Hi friends!

If you’ve landed on my blog, you probably know a little bit about me already: My name is Kendall McNutt, I wrote a book, and I love stories.

When I am asked about why I write or why I wrote this book, it gives me pause. I have a hard time explaining it. I wrote this story because it was in my head. Because I enjoyed the story. Because I adored the characters. Because it made me happy. I don’t think those are the answers people want. That is why I write, but it doesn’t really explain why I write the types of stories I write.

Recently, I was asked to talk about being a fantasy author.

I thought immediately, “I’m not a fantasy author, am I?”

And then, I realized, I wrote a fantasy novel, safe assumption, I am a fantasy author.

I wondered why, too. How did I become a fantasy author and why?

Before I could find an answer, I waded through a meandering, slow-moving existential crisis on the topic of genre writing. I employed the Kendall Gold Standard that my friends know as “I object to the premise of the question.” I resisted any sort of category, as is my wont.

Eventually, I made it out the other side. With an explanation.

It is true, I will read any genre. I don’t think about genre when I read, or when I write.

It took a lot of thought and reflection before I recognized how often I find myself drawn to stories with magic.

As a kid, I consumed a steady diet of Mercedes Lackey and Robert Jordan. I grew up and discovered Gregory Maguire and George R.R. Martin. I looked for the books I had missed as a child and I read Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. In books, movies, shows, even in games I looked for heroes and monsters and monsters that are actually heroes and heroes that are actually monsters.

I fought against it. I fought hard. But it turns out, I am a fantasy author.

See you soon,

Kendall