I like science fiction, but not writing it so much. I enjoy Star Wars, the Matrix, and Terminator, but have trouble feeling at home in such alien worlds. I always feel as if I am pretending, which for me feels inauthentic. Nevertheless, I always end up adding fanciful elements to my writings. My stories often take place in the world that I am familiar with, and then science fiction/dream/fantasy/adventure elements are added into that. I'm currently working on a novel about a guy who finds a robot in a nearby lake here in Minnesota. The story is principally about the protagonist's life and how the robot provides new insights into his life and relationships and considerations of the effect of machines on our Industrialized society, not so much about the science of robotronics. It takes place in the city of Minneapolis in the present day.
The story I want to work on for the NaNoWriMo project is like an adventure tale where three friends embark on a quest to win a treasure (via winning a scavenger hunt) and thus pocket 200 million dollars. While the genre might be called "adventure," the story really concerns the transformations and insights that these three friends experience as they work through this quest and its challenges. In many ways, they are like the four hobbits in the Lord of the Rings, but in a much more "realistic" kind of scenario.
So, I see my stories as more mainstream, but with elements of other genres to shake things up a bit. Will I ever get published? Well, perhaps I shouldn't worry about that and just keep writing.
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