Being a Better Writer: When a Genre Takes Over · 5:13pm Monday
Welcome writers, to another Monday installment of Being a Better Writer! We’ve got an intriguing writing discussion for you today, but first we must discuss the elephant in the room. Or rather, the dragon in the room.
That’s right, at long last the sequel to the best-selling YA Fantasy Axtara – Banking and Finance, about a young dragon setting out to open up her own bank, is out!
Axtara – Magic and Mischief is now available in digital ebook, with paperback copies available in the coming months (paperbacks require print proof runs, so they take a little longer). But it’s here! It’s out! And you can check out Axtara’s latest adventure right now at this link! Or just click the cover over there.
As you might gather from the title, Axtara – Magic and Mischief sees readers return to the Kingdom of Elnacier, where things have finally settled into a comfortable banking rhythm for Axtara. Naturally, of course, they don’t stay that way for long, and our friendly banking dragon soon finds herself perplexed by a series of strange withdrawals. Worse, just as she begins her investigation into the cause, an encounter with an Ancient magic leaves her entire world turned on its head.
Trapped in an unfamiliar form, Axtara will need every talent and skill at her disposal to get to the bottom of things in Magic and Mischief, available now!
Okay, got your copy? Or if not of Magic and Mischief, of Banking and Finance so you can give Magic and Mischief a read later? Good! Then let’s talk about today’s topic. Which might seem a little odd, and I’m certain some upon seeing that title envisioned something a little different, but … Trust me, it’ll make sense.
The genesis of this post starts with a reader contacting me to ask about another book they’d read, inquiring as to if I’d read it or knew much about it. It was one of those big summer tentpole releases, where it was from a new author for the publisher and had been promoted like mad. To the degree that some of you will probably be able to guess what title it was purely based off of that description.
Now, I hadn’t actually read it, but I they wanted to talk with me about it anyway. They weren’t the first to do this, mind. I had a lot of people bring this book up with me that year, wondering what my reaction was. Because each of them had seen the massive advertising blitz, read it, and then thought “Was that it?”
That had been the universal reaction from everyone I encountered who’d read it. “That’s it?” To this date, actually, I’ve not seen any reader talk about it more than “It was okay I guess, but not great” terms.
So yeah, not unusual in a tentpole release.
But this reader, the one who kicked off the post, had been interested if I’d read it because they codified very cleanly what a bunch of other readers I’d heard talking about it had sort of danced around but hadn’t found words to articulate.
‘Hey,’ they asked me. ‘Is it just me, or was this YA book an erotica book with all the naughty parts cut out?’
