Genealogy and the Generations Series

I am writing a new series that I am happy to announce is titled GENERATIONS. The series title pretty much explains the theme. This is a whole other writing experience for me. I chose to do this for a couple of reasons, first being I want to continue evolving and improving as a writer. My career writing focus has been on novels. I know how to do that with ease but writing short stories or it's big brother, novellas has never been my forte. What prompted me to write them, you ask? Well, I have seen a sad but very real trend in our culture that I believe affects the literary community. People have much shorter attention spans these days. Sound bites and video snippets, social media and the fast pace, hurry up push has played havoc with our mental ability, patience and endurance. Writing has reflected this as well as every other aspect of our culture. We scurry around when walking, drive faster, talk faster and multitask in a frenzied rush. So when it comes to reading whether for academic reasons, business or pleasure, we want it short and sweet. Concise is today's desired format. Now I have some reservations whether or not concision is a good thing when it comes to good storytelling for fiction. Of course you can over do it even in a fictional story but the pendulum can swing to far to either side. I admit, I'm a word person and can work that thing a bit much at times. So learning to downsize my storytelling style some is hopefully a good thing.

Recently I read a very good Ken Follet novel of 987 pages. A friend said to me, "I wouldn't even pick up a novel that long, let alone try to read one." Another associate told me those long drawn out novels are literary dinosaurs. I was shocked because I love those long epic novels that span decades or even centuries and take me through lengthy excitement with engaging characters. Si I question if that is just one person's opinion and not a general reality. Yet, I suspect I'm a bit of a dinosaur myself. Reading some of the reviews of the Follett novel I noticed several complaints about the length although they say they really liked the story. Others had the nerve to just come out and say it should have been a lot shorter...ah...says who...you? Writers tell their stories as the tale comes to them, not as you'd like so you can hurry along. Sure, we need to edit and refine the story but in today's literary world you have to write your story solely based on length and public approval. I guess that's the business aspect of writing, but that's a whole other topic for another blog. Bottom line, for today's quick fix, low attention span, in a rush mentalities, shorter is definitely deemed better and that is the aspect of my craft I want to master.

Okay, even with blogs you have to watch how long you make them and this one is getting a bit long so I'll finish this up as quick as I can. The other reason this is a change for me is the theme. GENERATIONS focuses on generational connections of several families and how God weaves His will and spiritually interacts through our genealogical threads. Those who came before us and will come behind us do matter in the Divine scheme of His plans and purpose. Genealogy is much more than just your origin nationality, hair color or skin tone. The spiritual DNA is active in everything concerning us and with eternal consequences.

Also, I have begun a quest to find more information about my own family history. I want to explore my roots and dig into my genealogy more. Eventually I want to write about the relatives who came before me. Finding one's roots is a lot easier in the 21st century. We are blessed to have the technology to reveal our DNA and track down long ago Ancestors. Going back as far as I can is definitely high on my bucket list. My fantasy would be to have Dr. Louis Gates Jr. pull out all the stops and find my roots for me. That would indeed be a mind blowing experience. Just the things I have heard about my ancestors through the family grapevine shows my relatives on both sides has an awesome history.

I hope you check out the first novella of the series. Let me know what you think. Telling these intricate stories in one hundred pages or less is a serious challenge for a word loving lady like myself. In future blogs I will take you on this new writing journey with me, telling you about what I have experienced and learned and how I'm trying to hone my craft in writing shorter stories. You can purchase LAND and LEGACY which is GENERATIONS ONE on Kindle, and soon on Nook, as an eBook only for now but hopefully in the future they will be available in hard copy.

HAPPY READING!