Meet the Authors: Gail Ruben

At the meet the authors lecture, Gail Ruben talked about her experiences as a writer and how she came about writing funeral tips. She mentioned that she started writing explanations on planning out funerals early because many people didn't plan out funerals properly or had questions about the process in general. Gail essentially became immersed in funerals and learned about all the different planning methods regarding funerals because there was a much higher demand for funeral planning tips than other types of event planning. Gail originally wanted to work on a book regarding birth celebrations, weddings, and funerals but from the feedback she began working on only funeral planning.

I am curious if other authors, Including Tolkien approached their writing this way. Do other authors choose to write a certain genre because there is a lack of material in circulation or is it because they truly want to write the material from the beginning. Gail enjoys writing about planning funerals and wants people to be aware of what it takes to plan a funeral but that was not her original career choice. Based off Tolkien's work, I assume he wanted to write fantasy stories from the beginning but it is still curious to think about whether he did or not.