Read widely in your genre

I'm not really sure what you mean. You aspire to write in a genre that generally makes you naseus? I figure, whatever works. If your manuscripts are going well--keep doing what you're doing?

Fantasy/sci fi is more an extensive collection of genre-lettes than one homogenous entity IMHO. But there is still some benefit to reading related genres and the good with the bad.

Well, some people do love a "well-turned" phrase, and fantasy is notorious for having an adverb addiction.

When people say "read widely" they don't mean, "read everything" what they mean, at least, what I mean what I say it is, read the seminal works. If you like fantasy, be familiar with The Heroes Journey, and with the works that are lauded as great fantasy successes. Things like, Mercedes Lackey, and what not, sell because they fill a niche. I know when I was a fledgling reader I would gobble up anything sci-fi or fantasy, regardless of whether or not I was interested in the blurb.

But I'm an atypical reader. Starting at twelve when I convinced my mom to let me check things out under her "adult" library card, I went down the sf/fantasy aisle at my branch library and scooped up twelve books at a time, starting from the As and ending in the Zs, and read everything I got. Some stories, author names and book titles stuck with me, a lot of it was dross that I very thankfully forgot. But it's not an uncommon circumstance now for me to pick up a "recommended" sci-fi/fantasy book read a few chapters, get an intense sense of deja vu, skip to the end, and find that I'd already read the book.

All of that to say, read widely, but read well.

:edit: I just wanted to add, Vein makes an excellent point. You can learn just as much from a "bad" writer as you can from a "good" one.

You only want to read good books? Well written books?

Okay. Do that. Read them, regardless of genre.

You'll be reading widely in no time.

Judg said:

So now tell me why I'm wrong.

Click to expand...

I don't think you are.

I write sci-fi, but besides books by Iain M Banks, I don't read sci-fi. I'm not out to write about spaceships and ray guns and stuff like that. They're in there, but mostly I'm interested in the characters. Great characters appear in all genres, so I read all genres.

I'd wager we could all produce a stack of shitty books in every genre. Just quit reading the bad ones.

Actually, I think there are more reasons than to know what's been done and overdone. A lot of this is because I did submerge myself in my genre and read as much as I could. I literally hit every single subgenre and read something in it. Here's what I picked up:

Genre Elements
I learned a lot about what needed to be in my genre--the things that the reader expects to see. Some of these are basic things like a romance should have a romance or a mystery should have a crime, and yet there's people out there who don't know this. I started out thinking I might write in fantasy, but came to realize that one crucial genre element all the readers expected to see was something I didn't like to write (world-building).

Knowing What's Selling
The market's been changing an awful lot over the last few years. There are some things that couldn't have sold ten years ago, but are selling well now. I ran into a writer who was getting rejection after rejection for her recently written romance novel. She had written it based on her 1980's experiences reading romance. She had no idea that the genre had changed because she hadn't read anything recent in it.

Selling to the Agent
I do a lot of query critiques here, and I periodically run into someone who says "it's this genre"--but through the query clearly shows it's not that genre. Or worse, they really don't know where it fits and end up saying something like "it has elements of western, science fiction, glitz, and romance"--which unfortunately suggests the story needs a lot more work.

And a big one:
It's hard to get published. Knowing what the genre has to offer now is a good way to figure out where yours stands out from everyone else's.

I write Urban Fantasy. I write it because I like reading it, and as a result am quite widely read in the genre. It's been extremely helpful to me to see what others in the genre are doing.

It's also a win-win reading experience. If a book is really good, I get a lot of enjoyment from it. If it's bad, I'm hugely encouraged because my stuff is better.

Maybe I'm alone on this one, but I only write in my genre because it's what I've read the most and what I enjoy. Made sense to me.

jbal said:

Maybe I'm alone on this one, but I only write in my genre because it's what I've read the most and what I enjoy. Made sense to me.

Click to expand...

Ah, no, you're not alone -- I do the same. I love the genre I'm working in, though I'm very discerning, I manage to gobble up three or more novels a week, with only a very small percentage being mediocre. I feel like an explorer, seeking out the best of what I love to read.

If readers aren't finding books they like, even admire, they are simply not looking hard enough.

In recent years, all sorts of genre books, translated from other languages, are coming to the USA -- what a feast!

I can't understand not being an avid and passionate reader and yet wanting to write. I simply don't understand wanting to write in a genre one isn't thrilled about.

I write heroic fantasy. I read almost exclusively heroic fantasy, except for the occassional Steven Pressfield historical fiction (which focuses on ancient Greek warriors, and is full of combat, gore, and violence). I don't see much reason for me to read other (non-heroic) kinds of fantasy, though. So I'll agree with Veinglory that fantasy is more a collection of genres, than one large, tightly knit genre...

Keep reading as much as you keep writing. Both are important, and learning one's genre is as important as learning the tools of writing. You don't have to read all the crap that you find, but you should read the good stuff and enough of the crap that you know why it's crap so you can avoid making the same mistakes.

I think you mean "Well read" vs. "Read widely".

I'm quite conservative in what I read - a couple books a month by select authors - to keep myself entertained. I recognize that there are a lot of great books out there and also a lot of crap. If you're worried about being influenced by the writings of others, it's too late. I would be more concerned about telling a good story in the best possible way than fretting over its originality (to a degree) and whether it conforms to the genre. A good story is a good story.

I'm of the "read widely" school myself. Yes, it helps to read in your genre, but who's to say something from a scene in another genre wouldn't inspire you? You can always learn from what other authors do, no matter the genre.

Plus, it's always fun for me to try something different!

Judg said:

I can't abide overwrought prose and melodrama, and fantasy has too much of it.

I think I am better off by reading across several genres and aiming especially for the cream of the crop.

Click to expand...

First, you are better off reading a wide spectrum of stuff, rather than restricting yourself to a particular genre. Good writing stands out, regardless of its "genre", and, personally, I'd recommend the mystery/intrigue novels of John D. MacDonald and James M. Cain as about the best examples of pure narrative prose I can think of. Any fiction writer would benefit from reading some of their stuff.

Second, have you read the progenitors of the fantasy genre, George Macdonald, Lord Dunsany, in particular? If not, you should. If you like clean, direct, crisp prose, Dunsany makes Tolkien look turgid and forced.

caw

I shudder every time I even consider reading LOTR again - once was enough thank you.

Reading well in a genre is important. Reading the genre classics will tell you what the foundations are. Reading new releases will tell you what is selling today. Reading the in-between books will tell you what prevailing trends are, and which tropes are overdone or consistently required.

Read what you like, write what excites you. The two aren't necessarily one and the same. I read mostly sci-fi/fantasy. But, I love a good thriller every once in a while. My finished MS and current WIP can sort of be considered sci-fi-ish, but it really doesn't fall into any one genre.

Judg said:

I read that advice often. But I'm not sure I buy it.

The main advantage to doing that, as far as I can see, is knowing what's been done and overdone.

But far too often when I read the first page or two, I gag. It's awful! I don't want to sound like that and I don't want those voices filling my head and influencing mine. I can't abide overwrought prose and melodrama, and fantasy has too much of it.

I think I am better off by reading across several genres and aiming especially for the cream of the crop.

So now tell me why I'm wrong.

Click to expand...

If you don't like reading in a genre, why on earth would you want to write a novel in that genre? I don't understand this at all. You should read widely, across many genres, but if you want to write fantasy successfully, you need to please teh readers who love fantasy, and they love the very style of writing you seem to hate.

Why not do teh wise thing and try writing in a genre you love reading?

LOTR

farfromfearless said:

I shudder every time I even consider reading LOTR again - once was enough thank you.

Click to expand...

Which means you aren't going to try writing anything like LOTR, right? That's the thing. If you don't like it, trying to write it is silly.

Though I've read LOTR five times, can't wait to read it again, but I still don't want to write fantasy.

I don't think you're alone in your logic. It's not uncommon for authors to write in one genre and read in another. John Saul comes to mind. He writes horror, but doesn't read it. I often wonder who these experts are that make such claims? Take what advice works for you and disregard what doesn't.

I think the important thing is to write the story you want to write -- but if you want to SELL it, you should have a good idea of what the genre requires. I've been toying with a YA historical for a while, and just now got it into the "outline" phase. I'm doing research, not only for the time period, but also to see what other books out there are similar. I need to know what elements make a sellable YA historical novel -- or there's really no point in me spending much time on it.

Veinglory is right!!!

veinglory said:

Fantasy/sci fi is more an extensive collection of genre-lettes than one homogenous entity IMHO. But there is still some benefit to reading related genres and the good with the bad.

Click to expand...

This is utterly true.