Guest post written by author Shane Wilson
Shane Wilson is a storyteller. No matter the medium, the emphasis of his work is on the magical act of the story, and how the stories we tell immortalize us and give voice to the abstractions of human experience. His first two contemporary fantasy novels, set in his World of Muses universe, are currently available.
Born in Alabama and raised in Georgia, Shane is a child of the southeastern United States where he feels simultaneously at-home and out-of-place. He graduated from Valdosta State University in south Georgia with a Masters in English. He taught college English in Georgia for four years before moving to North Carolina in 2013. Shane plays guitar and writes songs with his two-man-band, Sequoia Rising. He writes songs as he writes stories–with an emphasis on the magic of human experience. He tends to chase the day with a whiskey (Wild Turkey 101) and a re-run of The Office.
Shane’s novels are A Year Since the Rain (Snow Leopard Publishing, 2016) and The Smoke in His Eyes (GenZ Publishing, 2018). Shane’s short story, “The Boy Who Kissed the Rain” was the 2017 Rilla Askew Short Fiction Prize winner and was nominated for a 2018 Pushcart Prize.
I have spent the last seven years or so writing magical realism/contemporary fantasy novels all set in the same shared universe—what I call the World of Muses. The World of Muses now includes two published novels, a forthcoming third novel, a drafted and unrevised fourth novel, a short story, and a stage production.
Seven years ago, I looked at a blank page and saw endless possibility. That’s when I began writing my first novel, A Year Since the Rain. At the time, I believed the story to be a completely standalone novel, but I fell in love with the mythology I started to build there. When that novel was published and it was time to start working on a second, I returned to that sandbox. It wasn’t immediately clear that I was writing another story set in the same shared universe, but the rules and logic of the novel were similar, and soon, I was embracing the idea of the shared universe.
Now, I’ve spent nearly a decade working in this space. I have grown to love the World of Muses, but I believe my time there is almost done. I think the two novels I’ve written that aren’t published yet finish the story of the World of Muses in a satisfying way, and so I think it’s time to move on to a new sandbox and find a new blank canvas.
As I write this, I am dipping my toe into a completely new story. There is no back-catalog of novels to contend with. There is no pre-existing mythology that I have to work inside of. I can do whatever I want, and I’m really loving this feeling. Maybe what happens is a new universe emerges here. Maybe not. Maybe I write standalone novels now. Who knows? All I know is that finishing a project and moving on to the next blank page is a daunting and exhilarating feeling.
As for my next project, I have decided on something that on the surface seems completely new, but upon further inspection, it’s probably closer to my roots than I originally thought.
I’m writing a horror story.
I’ve long been fascinated with horror. I grew up reading horror, and I love the twisted ideas and stories that can be told in the genre. And the more I think about it, the more horror makes sense as my next step. It’s really not far off from contemporary fantasy/ magical realism. In the latter, things always seem a bit off. There is magic in people. In my contemporary fantasy, that magic is used for good.
But there is magic in horror, too. There are unexplainable phenomena, witchcraft, voodoo, and a slew of other dark magic systems to work with. On a literary level, this magic affords the same opportunities to the writer as the magic in contemporary fantasy. It allows for a more unique exploration of human nature. When characters in my fantasy novels ran up against magic, the fun was in seeing how they reacted. The same will go, I think, for horror.
I say all of that to say this: allow yourself the freedom to play in a variety of sandboxes. Allow yourself the opportunities to build new worlds and work in new genres. Challenge your creative muscles to work with something new.
I know there will be nay-sayers—people who think that writing in a different genre will hurt your brand. But for every The Casual Vacancy, there is a Green Mile. I would argue that writing yourself into a corner where you become the Harry Potter woman or the Jack Ryan guy is more dangerous in the long run. Because these stories have shelf lives. Eventually, you’ll have to write something else. You may as well spend some time early on making your brand as diverse as possible.
Ultimately, write what you want to. Don’t feel beholden to any market or reader or brand. If you write what you want to, and you’re genuine and you make sincere and honest art, people readers will come with you on those journeys.
That’s what I’m hoping for, at least.
