I don't get that your heart is telling you two things. hm.. Seems conflicting. But perhaps you haven't written enough that can't be changed in some ways while keeping to the core of the story. The outline should be basic enough. The details are a matter of wording. (eg. Is the witch an "elder" or a "crone?" Both words are similar, but each carries a different connotation. ("Seductress" or an "enchantress?") Words that can be used that are essentially the same, but flavor an idea differently.

[Desraelda]

Originally Posted by canismajoris

On the other hand, if she hadn't tried writing fantasy in the first place she wouldn't even know she could. I'm sure you'll agree that writing is as artistic as anything else, and I believe a crucial aspect of art is experimentation. So who knows if it's really a waste, it may have made her better in a number of intangible ways. There must be a few bad ways to write, but I think ultimately that trying new things is one of many ways to write well.

Yes, experimentation but within parameters. I write romance and my first love is historical/medieval. That's what I started out writing. But I was asked to do a flash fiction piece for a blog and felt I couldn't do justice to an historical in that short space. I switched to fantasy romance and found that worked very well. When the same blog asked me to do another one a year later, I stayed with fantasy romance.

After I did fantasy, I decided to branch out into contemporary romance and that's my current series. My next series will be romantic suspense although I would love to write a straight mystery.

I also experimented with different time periods and even wrote one from the male POV (which may be a failure ... too early to tell).

So there are ways to experiment and mix things up without going polar opposite.

[asdfasdf17]

Originally Posted by BmasterofdeathB

I'm currently working on a novel that I have very high hopes for. This is the one, I can feel it. It's a realistic fiction novel, and I've written two and a half chapters so far. (9,500 words) The characters are finally perfected and everything. The only problem is that my heart has always been set on writing a science fiction/fantasy novel similar to Harry Potter, and I've been thinking about changing the genre, but I don't want to change anything I've written so far. HELP!!!?!?! Any advice?

If I were you, I'd experiment with ideas and see if changing an aspect of the story to be more sci-fi/fantasy would work or make it more interesting. If your finding that it doesn't work at all with what you already have, than I'd recommend just keeping the book they way it is. You can always work on a sci-fi or fantasy novel later in the future, or you could just put the current one aside to start on the other novel if your heart is really no longer in this story.