But Pippa Writes Fantasy?

But Pippa writes fantasy, not sci-fi?

Right now, my head is saying; ‘write more urban fantasy, you have a spin-off series to do, a sequel to write, fans want more Muse, more demons, more fantasy-esque stuff, more-more-more.’ And I do want to do those things, I will do those things BUT, you know what my heart is saying? Whispering... ‘You know that guilty pleasure of yours, the love of sci-fi? You should write that, because a writer has to follow her heart, else the words won’t flow.’ But this isn’t just about writing what I want to write. There’s no room for sci-fi in my business plan. I’ve not written sci-fi before, and I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t know if there are sci-fi readers out there who will like my style. I don’t know if there’s a market. Honestly, there’s a whole heap of ‘don’t knows.’ If I research the market, I suspect I’ll discover Urban Fantasy sells better to the 18-30 female audience (currently). My business head will say no to sci-fi,...and I’ll do it anyway, but feel worse about it.

Having come to the end of the Veil Series (x5 novels and a novella) and with ‘City of Fae’ in the hands of the publishers, I’ve been stuck in a serious book and reading funk. Everything I read feels flat, everything I write feels flat. ‘You’re burned out’ my writer friend suggested. ‘Take a break.’ She’s a writer, she should know better. Writers don’t take breaks.

I tried to write, and failed. Rubbish. Rubbish. Rubbish. And then, that little whispering voice said, ‘Hey, how about that sci-fi you’ve been thinking about? Maybe try something totally new, something to cleanse the palate?’ I ignored that voice, because my head said, ‘Sit your ass back down and focus.’ After a few days of frustration, I opened a new word.doc and tapped out the opening chapter to Girl From Above told from the main character ‘#1001’s’ point of view. (See it here: http://www.pippadacosta.com/#!girl-fr... ). I didn’t have an outline, or a plan, just one little scene (take note, the Veil Series started exactly the same way). Chapter One done, I slept on it (not literally), and wondered what it would be like to try alternating POV’s in first person perspective. So, the next day, I wriggled into my other main characters head, flexed my fingers, and started typing. And Caleb Shepperd happened. Seriously, happened. In the space of a few chapters, ideas for his character exploded. Suddenly I had to take notes, to scribble a rough story arc, to jump out of bed in the middle of the night and write down his next snappy piece of dialogue. He’s crass, selfish, obnoxious, and a borderline sociopath. He’s such a damn cliché, that even I rolled my eyes, but in the background, secrets bobbed to the surface. His secrets. The other main character, #1001, has secrets too. Caleb’s second-in-command, Fran, is a drug-addict. They’re all frankly messed up in the head, and to top it off, they run illegal cargo, and should be in prison. They’re rude, aggressive, abusive, to the point I already have a warning written, because they will offend. These characters are so morally ambiguous, that I wondered if I had a cast made up entirely of bad guys.

But, the obsession took hold. First draft fever, I call it. When I can’t sleep because the characters are acting out their scenes in my head; when I can’t think about anything else, and I start twitching with need to get typing, just to get the voices out of my head (quickly moving on). I’m now along for the ride, thinking about turning this novel into a series, about covers and editing. And still the ideas are flowing faster than I can write them down.

Writing ‘Girl From Above’ makes zero business sense. It’s a huge risk. And I don’t care. I want to write an action-packed, sexual charged, heart-pounding sci-fi novel. I don’t know if my readers will like it, I don’t even know if they read sci-fi, or if they’ll skip it, because it’s not their usual genre (I hope they give it a chance, because sci-fi isn’t about sci-fi, not really. The same as fantasy isn’t really about fantasy. It’s about the people). I hope my readers will trust me to bring the same dynamics from the Veil Series to Girl From Above.

I’m thrilled, excited, and slightly terrified. But mostly I have a huge grin on my face. Because this is the next Veil Series; I can feel it in my inky-writer veins.

Wish me luck & please comment to let me know I'm not absolutely crazy to do this!

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