A Writing Journey – Part 4 of 8 5
I finished my novella, The Wolf and the Necromancer. It sits at a whopping 18 thousand words (yes, that’s sarcasm). I’ve edited it three or four times. I have no idea if it’s any good.
It is in the hands of my beta reads, a sensitivity reader, and my editor. Now is the time to wait and rest until I get back the notes.
My mother-in-law called me today to talk about it, as she’s one of my beta readers. I wasn’t sure if she’d read it. She’d never read a female/female romance before and I worried she would tell me that she couldn’t finish it, because it made her feel uncomfortable.
She said, “I’m half way through and I think I’m a lesbian.”
I told her that when reading a good sex scene, it didn’t matter who was involved. She’ll be reading all the gay romances before long. I should make her a list.
Of course she wasn’t serious, but it did give me a huge confidence boost. I’ve been in the same heterosexual relationship for longer than I care to share with the class. My own spot in the alphabet soup sometimes get’s muddled. People seem to forget that I choose a person, not a gender. And living in a conservative part of Georgia, it’s easier to not say anything when it comes up… if it ever comes up.
Maybe I’m pushing myself harder than I should to create diverse stories. I sometimes think I’m failing. But, honestly, most of the time, the people in my stories are written the way they show up in my head. The only time I change a character is when they don’t fit when I start writing. Why should I change them to reflect a white washed world? That’s not my world.
I did choose to give more vague character descriptions in The Wolf and the Necromancer. I wanted to give the reader a chance to use their imagination. If you saw my last post “What’s a Deadline?”, I showed my fake cover with the character inspirations. I still shouldn’t be a cover designer.
I’m proud of this novella. When the rights revert back to me, I’ll try to expand upon it and release it back into the wild. Until then, I’ll keep my eye out for a fitting premade book cover.
Stay tuned for next week’s post – the last post – wrapping up this writing journey.
-Lucille
