What genres do you read?
Back when I was in the eighth grade and I first caught the "writing bug" the only thing I was interested in was science fiction. It was all I read, and all I wrote. I’m not sure if any of my early writings from that era have survived, but I’m sure I’d probably cringe if I read them again.
But what I find even more interesting is how my tastes in literary genres have changed over time. Like I said, the first genre I really got into was science fiction, then it morphed into more mainstream/popular fiction. After that was my mystery phase, where I only wrote and read mysteries. Many of those stories I still have and I’m afraid if I dust them off to read them again, they will spontaneously burst into flame for being so bad.
After my mystery phase, and around the time I started college, I began reading more literary fiction. The kind of fiction where the plot takes a back seat to character development and an entire short story could only span five minutes in the fictional world. As I progressed through literary fiction, I also started reading the classics.
Now I have come full circle and I’m again reading science fiction. Why? I don’t really know. Two years ago I was at the bookstore and I saw a series of books about Mars by an author named Kim Stanley Robinson. I read the series without any great expectations (no pun intended) and ended up being obsessed with the world that Robinson had created. Since then, while reading the classics in school, I started buying more science fiction to read at home.
My point is that reading across several genres is a good thing. It keeps reading exciting and you’ll never know what kind of authors you’ll discover. I also noticed that genres also tend to "cross pollinate". For example, in many novels by Robinson, he focuses a lot on character development (some say too much). But by the end of one of his novels, you feel like you know the main character like your best friend. Yes, the plot is there, but it’s nestled into the narrative in a more subtle way.
On the flip side of that coin, I’ve read books classified as literary fiction that have strong elements of mystery mixed into them. One book in particular, Strong Motion by Jonathan Franzen, read almost like a mystery. I say "almost" because he is very much a literary fiction writer. The plot, however, had elements you’d expect to see in a mystery novel.
What effect has all this reading had on my writing? The most obvious effect is that no matter what genre a story I’m working on happens to be in, I’m starting to pull in elements from other genres as well. This tends to keep the writing fresh and interesting.
It’s also a good way to beat writer’s block. If you working on a piece of fiction and you’re stuck, try throwing in something that is not normally part of that genre. The sky is the limit here and it’s fairly easy to do. The hard part is fitting it into the story in a way that’s natural and doesn’t feel forced. I’m working on a story right now (the same story I’ve been working on for several months) that involves time travel. Pure science fiction, right? Well, almost. While science is the catalyst for the plot, the story depends much more on the main character’s own life and background. In other words, it’s a science fiction story that is dripping with elements that are more literary in style.
Whew! That was a mouthful! But hopefully you’ll see that limiting yourself to only one genre is not a very good idea. You are, in a sense, closing off entire worlds of literature that will only open up to you if you are willing to explore them. So if you have been reading mysteries for the last two decades, next time you hit the bookstore, check out the classics or even the science fiction section. I just might see you there!
Related posts
- Literary vs. Genre Fiction
- Plot Vs. Character based fiction
- Romance is still a mystery to me
- Avoiding burnout and boredom as a writer
- Real creativity is in the editing!
