Variety Is The Spice

Variety is the spice of life, the homily goes. That goes for food—a balanced diet with a wide variety of fruits, grains, and vegetables is best. A variety of exercise—walking, dancing, hiking, even carrying groceries all the way across the parking lot—is good for the body. Wearing colorful clothes, instead of black all the time, is refreshing to the eye and the mood.

I think the homily applies to reading, too. But I know some readers just read one type of work. Thrillers. Political thrillers. Or mysteries and police procedurals. Or just science fiction. Just fantasy. Now some readers, adult readers, only want to read Young Adult (YA, as it’s called in the biz). Or only nonfiction. Only celebrity bios. Only romance. Only hot romance.

If you’re a writer, you should be familiar with the genre you’re writing in, but if you limit your reading only to that, you’re missing a lot of tricks. And the spice of variety.

As for me, I enjoy a variety of genres in fiction and enjoy a lot of nonfiction, too. I like science fiction and fantasy, mostly of the earth-bound variety, mysteries, some mainstream if there’s a good story and not just linguistic frills, some romance, also if there’s a good story and not just body parts getting steamed up. (See my post of October 8, Biceps Like Bowling Balls.) Yeah, I know romance is super popular, but not so much with me. But I like a bit of hot romance. I suppose I’m a riddle to the publishers.

You can see from my list of ebooks of previously published work posted yesterday on October 10, I like to write all kinds of different works with the possible exception of family-centered literary, which doesn’t really interest me. (Though I did like Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.) Time travel, science fiction, fantasy, historical fantasy, humor—all those are on my list.

Recognizing that some readers enjoy a mix of genres in one work, authors pioneered the genre of urban fantasy, a rich mix of contemporary fantasy, mystery and police procedural, romance, and wit. My new book, The Garden of Abracadabra, is urban fantasy starring Abby Teller, a magic college student supporting herself as the superintendent of a magical apartment building, juggling three men, and discovering her destiny as a woman of power.

I’m excited to tell you I’m presently preparing as ebooks a historical mystery trilogy (with hot romance) I wrote ten years ago, starring a feisty and resourceful fin de siècle lady, Lily Modjeska. The ebooks should be up and running by early November, if all goes well.

So how about you? What do you like to read? Are you hooked on one genre or do you enjoy the spice of variety?

Visit me sometime at http://www.lisamason.com.