Hey cHEwY gum gums!

I’ve got a few more school visits left in this Book Season before I’m freeeeee to play Borderlands 3 on my Xbox One X hohohohoho

But before I get there, it’s back to my Frequently Asked Questions by kids (and adults). Will I ever write a serious book? I think what they mean is will I ever write another genre outside of comedy,

The short answer is…maybe.

I’ve always been comfortable with the humour tag. Yet at the same time, I admire authors who can write across genres and age ranges. Michael Gerald Bauer, Andrew Daddo and Fleur Ferris comes to mind. Then there are the authors who are have taken a detour into another genre and have etched out a new sub category. Tristan Bancks took a risk with Two Wolves, and has now written three thrillers including with his latest book, Detention. Similarly, Felice Arena was known for his sporting titles like Specky McGee, but he has now released three historical action books set around Europe. His latest The Great Escape is going gangbusters.

For Tristan and Felice, these books were the ones that they were yearning to write. I remember all those years ago in Perth, when Tristan told me about his new adventure with Two Wolves. It was a passion project, after writing a ton of funny books in the My Life/Tom Weekly series.

I get it that authors want to challenge themselves. They want to grow and evolve as a writer, as well as stay relevant in their career (more on that in a future blog). I think authors also want to keep their readership. For example, readers of Anh Do’s Weirdo books can grow and move onto Wolf Girl.

But I don’t ever want to write a ‘serious’ or YA book for the sake of it. I can think of two authors who were known for funny stuff have a crack at writing serious YA and it didn’t get much traction (I’ll never tell haha).

I’m happy to be a funny author forever, but like I mentioned in a previous blog, a few of my books have slightly evolved into more ‘serious’ stories with heavy themes dealt in a light manner, such as The Other Christy (plugplugplug).

But at this stage, all I have are ideas for funny books. But I am open to hearing other voices that could lead to something completely different. Just thinking about that makes me excited hehe.

O.W