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@katthewriter @wolverinerm @bama-rose I feel a little intimidated being the only guy here so far =P

I’m Taylor! When I’m not writing, I’m cooking or playing D&D or war games at my friendly local gaming store. I’m a very wide reader, and I love engaging critically with the media I consume. Not in an “I’m better than you because I think about the things I read” way so much as in an “I obnoxiously make whatever argument I feel like from the text to fulfill my infinite, frantic thirst for control” kind of way.

I used to read mostly fantasy, but these days I read a lot of literary fiction and magical realism, all of which I guess falls vaguely under the umbrella of “contemporary.” The only contemporary story I’ve written is my entry for the past SE contest, which I’d like to workshop with you all and resubmit for regular publication on SE. It’s called Which You Have Ordained, and it’s about a teenage boy dealing with the death of his younger brother, being the only person alive who knew his dead brother’s secret and so feeling like he’s the only one in the world who really knew why his brother died.

@wolverinerm I didn’t realize “soldier stories” was a genre (outside of American Sniper, I guess) but it’s really cool that you’re writing them! I know there’s a ton of ex-military (or current-military) indie authors who write military scifi and stuff like that, but having spent my early childhood on an Air Force base and having a ton of ex-military friends, I would muuuch rather read stories about the people and not just tech and the warfare. Is your title a CCR reference?

@bama-rose I feel like writing fantasy is something a ton of guys—and, well, maybe “less social” girls?—get into at a young age, especially in Christian and homeschooling circles. I know that when I tried reading more contemporary stories as a homeschooled middle schooler, I felt lost because I had no contact with the outside world =P At least when I read Redwall or The Dark is Rising, I was immersed in something that I was intended to be a stranger to. I’m older now, and have a bit more life experience, and I find fantasy doesn’t grab me in the same way it used to. A few of my IRL writing friends and even a couple writing YouTubers I watch have gone through the same thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if a good number of the fantasy writers on SE move away from it as they grow older. You’re just ahead of the curve =P