Did you chose your Genre or did it chose you?

[Bo Sullivan]

When I started writing seriously back in 1989 I was automatically drawn to writing about Elizabethan history. Now I'm drawn to Victorian history.

What about you?

Barbara

[glassquill]

I've always been drawn to Fantasy. I read it and make an attempt to write it too. :D I'm good at the reading. The writing bit remains to be seen. :tongue

[sadron]

It chose me. I'm so taken. :D I read fantsy too.

[seun]

Good question. I'll read more or less anything while I generally write 'real' fantasy. I've always said the story is in charge so I think the genre chose me.

[Oddsocks]

It's the only thing I'm sufficiently interested in to write (except for maybe scifi, and I haven't written off the idea of writing that either).

[ChaosTitan]

I grew up surrounded by SF, fantasy and horror on TV and in movies. My dad was a horror fan, and many of the shows we watched were SF or F related.

Oddly enough, most of the books I read before the age of fourteen were general middle grade and YA. Series like Babysitter's Club, Sweet Vally Whatever, Sleepover Friends, Judy Blume, et al. No genre books in there.

Somehow I ended up writing urban fantasy.

[gem1122]

Good question. I've tried my hand at poetry, fantasy, and article writing, but none of them 'stuck'. As a kid, I liked reading some fantasy, but it never sustained my interest long enought to work out a whole story of my own. What I kept getting drawn to were stories of everyday people (living in this world). One day, I realized that everyone has a story, and I had this incredible desire to write every one of them.

It seems as much as I've avoided it, novel writing keeps finding me.

[swvaughn]

Somehow I ended up writing urban fantasy.


Ditto. Don't know how that happened. I used to write thrillers... :D

But I'm a happy writer of UF, and I'm sure I will write other genres when I get through with these eight or nine novel ideas...

[Toothpaste]

I had always toyed with many genres (historical fantasy, detective stories, coming of age YA). When it suddenly occurred to me that what I should be writing was middle grade, everything though made sense. In my last year of high school for my big english paper I chose to write on Alice in Wonderland vs Peter Pan. I always re-read my books from childhood, and am a huge Harry Potterphile. The fact that it occurred to me quite by accident that I should try and write a children's novel seems now so strange, as it is quite obvious everything in my life had been making that suggestion for a long time. I guess I just didn't pay attention. But I do now. Do I ever now!

[Tasmin21]

When I was in first grade, I found my mom's copy of The Hobbit, and read it. I have been firmly chained to the fantasy world ever since. (And I include urban fantasy in that)

[scarletpeaches]

I grew up surrounded by SF, fantasy and horror on TV and in movies. My dad was a horror fan, and many of the shows we watched were SF or F related.

Oddly enough, most of the books I read before the age of fourteen were general middle grade and YA. Series like Babysitter's Club, Sweet Vally Whatever, Sleepover Friends, Judy Blume, et al. No genre books in there.

Somehow I ended up writing urban fantasy.

That's almost exactly my story. My dad liked some horror and a lot of true crime and I was reading Stoker and Bronte by the age of 7.

Through my early teens I read SVH, a lot of American YA because at that time it wasn't really a big genre in Britain, everything Danielle Steel churned out and some Sidney Sheldon. By my middle teens I'd progressed to Jackie Collins and the like and now I mostly read chicklit, British YA, history, biographies and true crime.

And now I write chicklit for adults and urban fantasy for YA.

[ClaudiaGray]

A mixture of both, really -- among the things I thought I could maybe write/was most interested in writing, I chose to try in the two genres that I suspected would be most likely to sell. YA supernatural romantic suspense is doing well so far; we'll see about thrillers later this year. :)

[Cav Guy]

I dabbled with espionage fiction, fantasy, sci-fi, mainstream college life stories, historical military fiction, you name it. Then one day, out of nowhere, I wrote a Western. Never read them before, and only watched a few of the movies. And I mean literally out of nowhere. Just sat down at the computer and it came to me. I haven't been able to shake them since. Maybe it's a function of where I grew up and the history I absorbed while I was there. I don't know.

I still dabble with some other genres (especially historical military stuff and I get an occasional longing to write about one of my espionage characters), but Westerns have their hooks in me and won't let go.

[Lyra Jean]

As much as I like science fiction. I grew up with it my dad and mom both being big science fiction readers. I was named after a princess from outer space, not Leia. I've always tried to write science fiction. The genre dominates my shelves.

I've come to realize that I love history far more than science and so now attempting to write historicals or at least have a historical feel to them. Hopefully it won't be generic (place time period here).

:e2drunk:here's to new genres.

[Danger Jane]

It chose me...I just started writing and didn't even realize my WIP was fantasy till I was almost done. I'm not so observant sometimes ;)

[Haphazard]

Hmm. My mother reads mostly historical ficiton of the holocaust, my father reads exclusively nonfiction, my brother mostly sci-fi, when he does get to reading at all...

I wrote some psych fiction and then got stuck to comedic fantasy, usually of the urban variety. Silly me.

[JoNightshade]

My dad reads... anything exciting or suspenseful. He set the precedent for ALWAYS READING. But my mom was the one who read TO me, and we started out with stories about animals. James Herriot, EB White, Jack London, etc. Once I started choosing my own books, I gravitated towards the weird. First it was ghost stories and then it was supernatural stuff... books about telepaths and people with special powers. Then, in sixth grade, I was walking past the television as my dad was watching Return of the Jedi. It was the scene where Han kisses Leia. I was instantly IN LOVE for the first time in my life. With Harrison Ford or science fiction, I am not sure, but sci fi dominated my life from that point until I hit college. Then I expanded my horizons by studying British and American literature.

Now? I read anything that's good. I write some sci fi. And other vaguely weird stuff that defies genre-ing. Annnnd non-genre romance. Sort of.

::Sigh:: I wish I could find a genre! :)

[Sean D. Schaffer]

When I started writing seriously back in 1989 I was automatically drawn to writing about Elizabethan history. Now I'm drawn to Victorian history.

What about you?

Barbara


I chose my genre. This is partially due to people forbidding me from writing the stuff I wanted to write when I was a child. I decided all the more I would what I wanted to regardless of what other people wanted. This got me in a lot of trouble with my parents and my church, but the fact remains, I decided for myself what I would write ... even if it was mainly out of spite at the time.

[Death Wizard]

I would say that fantasy chose me.

[heatheringemar]

It chose me. Or I chose it. I dunno, but somehow I ended up writing stuff in the speculative fiction genre, mostly urban fantasy.

I guess you could say that I just like to believe there is still magic around us.... :)

[Will Lavender]

Neat thread.

I'd say I chose my genre.

I cut my teeth on horror literature, and the progression to thrillers seems natural. I love violence in fiction, strangeness, things that don't make sense at first and then are revealed at the end. I'd like to think I've found a way to combine all those things in my writing.

In my twenties, I took up teaching college writing. What I learned there has heavily informed my writing. Both my novels are set on college campuses.

My writing is sort of horror/mystery/suspense/academic fiction. Each of those things is a byproduct of a life choice (I didn't have to pick up that Stephen King novel when I was 15, after all), a decision I made and then incorporated later into my novels.

[triceretops]

I abandoned my first genre love. So as not to make her jealous, I've invented a new sub-genre that she's never heard of before. I am now the master and commander of paranormal/horror! It's mine, mine, mine I tell ya! I'm making huge inroads, crossroads, and dirt roads into this fabulous catagory that, I, yes I have created. It's ALIVE, I tell ya.

....wait a minute. Doesn't King do something like this?

I've got to check my records....

Tri

[Inky]

I sat down to pen paranormal romance.
I had a decadent immortal highlander, and a modern day damsel in distress.

Uh hem.

The damsel in distress kicks ass.
The immortal highlander is actually a Forest Lord (or Pict if you listen to the Greeks/Romans)

And...

This Elvish prince showed up explaining he was sent to protect Ms. Damsel--and brought along a small entourage of MORE characters.

As if not headache enough, I then had the son of Hades inform me this would be his story as well, and said damsel? She was to become HIS woman. As for that Highlander? Turns out, the damsel was the reason for his village being massacred 3 millennia earlier, so he's still a bit pissed at her. Disregard she doesn't know a thing in this lifetime.

Um. Ooookay.
And then Hades' son informed me that he would require his own language: Elves spoke too pretty, and he certainly wasn't going to have something so belittling as what mortals spoke.

They created a campfire, invited me for a chat by way of tying me to the stake, and proceeded to inform me this was now fantasy romance.

Arguing seemed moot.

Oh, crap! Gotta run. Elves have NO sense of humor...warning: do NOT throw snowballs at Elves!!!

[Bo Sullivan]

It's great to hear what you are all writing and I am reading all these comments with great interest.

Barbara

[Chasing the Horizon]

I want to write romance, mainstream fiction, historical fiction, and maybe horror. Yet I'm writing nothing but fantasy. Fantasy certainly chose me, I haven't even read much of it. Right now I'm trying to strike a compromise and write fantasy romance. In the end I don't seem to have much say in what stories come to me.

[JoNightshade]

Addendum to previous post: I totally want to write historical fiction but I'm too lazy to do the research. ::Gasp::

Okay so I guess I don't want to write it bad enough. Eh, back to sci fi.

[Jamesaritchie]

When I started writing seriously back in 1989 I was automatically drawn to writing about Elizabethan history. Now I'm drawn to Victorian history.

What about you?

Barbara

I write what I like to read. I don't believe inanimate objects can make choices, so, as an animate object, I have to do this for myself.

[Shady Lane]

Well...I'm a young adult. Ever since I started writing, I've been a young adult. Maybe when I grow up I'll write characters about adults. I'm not sure.

[BlueTexas]

I always aim to write horror stories, but they never come out that way at all. I guess that's a long way of saying I don't know.

[Dave.C.Robinson]

I write mostly fantasy and some SF-- those are also the genres I like to read. Funny that.

[WriterInChains]

I've always read a lot of scifi, horror, and trashy romance (<<meant with the greatest affection, think Woodwiss in the '70s) -- and anything that's dark and tragic, "abnormal", really grabs me (like The Shining when I was in Jr. High, WOW!). But, when I pull out my first drafts to see what I have, they're about women who're trying to get past all the darkness and find a place in the world. :Shrug:

When I try to mold the stories to be anything but Women's Fiction with an edge, they just plain suck. So, I guess my genre chose me. I like to read all kinds of Women's Fiction, though, so maybe not.

I wish I were more scientifically-inclined -- I'd LOVE to write some hard scifi, with a steamy love story. :D

[Zoombie]

Well my head has been full of robots, aliens and cyborgs with attitudes for all my life. It was just a matter of cracking it open one night time bicycle ride and collecting all the words that came out in a big puddle of goo.

[Sassee]

I think it chose me. I've been drawing and writing fantasy for as long as I can remember. Mostly it was just drawing - I'd do Tinkerbell, dragons, etc. Then around the third grade the bookworm bug caught me and I dove into anything I could get my hands on. Mostly sci-fi (dad was a big Star Trek fan), fantasy, suspense, and horror (when I could get away with buying it).

The drawing slowly morphed into writing. After all, pictures are storytellers all on their own. So I cut my teeth on fantasy, and though I've branched out to write other related genres or mashed other genres with fantasy... it's always been fantasy at heart.

Then, of course, the urban fantasy bug caught me. It sank its teeth in and hasn't let go of me yet. There's just something fun about writing magic and monsters into everyday life :)

[RG570]

I'm not sure how to answer this question. I mean, at first I thought I would only ever write science fiction. I've always loved reading it.

Now I'm more into more mainstream stuff. It's weird. After years of being quite sure that I love science fiction, the last novel I read kind of turned me off. And I've been having the urge to write other types of stories, stuff that has nothing to do with fantasy or useless yet impressive gadgets or stupid stereotypical soldiers in space. Uh, like my last novel. heh.

Now that years of identifying only with this science fiction thing are over, it feels so liberating. Left unexamined, it could have been a corner that I'd never get out of, and from the way things are going, a good road to total obscurity forever.

It's not science fiction I love, but fiction in general, both reading and writing it. It's a hell of an epiphany to have.

[JeanneTGC]

They all (and I do mean all) chose me.

I've always thought up speculative fiction stories (as in, anything and everything that would fall under that broad blanket), but I started writing a Western. Turns out, it's not really a Western, it's a historical romance (who knew? Not me, not until about 2 weeks ago, LOL). But most of what I write is in speculative, fantasy having the most say in the matter, science fiction having the least (because I don't want to do the hard research to do hard SF -- happy to research the Old West, not so happy to research quantum physics).

But I love them all and frankly find it nice to move from one to another. They seem okay with it, too. We're a free love commune over here in my mind. :D

Other than thrillers. We discussed it and decided we were not right for each other and neither have ever looked back.

[badducky]

I actually chose my own "Jeans", but way back in the beginning we didn't have a spell-checker and that extra 'r'... I don't know where that come from.

[WordGypsy]

I started off thinking I was writing some kind of life story/ love story / memoir type thing. Then it took on a life of it's own. My dad invented a genre for me.... love, love, love/ hack, hack, hack. All my romances turn into bloody hauntings :) So, I would say the genre choses me.

[BlueBadger]

I tried over and over again to write within a genre, then I said "Screw this," and let myself just write. Much easier for all involved, especially me.

[mscelina]

I think with my first book, the genre chose me. Since then, however, I've been dabbling in several genres--all by choice.

[Beware_of_Italics]

Most (not always) of the time my books are set in the early 1900's. I imagine it will always be this way. I'm very drawn to that time period during my waking life, so it's only natural that it shows up in my writing world as well. I would love to write genres like Karen Marie Moning and Diana Gabaldon, but... don't think that will ever happen. :(

Kristin