These Fridays Just Keep Rolling Around, Don't They?

Today I had lunch with the lovely Casey, a friend of mine from Sirens. For those of you who don't know, Sirens was a fantasy conference I attended in October for four days, in Vail, CO. Last year we talked about women warriors. Right up my alley!

I always love meeting up with Casey for lunch or an event. We have such a great time together. We're both writers, both total nerds, and we have the same sassy, sarcastic kind of humor. It's also nice to be able to unload some of those writing insecurities on someone who understands them.

Today I told Casey about some of my worries regarding The Novel. Are people bored of quests? Are coming of age novels passé? I wouldn't say that that is all The Novel is about, but both are certainly strong components. Are people, I wanted to know, not going to be interested in a story about a girl who needs to grow-up and the journey that helps her do it because they've already read Tamora Pierce, Shannon Hale and Gail Carson Levine (among so many others!) doing it brilliantly? Has this book been written too many times?

The conclusion we came to was, no, it hasn't. These aren't original concepts. That doesn't mean it isn't completely possible to come at them in a new and interesting way.

I think people want a character they can root for. But, perhaps more importantly, they want a character they can relate to. Which means characters with flaws, anxieties, needs, and room to grow. The point of a story is to take a character on a journey from the start of the book to the finish. The events of a journey, or even of everyday life, change us. If a book ends with the exact same main character it had when it began, it wasn't a success in my eyes.

So yes, my heroine, Gem, goes on a quest. She comes of age. But as long as I keep my story well-paced, my characters interesting, and my plot different and exciting? People will want to read my story anyway. I know Casey wants to, anyway. That's one.