So, last week we talked about genres and Betsy brought up some FABULOUS points in her post about what genres are selling, what genres currently aren't, etc. Now, we're all for trying to get published. I think you should be learning as much as you can about writing, sending out your work, meeting people at conferences, making connections online, etc.
That being said, I don't believe that all of us should immediately start writing about vampires and werewolves and women in little white bonnets. Or, as the title to this post suggests, all of the above together (anyone else get a mental picture of Little Red Riding Hood's wolf dressed up in grandma's nightgown? Or is it just me?).
Considering my love of my DVR, my belief that beef comes from the grocery store, my fondness for showers, conditioners, makeup and nail polish, I definitely don't believe that I'm called to write Amish fiction. Much as I appreciate those who do, I think my story would end up being called "The Amish Girl Who Moved to The City".
I'm a city girl. Proud to own it.
And much as I love reading and watching movies about vegetarian vampires, I'm pretty certain that I won't be writing about them anytime soon either.
So, what do I do? Give up writing until another fad comes along that's more my style of writing? Wait until the current trend is to write about those rebellious Amish girls who move to a decent size town and they start to believe that fruit and vegetables come from the grocer's shelves?
Absolutely not! Betsy mentioned this and I'm going to echo her: Write what you want to write! If you are dying to write a vampire story (no pun intended), then write a vampire story (but be warned that editors and agents are going to want to see a serious twist on the story by this point). Wanting to write chick-lit? Write chick-lit (and as Betsy said, the overall "feeling" of a chick-lit story is changing a little. It's more about widening your audience. For example, don't write a chick-lit book aimed for 31-33 year-old, single, Christian, never-dated-much women).
On the one hand, we need to be paying attention to what genre is selling and what is not. On the other hand, we also need to be noticing beyond the genre - what makes that book unique? What makes that book better than the others out there? Great story-telling will always sell, whether it's romantic suspense, chick-lit, fantasy or a book about three little pigs who just wanted to build a couple of houses to stay safe from the wolf with the grossly over-sized lungs.
So what genre are you guys writing? What genre do you least like writing?
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This cracked me up erynn because last fall I was wondering if there was a way to write Amish chick-lit. you need to be a special kind of girl for that!
ReplyDeleteI want to write chick-lit or womans fiction. I really don't think you can take the girliness out of me, but I want to write deeper stories than looking cute and findinghot guy.
What do you consider "connecting with others online"?
Thank you so much for writing this! I know a writer friend who did this exact thing, she stopped writing what she wanted to write to writing about vampires.
ReplyDeleteI can't write about something that doesn't interest me or something I don't have a passion to write about. The only way I can write GOOD is to write about things I like! ;)
Thank you, Erynn! This was encouraging.
ReplyDeleteThis is a subject that always worries me. It seems like once you come out with a certain kind of novel, you're expected to stick to that genre. I get that publishers and readers alike view an author's name as a kind of "brand" so that when they see it, they know what they're getting, but I have such VAST interests, and I feel like I have such a wide variety of stories in me. Modern day chick-lit, historical fiction, YA, childrens -- I read it all and I want to write it all. It's something I totally stress about because I feel like I have to be so careful what I submit first because I'll be forever boxed into that. And I'm claustrophobic! I don't do well in boxes. Any advice for someone in my situation?
ReplyDeleteI just returned from a writer's conference and someone did pitch an Amish-vampire book! All I could think of was this post :-)!
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