How cool, to switch up genres! The great thing about fantasy and sci-fi is that they're hyper-real in a lot of ways. They're not sparkly foo-foo magic—they're an amazing arena for exploring really gritty and relevant real-life (or near-future) themes or fears in a world comfortably removed from our own.

Isaac Asimov wrote about robots, and also about what it means to be human. (Speaking of that theme, BBC's Humans is really cool.) Michael Crichton explored people as much as he explored awe-inspiring scientific developments. Fantasy and sci-fi are really, really great places for very human stories. It's just that the stakes tend to be higher. Family, friendships, and relationships are awesome themes that you could definitely carry over into a fantasy world if they consistently inspire you, but family and friendship amidst interplanetary war or relationships with literal lightyears between them add a bit of flavor.

All the best to you in your prep this year!

I'm trying some new things this year, but not quite as big as exploring a new genre! I tend to write character-focused fantasy and sci-fi, but one of my favorite themes is Individual vs. Institution (and all the possible flavors of that!), and I want to try something brand new. I also (rather terrifyingly) am going to be dealing with a much bigger timeline than I'd anticipated. Normally, when I write novels, they take place over a few weeks at most. I think this one is going to span years of the protagonist's life, and I'm not sure how I feel about that, yet.