Writing is not always about having something profound to say. When I was younger, I wanted my words to have the deep complexity that I found in novels by John Steinbeck or Charles Dickens. The problem is that my crafted words sounded exactly that: crafted.
Throughout college, my short stories received attention in class. I may have won an award or two. My writing style with short stories was direct, to the point, with very few metaphors.
Fast forward to present day. In the midst of a pandemic where reality is sometimes too much to bear, I’ve taken my short story approach to my novels. These books will never match the length and detail of George R.R. Martin. But they are the stories I want to tell: stories with echoes of #MeToo, stories about overcoming adversity, stories where there is an HEA even if it isn’t always realistic.