Hey guys, sorry for the late response.
Stargazer - I've heard of NaNoWriMo, but didn't really know what it was; I have a friend who is a writer, and she was starting to tell me about what she was doing with it, but then she went off to college and disappeared faster than Polly in MN.
So thanks for the info! I think I might just have to give it a shot this year!
Cleander - I am right there with you on the "works in progress".
And if you do historical fiction - and especially medieval historical fiction - you've got to check out a channel called "Shadiversity" on YouTube! This guy out of Australia does really deep, detailed analyses of how the medieval period is depicted in fiction (misconceptions, historical inaccuracies etc.). He also does stuff related to how that translates to a fantasy world with magic and dragons, like what weapons would be best suited to centaurs, minotaurs, etc. how to fight giants, orcs, etc. as a human, and all kinds of great stuff. Sorry, you mentioned historical fiction, and then dragons, which reminded me of one of his funny slogans: "what about dragons?" (you'd have to see it to get why that's funny
).
And last but certainly not least, Ryadian - I could say so, so much about what it's like to write text games! It's the perfect balance of writing and coding, two things I love to do. I have one I plan to finish by Halloween, so I'll tell you what: the week it comes out, I'll talk about it over on my blog. This post is getting long enough already, so I probably shouldn't do it here.
And I really like your idea about writing kids' books! My mom said she wanted to do that a long time ago, and hasn't written a word. Her idea was awesome, and I wanted to help her get started, so I wrote a few short stories about her characters. She and the rest of the family loved them, though unfortunately she didn't run with it like I'd hoped. But kids' books are fun, and very memorable - so memorable in fact that we're all members of a forum talking about a 60+ year old series of kids books!
Seriously though, if you're looking for inspiration, look no further than the Voyage of the Dawn Treader! I love the part where Eustace breaks a sword on a sea monster! So I'm sure he would too.
And to answer the question (sorry I don't recall who asked), I write short stories mostly. I'm kind of in the same boat as Ryadian, fighting between writing something big and epic and something a 12-year-old would enjoy. I threw a kid from our world into a fantasy realm where everyone has magic... and he used it to create pizza and turn his brother into a monkey! I've got this epic plot outlined, and my characters have only made it to chapter 3 or 4.
In terms of genre, I do fantasy, sci-fi, and also fan fiction (including several about Narnia). I've dabbled in horror (well, Goosebumps type kid-friendly horror), and occasionally I'll mess with writing music, but sci-fi/fantasy adventure stuff is my favorite.
The truth is, having a day job, I just don't write enough to maintain a consistent train of thought.
I'll come home after 10 hours of writing code, grab a bite to eat, and get in the mood to write. I'll write a bit, and it's fun and entertaining, but has continuity problems - it's not consistent with what I wrote last week, or what I will write the following week. That's why most of my attempts at a novel end up as a collection of short stories. And I don't even know if I can technically even call them that, but that's not gonna stop me from writing!
That's also why I'm finding the text game format works for me As long as I keep track of all the different directions the plot may go, continuity is not an issue. A player may board a ship heading for the Lone Islands one day, and hike to Ettinsmoor in another (and no, I haven't done a Narnia game -
YET).
Anyway, I never even thought to look for writing forums until I saw this one, so I'm looking forward to when things pick up again. Even if I don't do NaNoWriMo - maybe for me it'll be NaNoTxtGMo
- I can't wait.