Monday Update on Aurumenas

Cailen didn't say anything. He just rubbed circles on my back and pressed his cheek against the top of my head. His silence urged me on. "When I left Sho'ful, I thought...well, I didn't know what to think. To be honest, I didn't put much thought into my escape, but I definitely did not think I'd start shooting fire and air out of my hands, and that some crazy little man would say I'm some prophesied Destructor, or that I have to worry about not killing people when sometimes that's all I want to do..." It was the longest speech of my life, and I didn't know how to finish it. I became aware of the muscles in Cailen's arms tightening around me and I was immediately ashamed. I had admitted to being a monster; the worst kind.

Happy Monday, everyone! That little blurb came out of the section in chapter 11 that I just finished working on this morning. That's right--chapter 11. That means I'm right about at the halfway point. A little, but not too much, ahead of schedule. I would like to be a lot ahead of schedule, and to be honest, it looks like I might be soon. As I'm nearing the latter chapters, I'm finding the writing is no longer straight up horse manure. I can actually work with half of what I've got. This means revisions go by much quicker. Yay for me!

On a not so happy note, I'm becoming frustrated. I no longer feel confident in knowing the genre of my book. Let me explain. I've done a LOT of research on genres and sub genres, so for the longest time I was quite confident that Aurumenas was an Epic Fantasy. Though it's set in a sci-fi military world with interstellar battleships, laser weapons, etc., the gist of the book is the war between Good and Evil (Epic Fantasy), with some really kick butt fairies. But then I started thinking about how I explain the rules in my book and there's the rub. Everything is explained scientifically. The fairies (known as the Auri) have special abilities, but it's not magic. They produce a special chemical that allows them to manipulate the elements.

So now I'm wondering if I should claim my book is science fiction, and not fantasy. And there's more to frustrate me, dear readers, much more. My MC is seventeen. I had thought that despite the young age of my MC, some of the content (such as faces being ripped off during the battle scenes, and other instances) was too adult. But I've been reading more and more YA lately, and that stuff doesn't seem to be beyond the realm of young adult fiction. So now I'm wondering if my book CAN be classified as YA and if it SHOULD be. And also, is it automatically YA just because my MC is seventeen? I'm writing this in first person now and that seems to be the viewpoint of most YA literature. Not that adult literature doesn't feature that viewpoint, but if I stay in the head of a 17 year old girl throughout the entire book, it seems like I've now written YA.

And honestly, part of me would love to get on the YA bandwagon. But my mind is too muddled to find clear answers to these frustrations. I need help.

Please! Please, dear readers! Tell me your thoughts! I beg you!

~Emily White