Is This Novel for You?
I agree with some reviewers that my novel, The Earth Girl and Queen Eliza, is hard to categorize. I thought that would be a good thing—a different and new kind of story that could fit into multiple genres. It’s interesting to me that I have nearly as many one/two star ratings as I do five star ratings. I admit it’s a little disappointing. In my daydreams, everybody in the world loves my work!
So if you’re trying to figure out if this novel will suit your tastes, how can you decide? I would say that the focus of this novel is more about characterization and relationships than it is about constant action and suspense. I dislike books with characters that are flat and basically just names on a page, so I put in a lot of effort to create characters that live and breathe and are complex and flawed. I actually don’t look at much science fiction in my personal reading life. I tend to read and enjoy authors who write about about family and friendships, authors like Anne Tyler, Lisa See, and Kaui Hart Hemmings. I loved The Secret History, by Donna Tartt, because the characters and the friendships in that novel are so real and so detailed. I tried to do something similar in my novel. I’m not saying that my little self-published book is in the same league as Donna Tartt’s work, but that was the idea.
I’m not sure why I wrote a novel that takes place in the future. I think it’s because I like exploring concepts that a setting in the future allows. I loved the story told in the movie Her, because that is such a deeply human story that takes place in the future. Is Earth Girl a typical young adult sci fi dystopian story? Probably not, but I do think that my novel has good pacing and suspense, and it is not just for young adults. My hope is that my readers keep turning the pages because they are curious and worried about the characters as their stories unfold. My main character, Adeena Frias, is strong, smart, searching, and restless. She is not in a constant fight-or-die situation, and she sometimes questions her religious beliefs and wonders about the meaning of life. You may find this boring, or you may love it. Maybe I didn’t quite pull it off. All I can do is put my hard work out there into the world and hope for the best.
So if you’re trying to figure out if this novel will suit your tastes, how can you decide? I would say that the focus of this novel is more about characterization and relationships than it is about constant action and suspense. I dislike books with characters that are flat and basically just names on a page, so I put in a lot of effort to create characters that live and breathe and are complex and flawed. I actually don’t look at much science fiction in my personal reading life. I tend to read and enjoy authors who write about about family and friendships, authors like Anne Tyler, Lisa See, and Kaui Hart Hemmings. I loved The Secret History, by Donna Tartt, because the characters and the friendships in that novel are so real and so detailed. I tried to do something similar in my novel. I’m not saying that my little self-published book is in the same league as Donna Tartt’s work, but that was the idea.
I’m not sure why I wrote a novel that takes place in the future. I think it’s because I like exploring concepts that a setting in the future allows. I loved the story told in the movie Her, because that is such a deeply human story that takes place in the future. Is Earth Girl a typical young adult sci fi dystopian story? Probably not, but I do think that my novel has good pacing and suspense, and it is not just for young adults. My hope is that my readers keep turning the pages because they are curious and worried about the characters as their stories unfold. My main character, Adeena Frias, is strong, smart, searching, and restless. She is not in a constant fight-or-die situation, and she sometimes questions her religious beliefs and wonders about the meaning of life. You may find this boring, or you may love it. Maybe I didn’t quite pull it off. All I can do is put my hard work out there into the world and hope for the best.
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