I recently dipped my toe in the paranormal genre. I write historicals and contemporaries mostly but I thought I'd give paranormal's a shot, and what's more it's a futuristic paranormal of all things. I mean, is that even a genre?? But I digress.
I'm not one to pander to trends and I resisted going the paranormal route for a long time simply because it wasn't something I felt I could write since it wasn't something I really read. Still don't know if I can write it well, I'll leave it to my publisher and the readers to decide if it gets picked up.
I have two paranormal genre's I stick to in my reading: time travel and fallen angel/demon types but since becoming a published author (the thrill of that never gets old really) I've come in contact with other writers and their work through networking and chatting and such. I've checked out new work from author's I've built friendship's with and that has sort of broadened my horizon's a bit.
A lot of the romance out there is paranormal and a lot of my friends write paranormals so it's kind of hard to escape.
Like with all things, once you come in contact with a genre, it starts giving you ideas of your own and gradually I started to wonder if I should give it a go in the paranormal world.
So I picked out an idea I had and fleshed it out. It's on a very small scale, just a sort of test for myself. I'll let you know if anything comes of it and then I can discuss it more but I think it's important that we writers test ourselves often.
I still write contemporaries and historicals and always will. That's where my strengths are and where my ideas are really set in.
I've never had writer's block. Ever. Now this doesn't mean I've never been stuck on a scene but I've never been short of ideas. In fact, dipping my toe in the paranormal genre and futuristic genre I already have an idea for a full length futuristic novel that I shall file away for someday. That wouldn't have happened if I didn't come in contact with these writers who write different genres than I do.
So I say if you feel like your suffering from writer's block, don't be afraid to branch out and try a new genre. You'll be surprise at the deluge of ideas that come your way.
Visit me at www.ejamie.net
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Branching Out
Posted by E. Jamie at 10:31 AM
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4 comments:
Nancy,
I agree. Branching out has given me the opportunity to dip into areas I might never have explored, and I must say, I've gotten great reviews. Somehow, I always tend to migrate back to writing historical...that's what I love and do best. But I can proudly say, "I'm published in multi-genres." *smile* Great post!
Ginger
Branching out is natural for a writer, I think. Most of us scare ourselves into thinking that it's not. We think about, appreciate, and explore diverse subjects and activities in our lives, why not our writing?
Great blog.
@Ginger
Very true. I might try different things here and there but I don't think I'll ever move away permanentely from historicals and contemporaries. Though I have had a supernatural/horror novel on the backburner for years just trying to find the right publisher!
@Lynda
That's what I used to think. That if a writer wrote a specific genre then she could never write a different one (it's sort of that first week of marriage thing where if you take out the garbage that first week that's your job for eternity)(laughs)
I took a while deciding which genre I wanted to try and be published in because I thought that was where I'd have to stay, but then I say Nora Roberts move into suspense as J.D Robb and Kinley MacGregor(her Scotsmen are still my favorite of her books) move into paranormals.
I figured why not me? I never wanted to be just in one genre so it helps a lot to know that I don't have to be!
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