G is for Genres

A sort of follow-up post to F, G is for genres.

I admit I pinched this idea from Samantha Anderson's post for today where she talked about not getting stuck into one fixed genre for all your writing.

In response, I wrote: I suppose the main reason authors end up sticking with one genre is that that’s what the publishers know people will pay for by that author, although JK Rowling doesn’t seem to have done too badly out of writing an adult fiction book.

Now that's fair enough for people who are paid to write, but what about people who write for fun, or without having being previously published? How do you decide what genre to write in?

Personally, I find a lot of my fiction seems to have a touch of fantasy or sci-fi in it. I find it more difficult to write about real-life situations than fantastical ones. I have, on occasion, attempted to write romance or teenage fiction, but I alway struggle to get the characters to seem real. Somehow it's easier for me to create a believable girl who can turn into a boy than a normal woman having a holiday romance, and the really annoying thing is I don't know why!

So knowing what genres are easy for me to write in is helpful when choosing what genre to write, but sometimes I just get an idea for a character and run with it. It might just be a line of dialogue that pops into my head, but from that I can carry on the character's train of thought and see where it leads. If they start talking about taking the kids to school it might be a more mainstream story, but if they start asking whether their space ship is ready for launch yet then the chances are it's something more sci-fi - or the character is a child playing let's pretend.

I don't like giving advice because I'm not sure if what works for me would work for anyone else, but if I had to offer some advice on choosing a genre to write in, I would say just see where your imagination takes you. If something catches your imagination, the chances are it will be interesting for you to write and you'll have some fun while you create the characters and the situations.

F is for Fantasy

According to Wikipedia, which is, of course, the fount of all knowledge(!), fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting.

I like writing stories with a touch of fantasy, because the only rules you have to stick to are the ones you make yourself, and you don't have to worry too much about explaining how things work. I've never written about wizards, elves, sorcerers or witchcraft - what might be seen as the staples of fantasy stories, but I have done stories about people who can change their appearance, see ultraviolet and infra-red light, and know just by touching someone whether they're telling the truth or not.

I think the key to writing fantasy is that you can be as extreme as you like as long as you stick to the rules of your universe. You want there to be pink flying elephants? You go right ahead - just make them consistant pink flying elephants. If, in your universe, all pink elephants can fly, then don't throw in an aquatic one just because it would be fun. Keep those pink elephants flying!

E is for Endings

Writing 'The End' is such a lovely feeling. You've actually completed something you're pleased with to the point that you feel you can bring it to a close.

I did another post about endings, or rather, about finishing things, last month, but this is a slightly different. I can finish a story without feeling like it's ended properly. Sometimes it tails out, or feels a bit flat, or I feel as if it's not been properly resolved.

The stories without 'The End' have something missing from them. Essentially, even though they're finished, they're not ended. They're less-than-first-drafts. Very fleshed out ideas but still with something missing. For me, writing 'The End' means that I'm happy with the story, even if I know it's only a first draft and there are all sorts of things I need to tweak and improve. The End is a sign that I know the basic story is complete, like a baby having been born, and what happens next is the growing up stage of the story's life.

D is for Death

I don't know why I decided today's topic would be death - it was just the first thing that came to mind.

I've only ever written one character's death that I can remember, although I've mentioned that characters have died, or had bodies in my stories. I think perhaps the reason I've shied away from writing character deaths is partly because I haven't felt they're needed for the story, and partly because I wouldn't know how to do it. With the one character I did kill off in text, the death happened as I was writing with no planning beforehand. Perhaps that was why I found I could write it out - because I was just writing it as I was picturing it in my head.

However, looking back through stories that I've written dead characters into, in some of those cases the stories might have been more dramatic with at least some description of how the deaths happened.

My challenge from today's post is to write a character's death.

I might be quiet for the next couple of days - I'm travelling...

C is for Colours

Just a short post today. Colours are all around us and can add huge amounts of detail to a story. A woman is just a woman until you add in her hair colour - a limp brown, a vibrant chestnut or a sun-streaked blonde. Colours can bring a character or a setting to life, and make even a dull setting more interesting.

Today's challenge is to write about something that's one colour, like the sea or sky, or dirt, and describe it in great detail.

B is for Beginnings

Once upon a time there was the beginning of a story... Ever since I started studying creative writing it was drummed into me that beginnings are incredibly important. If the beginning doesn't interest you then you won't keep reading.

I'm a journalist by profession, and beginnings are vital for my work as well. The difference between the two types of writing are quite marked though, and that's especially obvious in the beginnings. In newspapers you have to get the main gist of the story in the first two paragraphs. In fiction, if you did that it would make for quite a bland story and not be as interesting.

In a way, I see newspaper writing as putting in the bare bones of a story. An article could tell you that a man was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation after his house caught fire. What it won't tell you is how the man escaped, what started the fire, the heat of the blaze, how the smoke smelled, or how the man felt - scared, gasping for breath, relief when he gets out, and so on.

My challenge from today's post is to take a newspaper story and flesh is out to make it into a short story.

A is for Antagonist

Antagonists are the driving force behind any story. The main character has to have something to overcome or fight against.

I have to admit I don't think I'm very good at creating multi-dimensional antagonist characters. My better (in my opinion!) antagonists are not people but situations, institutions or regimes. I find it much easier to write about a character fighting to try to get out of a difficult situation than to write about them fighting against a person. Even when I have a person as the antagonist I still find that they're representative of an institution or regime.

I think my challenge from this post will be to try to create some antagonists as characters in their own right, rather than have them appear only as a necessary plot device.

And....

A is also for Arlee Bird - the guy who came up with the idea of the blogging A-Z challenge! I'm looking forward to trying this for the first time, so a big THANK YOU to Lee for starting the challenge :)