Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Blog Chain - Genres

Hey!  Welcome back from the long weekend and welcome back to another installment of the blog chain :)  This rounds topic is courtesy of Margie, whose absolutely amazing book INCONVENIENT comes out in like 2 months!

So Margie wants to know:  How did you come to write your YA genre (e.g. contemp, fantasy, etc.)? AND (yep, it’s a 2 parter), if you weren’t writing that, what genre would you be interested in exploring?


I'll tell you what, I came to YA completely by accident.  Growing up, I read a ton of science fiction and fantasy.  I mean, I jumped right from stuff like The Chronicles of Narnia and the Dark is Rising sequence into books by Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan.  I was reading those around age ten and I kept up that trend until my early twenties.  It wasn't until I read Harry Potter that I realized how great YA had become.  


Because my influences were mostly sci-fi/fantasy, that's mostly what I wrote.  The thing is, I was really bad at them.  I did write some contemp realistic stories when I was in college, but when I dreamed of writing books, it was always some epic sword and sorcery fantasy.

A couple of years ago when I decided to try to take my writing seriously one last time before giving up the dream, I decided I wanted to write YA.  But even my first attempts at YA blended fantasy with realism.  Kids started out in the real world but ended up in a fantastical one.  When the idea for Deathday came to me, I didn't specifically think that I was going to be writing a contemporary realistic novel.  But it turned out that it was a genre that I was comfortable in and that I was pretty good at.

I'm actually exploring different genres all the time (much to my agent's chagrin :o) ) because I think YA allows for that kind of experimentation.  I think that so long as I hold onto the things that are uniquely me, that readers will give me some leeway.  But I'd still like to try epic fantasy.  I know that epic fantasy is on the decline, but I spent so much of my youth reading about it, that I feel I might have something to contribute.  It's the world building that gets me every time.  It's tough and I have so much admiration for people who can create worlds from scratch.  ONe of my favorites is the world of David Eddings.  He's pretty darn brilliant in my opinion.

I'd also like to write an adult book.  Not because I think there's anything wrong with writing YA...in fact I think that YA is the literary frontier right now.  But I'd like to bring some of that whimsical fun over to the adult side and see what I could do with it.

But even if I never write in any other genre, I'm still totally happy.

Man, I shouldn't blog before breakfast.  So, hey!  Go check out what genre the awesome Michelle loves and what she'd like to try, and then head over to Abby's blog tomorrow and see what genre she uses her amazing gift in.

13 comments:

  1. I'm with you. I start to write realistic and end up in dystopian or fantasy. On my latest contemp attempt, I had to really focus on staying in this world. Can't wait to get your book -- I just ordered it!

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  2. lol I do the same thing! I started writing a coming-of-age contemporary book about a girl who worked in an auto parts store...and it turned into fantasy with her finding out she was the daughter of a goddess (this was before the whole craze on that front...I should have gotten that book done a little faster - might have sold it LOL)

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  3. Great post, Shaun. I'd argue though that Deathday does have some paranormal/sci-fi/fantasy hidden elements going on in the background. That's a really poor classification for what's going on, but that's one of the biggest reasons I loved the book. Your influences show through in very subtle ways.

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  4. It's awesome you're comfortable exploring genres. Who knows? You may discover a gift for westerns. :) I plan to explore, too, even if I have to keep three different careers going to do it!

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  5. I love exploring genres! I mean, how do you know which one fits until you try 'em all on?

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  6. Interesting about the adult. That's what I thought I'd start writing too--my first book (that's in a coffin) was adult--but it didn't work. One day I'll give it a shot again. Yeah, world-building is tough, but I think you can do it. I always tell you that's I'm so impressed by your creativity. (You probably don't want to hear that kind of stuff anymore. Must get trite. :-p)

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  7. I do think The Deathday Letter has a touch of fantasy in it, or else how does the letter work? (BTW, I finally downloaded your book to my Kindle last week, and I really liked it. It's amazing how similar Oliver's best friend is to my MC's best friend.) And I think worldbuilding is important in all fantasy, not just epic.

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  8. A lot of what you read growing up is the same stuff my husband read. I can see the fantasy influence sneaking through in subtle ways in Deathday. One of the cool things about having influences different from what you write is that those influences do slip into your work and give it a rounder, more developed feel.

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  9. I LOVE this post! And definitely KEEP WRITING!

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  10. Yeah, I started with adult UF, then switched to YA--I think my voice fits it better. Plus, it's a LOT of fun!!! :D

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  11. It's really cool seeing how YA wasn't the genre that you first gravitated too, and how you eventually found your way there. Great post!

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  12. Shaun, I believe you could do anything you set your mind to do.

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  13. I'm totally with you on this one. I tried to write epic fantasy for so long, but I just couldn't make it do what it was supposed to do. Great post and I'm glad you found your genre!

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