I've been thinking about my writing in terms of where it started, how far it has come, and where I want to go with it (working on that career plan of mine.) It occurred to me that I've tried my hand at adult fantasy, young adult fantasy, middle grade fantasy, historical romance, literary fiction, mainstream, and poetry. I've heard this is a great way to discover your writing voice and what you enjoy writing the most, but for me it's been more about finding where I belong. Now, I'm fairly certain I'll always write fantasy, but I haven't discovered where my voice fits best within the genre. I think I enjoy writing MG more than anything but I prefer to read YA and/or adult fantasy novels. So I'm just not sure. I tend to think you should write what you like to read, at least, there are many benefits of doing so, so I'm hesitant to delve into this MG novel I'm trying to outline.
As I pondered this, I began to wonder if a lot of other writers try their hand at various genres, whether to find their voice and/or genre, or if they just immediately "know" where they belong based on what they read or what they first started writing.
And now I'm curious, why do you write what you do? Have you tried other genres? Are you certain you are writing where you "belong?" Please humor me and my constant posing of questions.
: p
5 comments:
This is a HUGE question for me right now. I think I'm going to try my hand at adult. What do you think? Doable?
I go with my natural voice - where my brain stopped growing. somewhere between 13 and 17. Also -I am too unrealistic to be non-fiction. I think the voice has to be natural so wherever you feel an ease of writing.
shelli
http://faeriality.blogspot.com/
Worth a shot, Heather. It certainly can't hurt to try. I've only read your YA, so it's hard for me to imagine anything outside your MC's voice.
That's good advice, Shelli. I just don't know where that is for me, haha. I don't think my "adult" fiction was my best though, so I probably belong either in MG or Ya.
Sometimes I wonder if I make things harder on myself by flitting around genres, but I figure it's all practice and I'm not in a huge hurry to try and publish. I'd rather take a long time to learn and then publish something I can be extremely proud of.
Anyone else want to add their input?
Always fantasy and sci-fi for me. I thought I was all MG, but then I wrote a YA and really liked it. So I'm not sure. I think you can bounce around.
I'm with Shelli on this. My brain also "stopped growing" somewhere in the teenage years, so my voice naturally comes out as YA. (Sometimes in public which is embarrassing, but what can you do?)
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