Currently I am of course working diligently on my novel, crime novel, novel with crime elements – or which genre I can and would like to assign my story to. Well, I think this time it’s going quite clearly in the direction of crime novels. However, again the characters are very clearly in the foreground. It’s like it is: a story is told by the characters. That’s the way it is when you watch a movie as well. For me, movies or series are especially valuable when the characters can develop, are multifaceted and the plot develops around them. This is how my crime novel – I just call it that, end of story – is told: through the eyes of the protagonist.
On another thing recently, I deliberately chose a genre: that of fantasy novels. Interestingly, I never thought of myself as a fantasy fan. Which is frankly quite nonsense. There are an incredible number of fantasy films that have always accompanied me. From classics such as Alice in Wonderland, Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter to animated films such as Spirited Away. Of course, I also read one or the other Terry Pratchett novel. As a child, I never wanted to be anything other than a witch at Carnival. Witches know a lot, have power and can help others. Not to mention the supernatural abilities. I think what often scared me off in fantasy was when it was either too serious or too little. A fantastic world in which the characters behave the way people behave in everyday life that’s what it takes in my opinion. No exuberant pathos, no thoroughly humor-free characters, no flat characters that do not develop and must not have figural shades. If that doesn’t exist, then the story is authentic and I can feel connected to the characters. I think this is also one of the reasons why Game of Thrones or the Witcher are so successful, apart from the cool stories.
But as much as I am honest with myself and now call myself a small to medium-sized fantasy fan, I wouldn’t dare writing a fantasy novel myself. The proverbial creation of worlds, as authors do, is a very different order of magnitude in the fantasy genre. Of course, there are elements that appear in almost all stories, such as wizards or seers. Nevertheless, it is much more complex here. Just consider all the skills that these characters have and how they can be reversed by other characters‘ abilities. One advantage here would certainly be to deal more with these issues in general. In other words, the interests are almost exclusively in the fantasy genre.
But anyway, I was curious and therefore decided to make a small trip to Nerdville, the Nerdshire, Geektown. I’m writing a fantasy short story but I don’t want to put so much pressure on myself. Rather, it should be a hobby. So, I thought about writing a paragraph every now and then. The main characters as well as the rough idea are already in place. You can read the story bit by bit on Instagram.
Martina Writes 