Dream Big
I have a confession to make. For the last fifteen years or so I've had a big, impossible writing dream.
Let me set some context. I am a writer. I've been writing since I was eleven, and telling stories since I was probably eight. I have two degrees in creative writing, paid for by my GI Bill and working as a grad student teacher. I write short stories that are too long and novels that are too short. I am most comfortable writing stories set in the modern era with fantasy elements or far in the scifi future. My long-time dream is to become a published writer, and I'm working towards that goal right now, slowly but surely.
But my impossible writing dream is to write a big, chunky, multi-POV high fantasy and publish it with Orbit. There are three problems with this dream:
- I struggle just to reach 50,000 on a novel, much less the 180,000+ needed for a chunky fantasy.
- Trying to write secondary world fantasy always leaves me paralyzed because of how much worldbuilding is needed for even the simplest scene.
- I am closer to a pantser on the plotter-pantser slider scale, and this kind of novel would definitely require a lot more plotting than I am comfortable with. I don't want to get stuck like a certain well-known R.R. author.
But even knowing these weaknesses, I still keep that dream alive because maybe someday I'll overcome. And that hope is a powerful motivator.