I’m totally 100% dedicated to my new book. But then I found this anthology I want to submit to. So now what to do?

Do I pause my new fantasy to go down a rabbit hole into speculative historical or do I continue on and ignore the muse in the corner yelling at me?

That’s what I get for poking around for places to submit to I guess. This anthology looks amazing and the topic is fascinating the real issue is the research it’s going to take. How can I justify it?

Here’s my logic. I am currently querying my first book, a contemporary fantasy, which will be a trilogy by my current plot points. However, as the books progress they will be pulling from deeper and deeper levels of history going back to Napoleon and beyond, I’m thinking Plato’s era, dang that’s old. Why not use this historical anthology to plumb deeper into the trilogy I’ve already got going? Bam! No stopping me now.

Do you see it? Speculative historical & contemporary fantasy, it’s like a portal to the same world across time.

So bear with me as I scamper into a short story that will make the rest of a longer series richer and more vibrant. Think of it as my version of Fantastic Beasts in relation to the Harry Potter series, same world, just back in time a bit.

What would your fantasy world be like if you move it by a 100 years or so?

Can this work for you? Think about utilizing some short story markets as a way to delve into your world’s past or future as it relates to your story. Selling those short stories will also give you publishing credentials for querying that bigger story (bonus!).

Happy Questing!