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Writing in Other Genres

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
I've been thinking a lot about my next step after finishing my current WIP and the more I think about it, I want to try something outside the fantasy genre. I really liked how China Mieville's style of writing is different with almost every book he does, yet you can still tell that he wrote it. Same with someone like Chuck Palahniuk, who writes about all manner of different kinds of topics, but you can still tell he wrote it. Something about that kind of writer is appealing to me.

So what I'm hoping to do is try to write something in the real world without any sort of fantasy elements to it. Actually, I want to have the fantasy genre involved, but as it's perceived in the real world. I'm fascinated with people who find themselves more at ease in cosplay, roleplaying or writing fiction (as I do). I'm hoping to explore this theme some in my next book. Instead of looking at only the positive side of it, I want to look at how it can be destructive in many ways. (an example would be like the movie The Wild Hunt.)

However, I know some people think it's better to focus on one type of audience rather than spreading yourself out too thin. But I'm of the opinion that you write what is calling to you or else you're being dishonest with yourself.

Any thoughts on writing outside your main genre? Have any of you tried writing in real world settings without fantasy elements involved? How did it work for you?
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
I have a couple of contemporary shorts where things are a little 'off.' (A guy gets in major trouble for not attending Church on 'Church Day.')

And years ago, I wrote a few other religious shorts exploring (Christian) religious afterlife claims. (Those vanished a couple computer changes ago...and later, the site killed that entire sub-forum, so those stories are gone.)
 
While I'm nowhere near as good a writer as most of the members I prefer to write what makes me happy.
Be it Horror/supernatural as is my current WIP, Romance, I have a WIP there as well, SCI FI/Fant Got one there too, all the way to children's books, check that box off for me as well.

I even have a semibiographical one that will most likely never get done now that the person it was about is dead, still looking to see if his (my) family members would like to help with the project.

Even if none of the above get published, though I do hope that they will see the light of day at some point, I don't think the brain works within a strict neat little genre. Creative people CAN DO WHATEVER THEY/YOU CHOSE TO DO. I think it is the public that dictates what mainstream authors write. It is a brave new world for authors, explore it.
:insertevillaughhere
~BL~
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
I think writing in multiple genres is a good idea, especially while you're still trying to establish a career. There are writers who've thought they'd make it writing fantasy, but wound up getting their first hit in horror.

I understand people saying you should focus on one genre to develop a fan base, but I don't buy that logic lock, stock, & barrel. If I love a writer's work, I'm going to read whatever they put out. It doesn't matter what the genre (except maybe romance...).

There's also something to be gained as an artist by stretching across genres. Much can be learned from trying our hand at different story types. Elements of mystery/crime stories....horror...comedy...thriller...yes, even romance. I don't think I'd be successful in all those, but attempting different genres should lend me more ability in the types of stories I want to tell.

Another point, cross-genre stories open your work to multiple audiences.

For now, I'll be trying to branch into:
1) Steampunk
2) Horror
3) Thriller
4) Crime
 
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TWErvin2

Auror
Good writing is good writing, and if you've built an audience in one genre, some of those readers may give your other works a try. I write in both fantasy and SF and there is some crossover, but not as much as I hoped for. The more distant or different the genres, the larger the hurdle you may be setting.

With my short story collection, which has mystery and horror/suspense, inspirational and SF, there is very little crossover that I can tell, but that also might be the fact that it's short stories and novel length works having a large impact.
 

Ophiucha

Auror
I've tried to write outside of SFF and horror, but I always end up at least in a magic realism sort of place. I don't even necessarily have magic in most of my straight fantasy novels, but something is always a little strange about my real world settings, and they're always set in a not-too-distant future that gives me a chance to do a gentle pinch of science fiction. Pre-apocalyptic and 'disaster lit', too.

That said, within my non-real world settings, I've written everything from action to erotica to mystery (I'm awful at that one though).
 

Mythopoet

Auror
I salute those authors whose imaginations cannot be contained within a single genre. For myself, I cannot fathom writing anything but fantasy. I've dabbled reading in other genres, but since I discovered fantasy as a teenager it has been my great passion and everything else fell into the background.

As a writer I am a good deal like Tolkien. My heart has dedicated itself to creating one massive, detailed world with its own extensive mythology. (Though I can't do the languages like him.) And I expect to spend the rest of my life telling stories from that world. Hopefully, unlike Tolkien, it won't take me nearly so long to write the stories and I'll be able to get lots of them out there before I kick the bucket. :)
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Fantasy will always be my main priority (probably 90% of my stories), but there's part of me that feels I should try other things. I think as a writer if you have these urges, then it's best to follow them even if it means following a dead end. I actually wrote mostly horror when I first started writing seriously, but it was often more like "shock lit" where I was just throwing as many horrific things I could think of at the reader. I still have some of that aesthetic (I like strange imagery or the grotesque), but it's more focused now.

I guess the main concern for people is that writing outside of one genre may water down their name to some extent. Not to say I'm going to be like him (although I'm sure most authors would LOVE that!), but Stephen King is one of those who has wrote stories based completely in the real world ("The Body," "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," etc.) and stories way out there (The Dark Tower, It, etc.) I think because of his specific style, he gets away with doing that more than some other authors might. He's also one of the few authors I know about whose short story collections sold very well, at least from what I understand.

In any case, it's something I'd like to try, but in the end, I know fantasy/horror/weird will always be my main focus.
 
C

Chessie

Guest
Phil, we share the same focus. Fantasy/horror/weird is what I love writing as well. But I do think about venturing out of that. I definitely see myself writing non-fiction on Yoga and Ayurveda (which is what I do in real life when I'm not writing stories), which i very different from fiction. I think dabbling in other areas only serves to strengthen our writing. I love it when authors cross over to other genres because it means they aren't afraid of trying something new. And I know its because of marketing, but having a different name for separate genres is confusing. If/when I ever write in another genre, I'll keep my same name. Its all my work anyway.
 

Addison

Auror
I've written a few small things out of the fantasy genre. It has been a tremendous help to me.
The first was a super-hero short story. I wrote it for a class and was surprised that I got a B. My other pieces were fiction, family oriented, and some horror/thriller....I can never figure out the difference between those two. The thriller types were like Halloween, CSI and such. The first one gave my nightmares, and I was writing it and it wasn't even done. So did the others, I saw spilled ketchup on the floor, two feet and screamed my head off. I didn't realize it was ketchup until the crouched person jumped up.

Writing in different genres, whether it's novellas, short stories or even flash fiction can be a great help. It allows you to really look inside to find the proper tone and word choice, characters and setting to fit the story. Writing chipper and bright won't work in a horror story. It's really a great journey of self-discovery, and a heck-a-lot of fun! :p
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
Any thoughts on writing outside your main genre? Have any of you tried writing in real world settings without fantasy elements involved? How did it work for you?

I've written stories in all types of genres, SciFi, Fantasy, Contemporary, Horror, etc. After writing in fantasy worlds, it's pretty liberating to write a standard contemporary story. In a contemporary setting I find that I have so many more short cuts available to me when I build the setting and characters. I don't have to make sure that the reader knows what a car is or what an accountant does, etc. That allows me to focus in on the story and the drama in it more.

It also removes the crutches of being able to explaining fantastical stuff just to make word count. When that stuff is stripped away, I find it makes me realize just how much story I really have.
 
It also removes the crutches of being able to explaining fantastical stuff just to make word count. When that stuff is stripped away, I find it makes me realize just how much story I really have.

Good point. I think I am going to write my next story without the fantasy elements, and add them in at the end (if they are even needed).
 

Helen

Inkling
I've been thinking a lot about my next step after finishing my current WIP and the more I think about it, I want to try something outside the fantasy genre. I really liked how China Mieville's style of writing is different with almost every book he does, yet you can still tell that he wrote it. Same with someone like Chuck Palahniuk, who writes about all manner of different kinds of topics, but you can still tell he wrote it. Something about that kind of writer is appealing to me.

So what I'm hoping to do is try to write something in the real world without any sort of fantasy elements to it. Actually, I want to have the fantasy genre involved, but as it's perceived in the real world. I'm fascinated with people who find themselves more at ease in cosplay, roleplaying or writing fiction (as I do). I'm hoping to explore this theme some in my next book. Instead of looking at only the positive side of it, I want to look at how it can be destructive in many ways. (an example would be like the movie The Wild Hunt.)

However, I know some people think it's better to focus on one type of audience rather than spreading yourself out too thin. But I'm of the opinion that you write what is calling to you or else you're being dishonest with yourself.

Any thoughts on writing outside your main genre? Have any of you tried writing in real world settings without fantasy elements involved? How did it work for you?

There's a debate about genre conventions etc.....but when you look at the stories no matter the genre, underneath the same sorts of things are happening.

In a romcom you might be dealing with Annie Hall and Alvie and in Avatar you might be dealing with Jake and Neytiri, but those characters are there for the same reasons, represent similar things and so on.

At root, you're not really doing anything different when you switch genres.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
While I harp on the importance of genre a lot, this blog post may have changed my mind a little. I do think not being about to classify a book must be a good thing in some circles, right?

While genres do help people find a specific thing they're looking for, sometimes, like the PC, iPod, and numerous other inventions, people don't really know what they want until it's in front of them.

I think my ultimate goal would be for someone to read my work and say, "I don't know what the hell that was, but I loved it."

Warning: some naughty language in the link.

The Genre Fountain « Robert Jackson Bennett
 
So Palahniuk writes in all different genres with a recognisable voice?

Blast! I was hoping that would be my claim to fame, and certainly it's what I've done so far. My three books have been off-beat sci-fi (with a dash of magical realism); football hero's journey morphing into crime; and crime/thriller. All three have common features, such as:
- intense
- darkly comic
- multi-threaded
- deeply layered

I am now half-way through an epic historical novel (with a vague fantastical thread), which has all the usual features and (I think) my usual voice is pretty recognisable.

My agent tells me I should be focussed on a sequel to the crime thriller (which has had some pretty amazing reviews, and is now in script development with a major studio - gone past the option phase) but I have to write what I feel like writing.

Until writing becomes my day job rather than my hobby.
 
Hi,

There are multiple answers to this question, and I have to admit that none of them are perfect. They all come down to the reason to write in a new genre.

If your intention is to extend yourself as a writer then yes, trying to write in a new genre is an excellent idea. If it's simply your intention to write what you feel like writing then again, yes, it's always better to write what you love rather than what you think others will love. But if your intention is to sell, then no. There is some crossover between different genres for authors, but the greater the gap between the two the less that crossover will be. So if you write in one genre, say epic fantasy, then some of your readers will cross over to reading your urban fantasies, less will cross over to your sci fi, and your murder mysteries will probably get very few indeed following you. Essentially you'll have two completely different audiences.

This is a problem when you're starting out and trying to develop a name and an audience. And it becomes worse because if you're an indie on Kindle, you have three months to get a book selling more or less. After three months your book is no longer "new" and gets dropped or thrown down the listings of the algorhythms so readers will be less likely to find it. In essence that means to maximise your sales you have to put out a new book in the same genre every three months, so each new book will boost sales of previous books.

Having said that, I write in epic fantasy, urban fantasy, spiritual (Christian fantasy), and sci fi - purely because I write what I want to write. And there's no way I can manage to write sixteen books (one every three months in each genre), in a year. And on my list to finish and publish this year is my first steampunk! So obviously I'm very good at telling people what to do but not following my own advice!!!

Cheers, Greg.
 

Jabrosky

Banned
When I started writing as a kid, most of my stories were of the sci-fi rather than fantasy persuasion. I was especially fond of time-travel and Robinson Crusoe-style survival stories, both of them featuring dinosaurs.

As to why I eventually switched from sci-fi to fantasy, I think that's because somewhere along the line I got the idea that fantasy as a genre allowed more creative leeway with the world-building than science or historical fiction. When you're writing anything set in a real-world time period, you're obligated to keep the setting and the characters populating it more or less accurate. As cool as it may sound, you can't have a T. Rex fighting a Titanoboa in the Late Cretaceous since Titanoboa lived in the Paleocene after T. Rex became extinct. Nor can you have Native Americans on horseback hunting woolly mammoths because domesticated horses weren't available for their use until post-Columbian times. Such obligations to scientific or historical accuracy are moot in a fantasy world you create yourself.

Don't misunderstand me, I love prehistoric and historical themes dearly, but I have a soft spot for mixing up different cultures and time periods.
 
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Gurkhal

Auror
For what its worth I jump between Fantasy and Historical Fiction, as the two of them are actually fairly close with each other. Or at least I think so.
 

Jabrosky

Banned
If you think about it, fantasy by itself might be less of a genre than a setting type, or rather a vast range of setting types. Many other genres such as mystery or thriller are defined by common plot lines (for example, mystery requires that a crime be solved), but people will slap the fantasy label onto any story set in a world other than our own regardless of the plot. It's true that certain plot lines like epic quests or wars between good and evil are more common in fantasy than other genres, but fantasy by itself doesn't define a plot the way other genres would. It's an extremely broad category.
 

SeverinR

Vala
I believe our writing styles spread into other genres.
Sci-fi is future fantasy, Horror is typically occult fantasy, Crime drama comonly has some supernatural ability(magic)(example: Medium), historical fiction: departs from fantasy but usually has some of basis of fantasy(swords, early weapons commonly found in fantasy. chivalry, monarchy), Steampunk really is just a type of fantasy.

We don't think in little cubicals, we think worldly, and we can create outside the genre of fantasy, but really isn't that much different. Modern with a little magic in it, fantasy with special gadgets, genres are the spice, which spice you use the most becomes the main genre. Use alittle less and you fall into another genre.
The true genre crossers are the ones that jump into modern world with no magic, no special powers, just every day people stories and make it interesting. For the person that has an interest, anything could be a story worth reading.
 
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