A Writer’s Role, A Father’s Responsibility

We are delighted to host the latest stop on Jeff Norton‘s blog tour for MetaWars: Freedom Frontier.
The thrilling final instalment of the action-packed METAWARS series.
With the Guardians and Millennials eliminated, Jonah and Sam are left to fend for themselves. When they discover their enemy, Granger, is also on his own they take the ultimate leap of faith and join forces to survive…and save humanity. The future of the world on and off-line is at stake and Jonah will not stop until he prevails.
Even if it means making the ultimate sacrifice.
One of my favourite things about walking into a bookshop with my son (Caden, aged four) is when he spots one of my books. “Dadda, look, your book!” he squeals, often accompanied by a feverish pointing and jumping up and down. But the satisfaction is tempered with sadness, since I know he’s years away from enjoying the book himself.
We’re still in the picture books and early readers phase, and while I would never wish this precious time away, there’s a part of me that waits with anxious anticipation when he can read the first MetaWars book on his own. It’ll probably be in about four to five years, depending on what type of reader he develops into, and assuming he’s not in a rebellious phase by then.
But in the books, I paint a bleak picture of the future: global population over ten billion, food and water shortages, resource constraints, and a phenomena whereby most people choose to hide out in a virtual world instead of facing the real one. Beyond the entertainment value of the story – essentially a chase thriller – I wonder if he will ask me why I didn’t do more to change the future? If the world he grows up into starts to resemble the fictional one I’ve created (and scientific consensus suggests that this is likely), then he’ll be right to accuse me of complacency of character and appeasing the forces that damage our environment.
As a parent, part of my job is to project my children from the world, but more and more I wonder whether it’s also my responsibility to create a better one for them to grow into. I don’t think I knew it consciously, but that’s the question that I was grappling with when writing The Freedom Frontier, the fourth and final book in the MetaWars series. What can I do to make the world better for my children? Now that the series is over and I’m due to move onto other projects, the question still lingers.
Caden is four now, and I expect he’ll make his way into the world in about fourteen years or so. That gives me fourteen years to find an answer that satisfies both of us. That’s not a lot of time.
Post by Jeff Norton
Jeff Norton is London-based writer who dreams up big, immersive worlds and fills them with page-turning stories and awesome characters. Sometimes he writes by himself, sometimes he creates stories two co-write with his friends.
A reluctant reader as a boy, Jeff strives to create stories that will turn reluctant readers into lifelong ones.
Before writing full-time, Jeff managed the Enid Blyton literary estate. Jeff moved to London from Los Angeles where he’d developed and produced the critically acclaimed interactive movie Choose Your Own Adventure, based on the best-selling books.
Originally from Canada, Jeff lives in London with his wife and two young sons. Norton is the author of the MetaWars saga from Orchard Books. The final installment, MetaWars 4.0: The Freedom Frontier publishes 2nd January, 2014. Find Jeff on the web at www.jeffnorton.com, twitter at www.twitter.com/thejeffnorton and facebook at www.facebook.com/thejeffnorton.