David Gulotta's Blog - Posts Tagged "challenges"

As an author, I started off with writing science fiction, with my debut being Crew of Ganges (with the second and third books of my Crucible Spirals trilogy coming soon). I chose this genre because of my interest in science and how it can interface with societal norms and the development of culture. That being said, I have also ventured into the genre of Fantasy with my novel Clockmaker. Why did I choose fantasy? I could have continued on with science fiction, for do I have enough ideas for it to last my lifetime. With science fiction, I have to tread a careful line between speculation and fact, with some room to play with philosophical musings. I wanted to have some extra space in which to develop personal questions, internal dialogue and metaphorical situations. In order to challenge myself further, I did not produce a fantasy novel that has any reference to myth, elves, and other common components found in the genre. Instead, I threw myself into creating impossible paradoxes, bizarre realms with improbable residents to see if I can still tell a coherent story that is relatable by the reader. I wanted to take pure metaphor and give it shape and substance. Some of my Beta-readers called it psychedelic, and yet approachable. The main characters are very odd, yet understandable. They ended up caring about the main character (named Clockmaker) very deeply, and some were emotionally affected by the story. This has encouraged me to continue switching between science fiction and fantasy. One is my favorite playground, the other a new, and exciting amusement park.Clockmaker