Comfort zone

[Miskatonic]

What kind of story would really pull you out of your comfort zone and challenge you?

For me it would be anything where the male/female relationship dynamic was the focus of the plot.

 

[FifthView]

Anything based on the philosophy of Ayn Rand.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Grim Dark. Not a fan, usually. Or erotica. I am bad at that kind of stuff.

 

[thedarknessrising]

A story like A Song of Ice and Fire where the POV shifts between each character, and there is no clear protagonist. I prefer having a main character with an end objective.

 

[Miskatonic]

Anything based on the philosophy of Ayn Rand.

You mean the challenge of not boring the readers to death with already boring topics?

 

[Miskatonic]

Grim Dark. Not a fan, usually. Or erotica. I am bad at that kind of stuff.

Yeah writing erotica that was actually interesting and not cheesy. That would fit in with what I mentioned above.

 

[Steerpike]

Nothing I can think of offhand, and I've tried a lot of different stuff. That's with respect to comfort zone. Challenge is a different issue.

Though I suppose I wouldn't be comfortable with a work that depicted explicit child abuse.

 

[Miskatonic]

Nothing I can think of offhand, and I've tried a lot of different stuff. That's with respect to comfort zone. Challenge is a different issue.

Though I suppose I wouldn't be comfortable with a work that depicted explicit child abuse.

Ditto. Not necessarily because the subject matter is disturbing, but because trying to portray an accurate depiction of a victim of that kind of abuse and how it would shape their lives would be difficult. Trying to delve into that head space might be hard to deal with.

 

[FifthView]

You mean the challenge of not boring the readers to death with already boring topics?

That's a little ironic considering that I'm currently stalled on my WIP because it's not....fantastic enough.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

That's a little ironic considering that I'm currently stalled on my WIP because it's not....fantastic enough.

Add in a dragon spitting fat beats. That'll get the fantastic going.

 

[FifthView]

Add in a dragon spitting fat beats. That'll get the fantastic going.

Ha! Well maybe it would work.

 

[Incanus]

Add in a dragon spitting fat beats. That'll get the fantastic going.

That's pretty funny. For me, not only would that would utterly destroy every last particle of the fantastic, it would also salt the earth upon which it once grew. Is there anything more mundane than a 'fat beat'?

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

A dragon singing a 4 part chorus with SATB being sung by an individual head. While at the same time the fifth head is blowing fire and its hands are sculpting a glass statute of itself doing these same actions.

 

[Penpilot]

For me, I'm always uncomfortable in one way or another when I write. I think it's where I want to be, because it's a good sign I'm pushing myself to be better. So for the most part there isn't much I wouldn't consider tackling. Welllll except what Steerpike said.

I don't think I could or would want to write a story with explicit child abuse. I might write flashbacks with bits of it, and I have written characters who have gone through forms of it, but I don't think I'd want to put myself in the head space where that was what the story was about.

 

[spectre]

Anything requiring the level of expertise put forth by Tom Clancy. I don't understand the amount of knowledge in his books.

 

[MineOwnKing]

What kind of story would really pull you out of your comfort zone and challenge you?

For me it would be anything where the male/female relationship dynamic was the focus of the plot.

For me it's any story that tries to convey religious skepticism as some kind of life choice instead of a genetic trait. That and quoting passages from the bible will send any novel I'm reading straight to the trash.

 

[Mythopoet]

Anything set in the real world.

 

[Addison]

Anything that could be called a romance. I was challenged to try a romance story. I surprised myself by brainstorming one or two romance ideas. When it came time to write them.....eeesh. No. Anything mainstream, like what we read and analyze in college lit courses, no. I've completed a horror story, haven't heard back yet. Either it was bad and he tossed it aside or it's so scary he can't finish reading it. I'm currently trying my hand at a little sci-fi.

 

[Barian Bedrich]

Books with hidden religious messages. And the bible etc... and especially -Dianetics. A religion founded from a Sci-Fi author.
Every writer here can do this better than Hubbard.