About a month ago I finally released the book "The Willow Arboretum", which is my first foray into Children's Fantasy. It is also the second book that I co-wrote with my daughter JoAnna. So far the feedback from friends and family has been positive. It's a book that I am proud of, not just because working with JoJo is a lot of fun, but also because it has been a lifelong dream to write fantasy.
I grew up reading everything fantasy that I could get my hands on. Stuff like "Dragon Lance", "Forgotten Realms", "The Elric Saga", and a bunch of others. I enjoyed all of them, but the two that made the biggest impacts on me were J.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I did enjoy the darker fantasy of Elric and although most people didn't appreciate it, I thought "The Chronicles of Amber" were totally awesome. Although not completely family friendly, as there is violence in both Narnia and Middle Earth, they were along the lines of something that I could easily see myself doing.
For years I had tried to write fantasy. Thinking that because I was a good DM, this wouldn't be an issue. But creating a D&D campaign and creating a whole universe is a totally different story. If you borrowed from other universes it was cool in a campaign, but not so when writing. I found that my early attempts at writing fantasy were too similar to whatever I had just read. So, it was put on the back burner for a later attempt.
About 2 years ago my daughter and I went to the Taltree Arboretum outside of Valparaiso, Indiana. It was a great place with lots of walking trails, fairy houses, and animals and trees. My daughter remarked that you could easily write a book about it. That was it! She had wanted to write about fairies for years, and I was looking for a setting for a children's fantasy novel, so it worked out perfectly. A few years later and we finally had our own fantasy universe.
I am proud of what we created. I think that if given the chance it could be the next great fantasy series. My plans are to keep it as family friendly as possible. Funny coming from a guy whose last novel was as violent and as X-rated as you could get! But I have a strong feeling about this. We have already story-boarded out at least 10 more stories. The next one should be out by November/December.
My idea for the books are for them to be bed-time stories for parents to read to their children. I think the positive images in the stories will help churn the creative juices of kids while they sleep and give them good dreams. We all need an escape to a place like that, no matter what age we are.