What do you write and why?

[Richard]

I read a sci-fi short once, where they built a time machine and brought Mozart back from the dead, hoping he'd write new chamber sonatas and their ilk. But he ran away and joined a heavy metal band, instead.

[Patricia]

Hi Everybody and a happy New Year.

I love to write stories that revolve around the 'What if?' scenario. What would happen, if this happened? How would you cope and could you survive?

All of my stories are apocalyptic thrillers.

Time Split was written because I wanted to write a story about nuclear war. How could you survive it? What would life be like?

Distant Suns came from conversations I had about astronomy, with my dad. Jupiter's atmosphere is mostly made of hydrogen. It could have become a sun. I thought, 'What would happen if you added enough material for it to ignite and then had two suns in the Solar System?'

Islands the Epidemic started out as the beginning of a larger story, which was to satisfy my curiosity about what would happen if most of a human population was killed out by a disease. Then it took on it's own life when my nephew insisted it should be a story in its own right.

[K.N.]

Patricia, all of those sounded right up my alley. They're all on my to-read list!

Richard, I think that short should have been expanded to a full-length novel. The Adventures of Mozart the Metalhead.

[Patricia]

Kaitlin wrote: "Patricia, all of those sounded right up my alley. They're all on my to-read list!

Richard, I think that short should have been expanded to a full-length novel. The Adventures of Mozart the Metalhead."

That's very sweet. Thank you Kaitlin.

[T.]

Hi J.A.

I know its a cliche, but I "write what I want to read."

It makes the subject of genre a tough one, well more specifically it makes the subject of sub-genre difficult. If I had to draw a line in the sand and say I like to write in a genre, it would have to be general science fiction, getting anymore specific than that always escapes me.

I recently published my first novel: The Never Hero. I am now about half finished with the first draft of the sequel, current working title: The Never Trespass.

The series might have been Sci-Fi or Fantasy, either way could have been made to work. I like books that are more grounded in reality, that don't resort to solving plot problems with magic. Don't get me wrong, I read a ton of fantasy, honestly more than I read Sci-Fi, and often the magic has its own internal logic, still I like science fiction that can take current knowledge and provide a theory for why some technology could work. I see that as the difference between Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Both genres deal with a "what if," and Sci-Fi allows for that 'what if' through technology while Fantasy uses magic. In that, I think good Sci-Fi is more difficult to write convincingly, that said, Fantasy requires a stronger creativity if one wishes to come up with an original 'what if.' (note, no interest in defending that last comment, its a wire thin statement, and didn't mean to put down authors in either genre)

As an indie forced to choose two genres (Amazon listing) I had real difficulty placing The Never Hero because it was an amalgamation of genres. It had Alien Invasion, but wasn't a typical War of the Worlds, it had time travel, but wasn't Doctor Who, it had a Superhero-like character, but wasn't a comic book, it had government intrigue, but wasn't Enemy of the State. It even had pending apocalypse qualities and monsters. I kept asking myself where I would place a story like Inception, Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind, Transcendence, or the Matrix, and usually came up blank.

I really think of the book as Mind Bending, or Psychological. In the end I went with Action and Adventure and Time Travel. If Amazon would include the genre of Science Fiction 'Thriller', it would have been a lot easier to decide. Case and point: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls000257417/

Side note, sometimes I talk about this genre issue and people tell me I should of just chosen straight Science Fiction, but from a marketing/visibility point of view this isn't very strategic.

Anyhow, that's me! Sorry I got so long winded.

[T.]

Shell wrote: "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 litera..."

Dark Fantasy is one of those genres that alludes me. I can never really pin down what I think it is. When I do a search on Amazon and scroll through the results I get more of a mood than a collection of linked themes. 'Dark' of course, witchcraft, paranormal-ish. Is there a few well known titles (books or movies) that are generally considered as classic 'Dark Fantasy'?

[T.]

J. A. wrote: "I know it was the eighties but how did they get away with those tights? :)"

One of my favorite more recent meme's is:
"David Bowie, The only man allowed to sparkle, ever"

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736...

[K.N.]

T., I've been a long-time member of the Church of Areaology<\a>

[T.]

M.T. wrote: "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 missin..."

I think the problem is the cliches. Now that I have the point of view of an author I see that the sub-genres cloud more than they clear. Still, if we were playing word association ten years ago, and I was a 20 something in a book store, my mind would of done something like this:

General Sci-Fi = Star Trek
Alien invasion = War of The Worlds
Time Travel = Doctor Who
Apocalypse = Zombies and Comets hitting earth
Post Apocalypse = Mad Max... possibly Mad Max w/ Zombies
Fantasy = Lord Of the Rings
Literary Fiction = Miscellaneous
Horror = Stephen King
Non-Fiction: How to make friends and influence people.
Self-Help: Something by Dr. Phil

Unfortunately I think for readers who pickup 3-5 books a year this is probably still accurate.

[Ashe]

The chain bookstores barely go that far anymore too. There's no horror section, fantasy and sci-fi are all lumped together (sometimes with horror as well), while the "Literature & Fiction" section is a mishmash of genres mostly by authors who achieved cultural relevance. King and Gaiman are in there. Sub-genres mostly seem to exist online.

[Christina]

While online, specifically Amazon, offers more subgenre, it is still pretty hard to navigate. Horror is hidden under a subentry for general fiction and sometimes what you pick gets shifted anyway. In my case, I picked general fiction>occult and metaphysical as my second category for my last book, and ended up in horror, which is not quite right. Of course, I haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.

And to T above, I too have a book that falls into the Inception/Matrix style and ended up with the generic scifi/adventure label. Another author suggested the term 'meta-fiction," but apparently, that is already taken. Perhaps we need to create our own category.

[Ashe]

It's definitely not a perfect system. We were discussing it one night in the Weird West group and figured out that there's actually a Western Horror section but that you have to know where you're looking to find it. And after doing my own snooping, I found the same general genre-area in 4 or 5 different category lines. It's bizarre. I wish Amazon would use the industry standard categories to start. Even if you had a lot of sug-genres after that, at least you can get into areas easier.

Also really would like "weird western" to be a category. Even if I'm gonna list my book as a dark fantasy.

[Richard]

I suppose I'm not alone in feeling that, if only people who are looking for the kind of book I write could see my book, they'd buy it. I've certainly had positive reviews along the line of 'nobody's writing this kind of thing any more.' I'd actually like to see a sub-genre within hard scifi, but I can't see that happening in a world where scifi and fantasy are lumped together. We are all at the mercy of the bookstore gods, I guess.

[D.L.]

Richard 2060 wrote: "I suppose I'm not alone in feeling that, if only people who are looking for the kind of book I write could see my book, they'd buy it. I've certainly had positive reviews along the line of 'nobody'..."

Yes, Richard. I've felt this too. I've enjoyed some fantasy stories, but I prefer science fiction. I've coined the term 'counter-fantasy' as a sub-genre of science fiction for my own writing.

[Richard]

I got a review on James Davis Nicol's site, here and got a sudden peak in sales out of it. I'm hoping he'll review my second book, - it could use more attention. Even if the numbers are small though, it's good to hear from readers who really get what you're trying to do.

[Jennifer]

I write what I enjoy reading, and I've been addicted to science fiction since somebody handed me a copy of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and fantasy since somebody handed me a copy of The Hobbit. I wasn't in double figures ;).

[Richard]

Like

[Emily]

I write because I have to. If I don't, I get broody and depressed and feel like I do nothing with my life or time. Not that people have to read what I wrote or that I'm producing anything great. I guess it just keeps me off the streets.

Right now I just finished binge-consuming some piece of pop culture. It ended, and I felt so empty. I write now because I was inspired by it. It's not fanfiction, and I can't say there is much in common between what I'm writing and what inspired it. I guess I write because sometimes I just don't want stories to end.

[Christina]

I get that, Emily. I write to stay sane(ish) as well. :)

[D.L.]

Yes, same here. It's a challenging and often frustrating hobby, but it does provide a sense of accomplishment.

[Tracy]

I write dystopian fiction geared at young adults because I want dystopian fiction to remain fiction! I hope what I write is realistic and thought-provoking. The most terrifying horror stories are those that could actually happen, right?

[Christina]

Truer words have not been spoken, Tracy! My only book to veer into the realm of dystopian took a decidedly Idiocracy turn, so I sure hope it never comes to pas.

[Owen]

I write sci-fi with my co-author (who also writes fantasy) and this year we will be branching out into speculative fiction/alternate history/I-don't-know what.

I like writing sci-fi because it's easy to explore the themes we've chosen to write about there. When I originally came up with the idea for the series we are currently writing around 1990, it was two ideas, one of which was sci-fi, and the other was a contemporary "mystery/thriller" involving human trafficking.

For a number reasons, neither idea went anywhere at the time and it later occurred to me to merge them. I discussed the concepts with my co-author about three years ago, and when she got on board, we were "off and running" so to speak.

Sci-Fi gives us the freedom to tell the story we want more clearly (IMHO) and we love the freedom to create in an environment where we are not limited by present technology etc. I just like the "what if" aspect much more than the "what is" aspect. (And I'm kinda lazy at this point, too. Twenty-plus of doing research and writing about it does that to a person.)

[Jonathan]

K. wrote: "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 gen..."

AMEN to that!

[Jonathan]

Richard wrote: "I read a sci-fi short once, where they built a time machine and brought Mozart back from the dead, hoping he'd write new chamber sonatas and their ilk. But he ran away and joined a heavy metal band..."

\m/

[Jonathan]

Hello,
I'm Jon, and I'm an Australian ('Hiiii Jon...').

I write hard, near-future SF. And since discovering the term 'Slipstream' a couple of years ago, I have decided it also is both something I like and that I aspire to writing (along with dozens of other writers...). (Hence, my new book includes both terms, Hard-SF and Slipstream, in the subtitle. Sly plug, huh ;) )

I got frustrated with SF and Fantasy over the years. Too much Space-Opera (some of it rather good), and the vast, vast bulk of Fantasy seems to be very unimaginative these days. In fact, I see current Fantasy as being like Pornography. I have NO objection to Porn whatsoever, in fact the opposite (I worked for a porn website for a year or so), but it isn't designed to stimulate the Mind. I find most Fantasy satisfies that requirement also - it is stimulating a 'known zone', only, and not really pushing any boundaries.

And when SF did come along that I felt was 'edgy', too often - IMHO, of course - it 'copped out'. The reveal turned out to be something very conventional, or everyone got saved by 'The Power Of Love' ('Aaaaah...' choir-sound) or some such.

Greg Egan (who I probably talk about too much, though he deserves it), was a breath of fresh air. He took me back to the days when I worshipped Arthur C. Clarke (actually, I never really stopped worshipping him). Reality gets bent up and becomes unrecognisable - and if you can do it with known or speculated physics/philosophy, you've WON!

That's what I try to do, it's what I aspire to.

I love Philip K. Dick, too, though a lot of his stuff would not be filed under 'hard' SF. But it's just so clever, very very bent, and I love his 'tude.

I think I would like to write some Fantasy, but I have set strict requirements for myself. I want each story to be a puzzle. The axioms of the puzzle are laid out nice and clearly near the start of the story, and I am not allowed to pull a rabbit out of a hat. The characters get themselves into strife, then have to use the parameters of the puzzle to extract themselves.

Also, I wouldn't mind having a go at some historical fiction, but doing it 'Slipstream' style. I have a vague cloud of a set of mystery stories, with recurring characters, forming in the backroom. And let it hereby be known that I thus coined the term:

'SlipSTEAM'

!! (Ok, you can shoot me now).

The Victorian and Edwardian eras just have such a wealth of stuff to draw on. Which includes many of our modern misconceptions about those times - Sachs Romer has a lot to answer for! The truth was, as usual, often far stranger.

I think if you are writing speculative fiction these days, you really can just go berserk. There is SO much source material around.

Well, that's my Hello 2c! Pleased ta meetchas!

Jon

[Christina]

Hm, I'm curious as to what type of fantasy you are refering to, Jon? I ask because there's such a diverse spectrum these days that unimaginative isn't a word that I would have thought of. I'm partial to urban and dark fantasy myself and I can see where there are many writers in that genre who seem to write cookie cutter paranormal romance, but there are a lot of unique stories and ideas out there.

[Jonathan]

Christina wrote: "Hm, I'm curious as to what type of fantasy you are refering to, Jon? I ask because there's such a diverse spectrum these days that unimaginative isn't a word that I would have thought of. I'm parti..."

Hi Christina! I'm refering to sword-and-sorcery epics, there just still seem to remain so many of them. And a good chunk of the quirkier stuff falls back on gnome-at-the-bottom-of-the-garden tropes (though I love good ones of those). I do like dark fantasy stuff, particularly if it doesn't rely critically on traditional monsters. Can you give me some examples of books and writers you particularly respect, in this regard? I'd be very keen to take a look!

Cheers!
Jon

[Christina]

Ah. I tend to stick to the humorous side of epic fantasy, but I have read a few recently that I enjoyed.
Funny you should ask, because I just finished a review segment for my blog where I covered a couple of the authors in this group. Here are three off the top of my head:

Sue Perry had a super unique combination of pulp detective and weird fantasy.

G.G. Atcheson has a scifi/fantasy hybrid that involves space aliens and vampires.

Turhan Halil has a dark fantasy that revolves around demons.

[Owen]

Jonathan wrote: "gnome-at-the-bottom-of-the-garden tropes?"

I didn't get the memo in that one. Care to enlighten the poor benighted here?

[D.L.]

Jonathan wrote: "Can you give me some examples of books and writers you particularly respect, in this regard? I'd be very keen to take a look!"

For sword and sorcery fantasy epic adventure, Brandon Sanderson probably comes out at the top of my list of 'new' writers. His magic systems are unique, the characters are likeable, and his world building is quite good.

[Christina]

Paige wrote: "I love anything with a fantastical element to it. Realistic fiction typically bores me, although I can sometimes get behind historical fiction. I'm not sure why, but this preference also bleeds int..."

I've been leaning in the same direction, Paige. While I do love the classics, I went through a pretentious phase as a lit major some many years back and likely burned myself out by binge reading all things 20th century American literary fiction. For the last decade or so, it's been all sci-fi/fantasy for me.

[D.L.]

I went through a period of about three years when I was burned out on all fiction and only read nonfiction...history, science, philosophy, biographies, things like that. I'm better, now. I still read nonfiction, of course, but most of my current reading is science fiction and fantasy.

[Owen]

Personally, I find reading history more inspiring than fiction when it comes to writing fiction, and I read very little fiction these days. But then I've always loved history.

Occasionally I venture into literature I don't much like to try to get a better handle on my limitations.

[D.L.]

History and even current news articles are good sources of ideas for fiction. Popular books on science are excellent sources of inspiration for science fiction writers. I suppose anything we experience can provide a seed for a story, though. What I pick up from reading books by other novelists relates more to prose and pacing.

[Owen]

I write about people because I'm deluded enough to think I sorta understand them. I don't write about things like time travel (because I can't get the physics to straighten up and fly right) or AI (because I don't like the definitions I read of it).

I don't write contemporary fiction because I'd have to know how a smartphone works, which I don't. I don't write historical fiction because the moment you say your character is wearing a red woolen jerkin, someone points out that dyes for the color you picked weren't invented until years later, that character couldn't afford wool because the year before the King of Spain put an embargo on Merino sheep, forcing the mills in Surrey to try to switch to linen except the supply of flax had been disrupted when the Turks invaded Cyprus, and spinning wool and getting linen out of flax really have nothing to do with each other, and BTW, characters of that social station would not wear something called a jerkin anyway.

So I write sci-fi, where I can make things up, because I'm lazy (see previous entry). I throw in the "power of love" because I'm old fashioned, I begin space opera with poetry because I'm weird, and I make it rhyme because I don't know any better.

And then I defer to my co-author when she laughs at me and tells me (in the kindest possible way) that I'm an idiot, because she probably right. And then she makes it all better.

[Charles]

I write primarily fantasy, but dabble in sci-fantasy blend as well. I like to escape the real world, and so fantasy is my outlet, my friend, and a way for me to take others with me. BTW please excuse me if I repeated myself here. I think I mentioned all this on another thread, but not sure if I did here as well.

[Jonathan]

My gods! I'm away for 3 and a bit days and my Goodreads Inbox is stuffed full!

Thanks Christina et al - Christina I'll take a look at the ones you put up back there. Btw I have to say I liked Charles Stross' 'Laundry' series, though the first book is the one I like the most. Kind of HP Lovecraft meets Yes Minister with a ton of action thrown in.

Owen + DL : yes I draw a lot from stuff I see on the news and read in history. I have to admit - in fact, bit of a confession, considering I'm on a reading site here - my reading has slowed right down in the last 2 or 3 years, though there are some personal reasons.

Prior to that, and in that time, it's been mainly non-fiction that I read. The real world just freaks me out, I keep finding stranger and stranger things. One of the stories in my current book was inspired by my old cat (she was crazy and super cute) and looking at Graffiti.

I think one of the reasons Martin's 'A Song Of Ice And Fire' works so well is it's levered heavily off his own research and writings about medieval society. Ie. it's based on real history. In his own words, the true stories around the Medicis and Borgias is stuff "you couldn't make up". In fact, that's a favourite expression of mine - "S**** you couldn't make up" (let's just assume the **** is 'tuff', mheh, mheh..).

Oh yes, back to the confession! Most of the fiction I absorb these days is TV! But I always look at it (at least, I have done for the last 2 years, anyway) in terms of the writing. A couple of interviews with Kurt Sutter and Vince Gilligan were fascinating, for instance. I love analysing how they've threaded stuff together, and visualising how the Writing Room white-board ended up looking. Sometimes I can see binds, where they wrote themselves into a corner and had to find a way out.

Owen : "gnome-at-the-bottom-of-the-garden tropes?" - as in wander out the door and find something that just shouldn't be there (I refer to my cat story again, as strictly speaking it falls into this category). Usually/often, the writer can't come up with a convincing or deep back-story for how the thing in question came to be there - but sometimes they can! Actually... Patricia Wrightson's 'The Nargun And The Stars' is a famous children's one of these. She copped a lot of criticism, as some thought she was 'white-ifying' Australian aboriginal mythology, but I don't agree: I think she brought it to the attention of those in 'the city'. I still get nice chills thinking about the Narguns, sleeping under the earth, may we never disturb their rest...

Ok think I got a bit off track there, but good to be back in the fray!

Jon

[Jonathan]

If I may - I just posted this on my FB author page.

This is why I write Hard Science Fiction. Because the universe pulls unexpected, wondrous things like this.

(Resolution is a bit low, but it actually kinda helps.)

Burial - Forgive - Bird Formation

EDIT: changed link to a-ref after Richard informed me it didn't work.

[Owen]

Jonathan wrote: "Owen : "gnome-at-the-bottom-of-the-garden tropes?" - as in wander out the door and find something that just shouldn't be there..."

Oh. I'd never heard that. Thank you for the explanation. I'm afraid most of the people I know, on encountering a gnome at the bottom of their garden, would burst out: "Oh, THERE ya are, ya little prick! Where the hell ya been? I been lookin' all OVER for ya!" (I live in a weird neighborhood.)

But I do know exactly what you are talking about.

[Richard]

Jonathon - that video link doesn't work.

[Jonathan]

Dammit, wonder why that link doesn't work.

Here, lemme try an explicit a-link:

Burial - Forgive - Bird Formation

EDIT: yeah that works, I'll go back and change the original post.

[Owen]

Rob wrote: "I really wish someone could tell me what I write. Its SciFi (sorta), but than its also alternate history (sorta). Its definitively speculative fiction but that large umbrella isn't really helping i..."

We have the same issue, but sometimes I think you get any three of us in a room together and we'll come up with a new sub-genre. Sometimes, all the genre-splitting makes me a little dizzy. ;-)

But in a given market, keywords do help. I only know about Amazon directly, but picking keywords there does have a noticeable effect on where our books show up and thus our sales. As for a larger category, there's probably trial and error involved, based on finding books that have similar themes to yours.

[D.L.]

Owen wrote: "Rob wrote: "I really wish someone could tell me what I write. Its SciFi (sorta), but than its also alternate history (sorta). Its definitively speculative fiction but that large umbrella isn't real..."

Genre is a bugger. I eventually made up a genre label for my first five books. I call them 'counter-fantasy'. The characters and setting feel like fantasy (swords and kings and not much in the way of indoor plumbing) but magic (although it's commonly believed in) really doesn't work.

[Richard]

I think that's called 'historical fiction' DL. Or 'alternate history' if you don't follow actual historical events.

[D.L.]

It takes place on a different planet. By strict definitions, it's science fiction. There is a backstory about an extraterrestrial corporation colonizing it with humans to serve as a farming planet 20,000 years ago. It closed up shop, but the humans on the planet never knew about it. It did leave some stuff behind, though, including a few sapient androids (who chose to stay when the corporation pulled out).

[Christina]

This is a problem, isn't it? The whole reason why many of us self publish is because we can't shoehorn our work into a single genre and this is both a blessing and a curse. I personally love being able to do what I want (if the link works, here's a little image macro I made to this effect https://www.facebook.com/mcmullenwrit... ), but picking those neat and tidy categories can get frustrating with some works.

The keywords really are key here. At least on Amazon. They may not have a category for everything, but under scifi and fantasy there are filters, so it is possible for someone to search out a humorous romantic dystopian fantasy starring aliens set in an alternate steampunk universe. How often this seach combo comes up, however, is another story.

[D.L.]

Christina wrote: "This is a problem, isn't it? The whole reason why many of us self publish is because we can't shoehorn our work into a single genre and this is both a blessing and a curse. I personally love being ..."

I like the image, Christina, and I agree with the sentiment. Personally, I like stories that include both science fiction and fantasy but which still preserve the distinction between the two. I didn't see much of that being done and decided to write stories that did it.

[Owen]

Christina wrote: "The keywords really are key here. At least on Amazon..."

Quite true. Amazon has lots of categories that you can't select but that your book is placed in, based on keywords. The "big deal" is to get your book into a "Top 100" list, had that depends on having the proper keywords. For our second book, I used the same keywords as the first book (foolishly) not thinking they really mattered. Then I noticed that a couple of the books we were linked to (thru the "Also bought" list) were showing up in a Top 100 category, but we were not, even though our sales rank was in the same ballpark. So I adjusted our keywords based on what was actually in our second book, and we showed up on that list almost immediately, and our sales improved.

And yeah, I'll bet: humorous, romantic, dystopian, fantasy, aliens, steampunk (plus one more); will probably get eyes on your book.

[Jeffrey]

I've only recently decided to start writing a novel (I've been blogging for a couple of years), and am just finishing my first draft of book 1 in a fantasy series. My aim is to have it out in summer (I suspect late summer).

It's very much (intended to be) a character-driven story. I love reading stories that explore the emotional journeys of the protagonist; hence my love for the Thomas Covenant series. Yes he's a thoroughly unlikeable character, and worse than useless in the Land, but by the end of the trilogy he has overcome his despair and actually become a decent bloke.

So my own writing tends to include how the main characters are feeling and how those emotions evolve over time.

That's the aim, anyway. We'll see if it comes off....