As a fiction writer, I found the genre I wanted to write quickly and without hesitation; Contemporary fiction both young adult and not. Fantasy novels aren't as intriguing to me as a real story with realistic characters that I could latch onto.

This idea has been the guiding fire in my writing. Real stories with real people with lessons that you didn't need an apocalyptic scenario to tell.

It's odd since I myself am a huge proponent of superheroes and comic books. But the love for the superhero genre didn't appear until I was very deep into more realistic stories.

Growing up in elementary school, friends of mine and I would sit down in the after school daycare and sit with the same Harry Potter book and read together and talk about the story.

Don't get me wrong, Harry Potter was a favorite. I enjoyed reading the books and have plenty of good memories with them.

After that, I didn't read much. There were plenty of books on the bookstore shelves that were all about fantasy and different worlds but I didn't want to pick them up. I was happier with my Gameboy and DS.

This lasted for a while until I was introduced to stories by authors such as David Levithan or John Green. These stories were about real teenagers dealing with teenager things. They weren't going out of there way to save entire civilizations. Most of them were dealing with love and other things regarding it.

Soon after I read stories such as "The Fault In Our Stars" and "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" the idea of such romantic stories enthralled me. I loved them. They became what I scribbled in the margins of my math notes and the books I kept all the time in my locker.

As National Novel Writing Month, a month-long challenge in which writers both novice and experienced attempt to chug out the 50,000 word draft of a novel, comes to its mid-point; I am reminded of why I write the genre I do.

I enjoy telling real stories because I have this fantasy I think about, where I'm much older than I am now and a young person picks up one of my stories. I think about the rough times that they will endure when growing up. I think about, and hope, that one of my stories has the honor of being a book that the person holds onto as they grow up. That they relate so much to the character and take a moment to tell themselves it will be alright.

I want my story to be one that kids pass on to their kids who pass on to their kids.

This idea of my work being something that people pass on down the generational tree far outweighs the idea of any movie deal or salary.

Every time I write a new story, participate in a challenge to write a new book, I think about this.