What do you write and why?

[J.A.]

Looks like we've had few more newbies who've wandered in from the cold and hunkered down all quiet. If you haven't introduced yourself yet, please, drop us a line on the introduce yourself discussion in 'Who are you?'

Or tell us a bit about what you write, what you're working on atm - or what you've just finished/published - what you're planning on writing next and most importantly what you love about your genre. Why does it speak to you? Why is that the place you most like to escape to or visit? Seriously, I want to know this stuff. Other people's creative process is endlessly fascinating to me. I'll waffle on about mine at some point too.

And it's fine if you love six genres equally. There's no jealousy between spec fictions ;) Tell us about them all.

[J.D.]

I actually can't lock myself into any one genre.

One big philosophy of publishing is that you should do just that, so that all the readers out there will know they can rely on you in one narrow field, but... I just don't see it that way. I write what I enjoy, which comes from just one book shelf. So I have SF, fantasy, crime-noir, hard-boiled gumshoe stuff, horror, etc. Right now I'm working on superheroes. :)

Another angle on this whole thing is that in our quest as indies to get noticed, maybe spreading out into multiple genres is a good thing. Maybe these readers will discover your sword and sorcery book, while that group finds your mystery exciting. And readers who enjoyed your steampunk book also like sci-fi, so they give that a try too. Or they don't normally read horror, but they enjoyed your dark fantasy story enough to test out your horror novel too, just because they like your style.

At least that's my hope...

[J.A.]

I think you make a good point there, JD. I have certainly tried lesser read genres (by me anyway) off the back of enjoying an author's work in a genre I normally read. I like all things speculative and pretty much all sub-stratum of the same. Having said that, the right crime novel will pull me in; I enjoy historical fiction; sometimes I'm in the mood for literary fiction or a text book! While I might not write in literary or crime, I think elements sometimes creep into my writing. And I could never commit to just write fantasy or sci-fi - there are too many other genres I love and want to write in. As you say, perhaps this is a good thing for an indie writer.

[Shell]

It doesn't matter what I start off writing, as it will turn into something Spec. I would say I write fantasy, but it keeps edging towards Dark Fantasy, these days.
I have been told there are literary elements in my work, at times, but that is something other people really have to decide for you after the fact.
I would love to write Steampunk, but I am thinking that is mainly down to my love of the outfits, which I will wear if I want to, whether or not I write in the genre.

[J.A.]

Definitely dark fantasy most of the time, Shell. And it does have literary elements. I would like to write steam punk too - I feel I haven't read widely enough in the genre yet though. Nothing wrong with the outfits.

[Shell]

OK. You do your usual and read a bunch of books, then rec some to me. We will then commence with Steampunk. I am pretty sure we can get at least one other writer friend in on Steampunk, too.
It's a bit daft, the Dark Fantasy thing, as I always say I do not like horror. I know they are no exactly the same, but it does put me closer to the horror end of the spectrum than I ever expected to be!

[Matthew]

J.D. wrote: "I actually can't lock myself into any one genre.

One big philosophy of publishing is that you should do just that, so that all the readers out there will know they can rely on you in one narrow field, but... I just don't see it that way. I write what I enjoy"

I'm with you on this one JD. I don't particularly think in genres, though most of what I write seems to be 'genre' as distinct from 'literary'. My first novel started out as historical, but gained some speculative elements - some say fantasy, others SF - and in the end was far more of an 'adventure' novel than I think I anticipated. My current effort is purely historical... at the moment. Next one will be a sequel to the first and probably just as mixed. I've written short works that could be categorised as horror, fantasy, literary, SF...

[J.D.]

Matthew wrote: "J.D. wrote: "I actually can't lock myself into any one genre.

One big philosophy of publishing is that you should do just that, so that all the readers out there will know they can rely on you i..."

Exactly. I don't set out to write in a certain genre. I just have stories that marketing demands be classified in a certain way. (Not that I'm complaining too much, I suppose books should be labelled so readers can find what they like. Mostly.)

[Aaron W.]

Consistent with several others here, its difficult to classify my writing into genres. I prefer to think and write in unifying themes. Actually one thing that serves as part of the foundation of my thinking and writing is that classifying people and things into more and more specific categories does much more harm than good. With that said, my writing probably fits most appropriately into sic-fi and popular science, with both of those classifications used very loosely. I actually prefer the label "scientific philosophy" from both the subjective (fiction) and objective (non-fiction) perspective. I think that it is through this combined approach that I can reach the broadest possible audience and have the greatest possible impact. But, that's conjecture at this point.

[Dave]

I write what strikes my fancy. I have one book that straddles the border between Heroic Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery, another that's Space Opera. My next one's probably going to be best categorized as Steampulp or maybe Zeppelinpunk?

Think Doc Savage but with more overt SF-Pulp elements.

Zombies!
Zeppelins!
Talking Nazi Gorillas!

[J.A.]

Ok I'm now mega curious about that book, Dave. Zeppelin punk...

[Matthew]

Isn't that 'Dieselpunk'?

[Dave]

It could be dieselpunk, but but I've never really cared for the name... Dieselpulp would work, partly because I'm focusing more on the pulp sensibilities than the dystopic visions common to most of the -punk subgenres...

[Matthew]

Fair enough. I find genre more problematic the more specific it becomes, especially when something is like steampunk in all respects but the steam, for example - but 'industrial-era punk' is a bit clunky. William Gibson has a lot to answer for

[Dave]

The core concept is Doc Savage writ large, but I'm also borrowing concepts from Burroughs, Haggard, and even Perry Rhodan.

[J.D.]

Diesel-Pulp sounds fun as hell!

[Matthew]

It certainly does

[Yvonne]

I write fantasy fiction because I've always liked magical stuff. I grew up with 80s films like Krull, Legend, the Neverending Story and The Princess Bride, and then I was greatly impressed by LOTR, and that last motivated me to stop just idly thinking about writing a novel to actually doing it. Before then I had always been into writing poetry and short stories. Though my short stories always tended to greatly expand beyond a few pages. I think I enjoy anything magical because in reality there is no real magic, and this is my small way of creating some. Gosh, that sounds corny.

Then I got into writing erotic fiction, simply because it's fun. Though even my erotic writing has elements of magical fantasy in it.

I still write the occasional poem. I was quite into haiku at one point.

[J.A.]

I grew up with the same films. You've just named most of my favorites though I would have to add The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

I have to admit that Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's legacy series is as close as I've really gotten to erotica - they're brilliant btw - and I probably wouldn't have read them if it hadn't been for the fantasy. On the other hand they're very much rich, epic fantasy worlds where being an indentured prostitute of a particular ilk makes sense within the culture.

I also write fantasy and sci-fi and just generally stuff with a speculative slant. Anything normal I try to write always becomes a bit odd after 500 words so I've stopped fighting it :)

[Yvonne]

Jules Anne, The Dark Crystal is one I did enjoy but I watched it sometime last year and found I'd gone off it a bit. I just watched Labyrinth again last week. Still a classic.

I can't do normal either. lol.

[J.A.]

I know it was the eighties but how did they get away with those tights? :)

[Jim]

I started off writing fantasy, set in a different world (but no elveses and dwarvesses my preciousss). I got an opportunity to write Space Opera and jumped at it, I'm one of those people who doesn't really see Fantasy and SF as too entirely separate genres, there's a big overlap between them :-)

[J.A.]

You're in good company here then, Jim. Most of us seem to be writing crossover fiction of some kind :)

[Jim]

Crossover good, slash not so good? :-)

[J.A.]

Not sure I have the knowledge to comment on slash fiction - but possibly not lol :)

[Michael]

I consider myself a horror writer, though my work isn't always outright "horror." More macabre. Ray Bradbury's early works were a huge inspiration.

[Richard]

Some people read stories primarily for the characters, others for the prose itself, still others mainly for the ideas - and I'm definitely in that last category: the characters rarely interest me much (in fact I read, frankly, as a way of taking a break from the human race for an hour or two!) and, although I do love good quality writing, it's ideas, theories, whole worldviews (and the stranger the better!) that I'm really after. My writing, as I guess it probably does for most authors, just reflects my reading: what I'd most like to walk into a bookshop and find.

[M.T.]

I love the idea of zepplin punk. I'm not sure what my stuff is. I have what I call a humorous science fiction fantasy series just completing and the beginnings do a pukka sci fi space opera bubbling around in the creative juice. The trilogy I'm about to send out to my beta readers is set in a parallel reality but it's very technologically advanced and they don't have magic as such. I've explained it as quantum physics. Their cars fly... Petrol punk? It has romance in too. Real life has been a bit heavy on and off so I suspect the next one may be darker.

I try to write other genres but my stuff is always spec fic. I suppose I am unable to get excited enough about reality to refrain from pimping it.

Personally I love genre mash ups. In fact one of the things I love about the whole Indy scene is the creative freedom it gives authors.

Richard, really intrigued by that. I love the ideas aspect too but for me they only truly come to life if the characterisation is good.

Cheers

MTM

[J.A.]

MT wrote 'I suppose I am unable to get excited enough about reality to refrain from pimping it.'

Yes! That's it exactly with a side order of 'reality looks full of possibility to me, I mean anything COULD happen. What if...' On my part.

Except for flash fiction, everything I write ends up with speculative elements creeping in. I guess that's just my personal view of the world creeping in.

At present I am writing a series of lesser known fairy tales set in a dystopian future. I am also working on a YA alternate history, set now but in a world where two historical occurrences did not occur - leaving the system of government and progress in a very different state. There is also 'magic' of a type but it's more a case of certain individuals inheriting certain abilities due to a mutated gene, for which they are persecuted.

Just realised that I have never talked about what I write and Im supposed to be the care taker.

[M.T.]

Well you should talk about it more J A, it sounds as if you have some really interesting projects on the go. ;-)

What I fail to understand is why so many people won't read spec fic. They're missing out on so much... or maybe they just prefer their world a bit more um... normal.

Cheers

MTM

[M.T.]

I am firmly convinced that's the only way to do it. It takes a special skill, one I don't have, to write with any conviction in a genre that doesn't float your boat.

[Jim]

I was asked to do a Romance short for somebody. A good friend who beta read it for me commented 'It's Romance Jim, but not as we know it'

:-)

[J.A.]

Lol Jim. On the other hand that might be the next big thing ;) I for one, couldn't write a straight up romance or a straight up western. I lack the patience to write crime although mystery, if it had paranormal elements, is up my street :)

And thanks for the endorsement MT. I am actually convinced I will bore people if I talk about my writing even though I love hearing about everyone else's.

[M.T.]

There is actually quite a lot of romance in my books but I tend to close the bedroom door and leave them to get on with the squelchy bits on their own, so I can't really pitch it as romance...

J A I'm sure you won't. I love talking having a bit of shop talk about writing. It's difficult to do it at home, except at the Writers' Group I go to.

Cheers

MTM

[Richard]

Still thinking about characters v. ideas: ideally you'd like both, but if it's one over the other I'd take ideas every time. I've (unfortunately) read plenty of novels written in drop-dead gorgeous prose, with as-real-as-if-they-were-in-the-room-there-with-you characters - but written by authors without an original idea in their heads (these tend to win Booker Prizes I've noticed, excuse me while I nod off at this point). On the other hand, take someone like Isaac Asimov: I recently reread The End Of Eternity whose "characters" are little more than cartoons or stick-men...but the ideas (it blew me away as a teenager, and still does).

I'm genuinely baffled: are you really happy feeding your mind yet more of the all-too-familiar, Monday-to-Friday, routine human soap opera that it's getting all day every day, month in, month out, already? (I'm calling this the Dog's Arse point of view, after the phrase "There's nothing so interesting to a dog as another dog's arse"). Doesn't your mind thirst for true freedom, to soar above and far beyond all that - even if only for an hour or two? - because mine sure does (the Skylark Soaring Aethereally point of view I think).

[Jim]

The only Booker Prize winner I've ever read was Schindler's List and I've never bought a book (even SF or Fantasy) just because it was a prize winner. When I've picked it up and browsed it in the shop, it's got to grab me.
Ideas are great but people look for different balance, but for me I want the book to take me somewhere else, a good book should be like a holiday to a place that you'll probably never otherwise get to :-)

[M.T.]

Shanna wrote: "M.T. wrote: "There is actually quite a lot of romance in my books but I tend to close the bedroom door and leave them to get on with the squelchy bits on their own, so I can't really pitch it as ro..."

The squelchy bits thing is a bit of a pain now. Same with the violence. I have to call everything I write 'cosy' which just gives me the boke.

Richard: I get you about Asimov although it can be a bit like gleaming polished metal. Or like a bauhaus interior, really cool but not always a relaxing place to be. When I say characters, no, I'd never want to feed my mind with anything like soap interaction or anything too realistic or anything that "holds a mirror up to reality" because reality is a bit crap a lot of the time so I, too would rather be somewhere else. But I wouldn't class characterisation and character interaction, generally, as routine soap opera. It is what makes the ideas come alive, seem more vivid and take more form.

[Dave]

For me, it's a combination of characters and ideas. The ideas draw me in, but the characters are what I care about. That's where I get the emotional investment that makes me want to keep reading.

The power of Spec Fic lies in the intersection.

[Alan]

As a fantasy and SF lover and a former video games reviewer, I love to build consistent, coherent, original worlds. That's why, in order to describe my science fantasy novel The Breath of Aoles, I compare it to Frank Herbert's Dune, Tolkien's The Lord of the rings and J.M. Auel Earth's Children.

The Breath of Aoles was my second novel. The first one, a 118,000 words Sword & Sorcery novel, I decided to never publish it because it had to much fails.

It took me six years to write The Breath of Aoles, not only because it was a heavy project for me, not only because there were many changes in my life at the time, but because at some point, I had enough maturity to realize all this world building stuff could be a smokescreen preventing me to go deeper into my feelings and emotions. So I had to rewrite to bring more life and flesh to my characters.

Even now after having written more than 700,000 words, I still strive to bring more flesh and complexity to my characters. I think I'm more able now than at the beginning to figure how difficult it will be for me to make real progress in my attempts. My wife is a big help, too.

[[deleted user]]

Hi, my name is Ken Doggett and I write hard Science Fiction, mainly because I read a lot of it as a child. I love writing Science Fiction because it provides a much larger scale to work with, one that's far larger and more imaginative than we can get in any other genre. I'll even cite a cliché and say that the scope of your stories in this genre are limited only by your own imagination. (Didn't Rod Serling say that?)

Today I inaugurated my own, stand-alone website and blog. Right now it's pretty limited, but as I get time and more experience with it, I hope to make improvements. Check it out at http://kendoggett.weebly.com

[Micah]

Science fiction. Period.

My first novel was space opera heavy on mythology, the hero's journey, politics, religion, military and character melodrama. Not sure I'll ever publish that one. It wasn't written in my normal writing voice and I have a sort of love/hate relationship with it.

Since then (1996) I've started close to a dozen stories. Of which, I've published a novel and a novella set in different universes. My work ranges from social sci-fi to space-based adventure that's more similar to modern British space opera writing (think Iain M. Banks and Alastair Reynolds).

Currently I've got half a dozen short stories on the way set in the same universe as my published novella (the Posthuman Cycle universe). I'll be making the short stories available for free in various formats.

I'm also editing a new novel set in the same universe as my first published novel (The Merchant Corps Histories universe). These novels are a lot different from each other in both setting (they're set at opposite ends of the Histories) and subject matter (the first is a quest for identity story wrapped in action/adventure dressings, the new one is more a relationships novel).

As a reader I'm most interested stories with a high ideas/page ratio, as well as good character driven stories set in richly developed worlds. Complexity, I think, is good. Hopefully some of that is reflected in my writing.

[Brian]

This is really cool to read all these different backgrounds and experiences.

I've been trying to write since as long as I can remember, but always bouncing back and forth between sci fi and fantasy. After taking a break from writing during college and the first couple of post-college years (I decided I was too serious to write fiction, whatever that means), I jumped back into writing. For a while I focused exclusively on science fiction - I'm talking space travel and new worlds science fiction. But, slowly, I realized that even though I enjoyed reading that stuff, I was not particularly adept at writing it - and it wasn't my favorite topic to personally explore. So, slowly, I began to shift into other genres. For the past year I've been working on a fantasy book and I've also been working on softer sci-fi and speculative works. And after all of my years of writing, I finally, finally decided to put something out there into the world -- a speculative novelette called Sentencing Day - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JPWMF8E I'm happy I finally took the leap.

I'm going to continue to explore fantasy and sci-fi, but I've really enjoyed working on the few speculative pieces I've been writing and I'd like to see where that takes me.

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I don't just like to explore ideas and concepts, i.e. "what if we all could read each other's minds," etc. I like to write about specific social, economic, and political issues that we face as a society. That's the most interesting thing to write about for me - wrestling with and molding real life issues that oppress people every day in our world in another, fictional context.

[J.A.]

I think, Brian, that one of the best things about speculative fiction is that when you write about socio- economic issues or other tough subjects like slavery and emancipation or gender politics, Spec fic allows you the distance as a writer and a reader to question your own dearly cherished predjudices - which perhaps you didn't even know you had! It's the perfect vehicle for helping people step outside the every day problem and look at it from another perspective. So you're definitely on to something there.

[Brian]

J.A. - You are right on there. In the piece I mentioned above, I try to explore the idea of the school to prison pipeline and mass incarnation in our society. But even in that, I try to look at the way that people from different class backgrounds are privileged within oppressive systems -- something I have certainly had to struggle with.

I like what you say spec fiction allows us to tackle societal injustices while also exploring our own prejudices, and even teases them out of us as we write them. If done right, it should be a new perspective for both the reader as well as the author.

[Jamie]

J.A. wrote: "I think, Brian, that one of the best things about speculative fiction is that when you write about socio- economic issues or other tough subjects like slavery and emancipation or gender politics, S..."

That comment got me into the thread, which I thought I might have posted in before. I love reading about socio-economic What Ifs in different kinds of speculative fiction, but in my own writing I might have a bunch of ideas there in the background but it really becomes all about the characters. But that doesn't mean I haven't written down tons of notes over the years about different possible aspects of the world my current fantasy series is set in.

I love history too, so there's lots woven into the history of my world and its many peoples and nations, in a classical Mediterranean with a dominant Republic like Rome just before things started to get crazy Gaius Marius onward.

Oh, and I love art as well, so that's pretty important in my world and its magic.

I'm excruciatingly close to finished the first draft of book 2 (which keeps growing because of some interesting turns the characters have led me through in the final act), after releasing book one about a month ago.

Just have to get one more consulting project done by early next week and then back to the writing. (And NBA playoffs here in Toronto are lots of fun, but not helping me get it done).

[K.]

I seem to have watched the same 1980s fantasy films (why don't small companies give them a shot now!!!!) and I count Labarynthe, Dark Crystal, Princess Bride and so forth as inspiration.

Like a lot of other folk on here, I have several genres that I write for...

Eryan series of books -Eryan, The Collectors and Lyca (currently a WIP) are all Middle Grade fantasy weighing in between 40,000-50,000 words and aimed towards 7-13 year olds.

K186F is sci-fi and will be completed shortly.

I'm also contacting agents and publishing houses with a gritty YA book titled "Voices of Alexander"...

I think it's important to just be writing. I see a book as a film playing over in my head and then I try to get it down on screen ASAP. Even the top writers write across genre and age groups...

[J.A.]

You'll get no arguments here, K. I think everyone here writes across genres to varying degrees. It's really refreshing after speaking to a few writers on another site who just want to write 'literary' fiction. I have no problem with that but it feels a bit like pruning yourself before you've started to me. Still spec fic lends itself to a lot of crossover and intermingling. I think that's why I can always find something new in it.

Interested to hear about your middle grade books. Do you find them difficult to write as oppose to YA or Adult? In what way do they differ? I write mostly YA and Adult so I am curious. I've written a few short stories for middle grades which have been published or podcast but I have to confess that I don't really feel like I've gt a grip on the essentials of writing for that age group.

[K.]

If I'm honest, MG books are the ones I love the most and I've been writing (of sorts) these sort of books since I was about 7 or 8...I just didn't know it was called that!

MG just feels natural to me and so I tend to aim towards the 40,000 mark and the younger audiences. I'm also a big fantasy fan. I love the idea of sci-fi but don't tend to aim towards it. I tend to write more space-fantasy (is that a made up term?) as I don't know enough about the science side of things!

Young Adult is tougher as I never know how far you can go. Mine is set in a gang and so (if it was an adult book) I would drop a few profanities or have them taking drugs etc. BUT as it's sort of aimed towards young adults, where do you go?

[J.A.]

Realistically there are sub-groups in YA. Holly Black writes brilliant YA fantasy which doe include profanity and in one case injectable drugs (ok so it' fairy drugs but still - I'm sure most YA see the parallel with heroine.) There's also sex scenes of a relatively none graphic nature. I'm not saying that this is standard - it isn't in all YA books, but it' realistic in line with adolescent readers, many of whom do swear and are experimenting. I think as long as it's part of the story and move the plot along, it's fine. Some YAs won't read books if there's swearing in them, others get annoyed a the lack of realism. The one thing that's certain is that you won't please all of them!

Ultimately things to avoid in YA are preaching to them; making anything too obviouly a metaphor for real life issues (unless you actually are writing real life issues) graphic sex scenes or rape or very heavy violence unless you're tackling those things.

I think the main difference between YA and Adult fiction is that adult often want to be entertained for a few hours and YAs want an experince in book form. This is a bit of a generalization but does hold true in most cases. If you're really interested in what YAs are reading / writing themselves check out figment.com - it's quite illuminating!

[K.]

I compare mine to something like Robert Swindells in terms of content, style and approach. It's been hard to get the flow right and so for me it's been exceptionally hard. I will write for this genre again (moreso if I do find someone to take on my work) but I'm more drawn to MG fantasy. I have at least 6 novels in note form...just need to find a spare 2 years in my life to type them all up!

If there's a forum for rich patrons to have me as a "conversation piece" typing away in the corner, I'm ready to negotiate...