Writing in a genre you don't read much of. Acceptable?

It's one thing to have an idea for a story, but another to express that idea in writing.

The story I'm writing was in my head, I even knew the characters and their conversations. I still had to learn how to write it.

If one is a natural writer, you put it on the page and the story flows out into a beautiful form, then one can take that story idea one got from the video games and write the story without having read a lot in that genre.

I don't think writing well necessarily requires one learn to write in each genre as if each one required a unique style. But it does require one learn how to write.

I'm not sure one could write a good detective thriller without having read in that genre. But a good writer might be able to do so having mostly seen detective movies or programs. Translating a sci-fi story onto the page is probably an easier transition from a video game to writing.

I imagine one can write in a genre one doesn't read much in if one knew that genre from another source like video games or movies. But only if one was already good at writing.

 

I think the thing to remember about genre writing, if you plan to try to sell through a publisher that does that sort of thing, then it's not enough just to write, or write well. You also have to know what readers of that particular genre want to read.

You can't just stick romance into a book and call it Romance. Or have one of your characters commit a crime, even unsolved, and call it Crime fiction. Other elements need to be there as well.

Many genre readers love the formulaic stuff just because it IS formulaic. It's not challenging, and they're not looking for a challenging read. They know what they like and they know what they want. The Harlequin Romances will always end happily; crime novels will always end with a solved crime, after all sorts of investigative procedurals and a breakthrough moment. It's difficult to break into these genres if you don't know what it is the readers expect, or even what tone they expect.

I suppose you can read up on the requirements and fill in the blanks, but I don't think you'll have a feel for these genres unless you read them yourself.

 

You are not writing a western. You are writing a love story. Or action/adventure. Or comedy. The setting is not the important part, nor is the time period

 

I don't think it's unacceptable but I've never written in a genre that I didn't read in a lot. Super techie, Westerns, modern military, or romance for example, none of that interests me and if I did try writing, having read very very little of those types, I'd probably get trapped in (negative) preconceived stereotypes because that's all I'm familiar with. I imagine I'd fall into the same trap even if I did enjoy those genres/themes but didn't have any experience with stories of that kind. A reader who's an avid fan that comes across my attempt wouldn't be pleased, even if the book itself was well written, it'd probably epitomize the clichés they hate because that's all I know. This is all just my opinion based on assumption, though. I'm thinking in terms of a reader here...I suppose an author could supplement reading/story experience in a genre with just research but I'm not sure that'd be enough, and the best research (IMO) would be reading in the genre in which they're wanting to write anyway.

 

Really, I feel that there are downfalls to both. If you only read fantasy chances are your own fantasy work won't be all that original, but if you've never read one in your life, it will either be completely different, or a joke to the fantasy community. The cure I find is to read everything, really. Reading in other genres can actually help very much in writing for a different one.

Recently, I felt the craving to read a fantasy book, but when I went over all the classic fantasy, I found that I wasn't particularly stirred by any of them. Lord of The Rings, The Wheel of Time, none of them were giving me what I expected from fantasy. For the life of me I could not find a fantasy that suited me, though I considered myself very easy to please in that aspect. It was then that I got an idea, not from the reading of the fantasy books, but by my reading of classical Chinese literature.

I was inspired by my learning of the Chinese languages, and my interest in their literature, to write a fantasy that nobody, I don't think, has heard of before. Focusing less on good and evil, gritty or heroic storytelling and whatnot. It has worked in the past; read a lot of philosophy, you may come up with a good Science Fiction idea. Limiting yourself is limiting your creativity.

 

Your post made me realize something interesting. Chinese literature, like literature from any other place, is heavily inspired by their culture. Therefore, what works there might not work in US markets or for US readers. Their way of thinking can sometimes be very alien to Westerners. Early Chinese poetry, for example, was heavily influenced by the Zen/Buddhist movement at the time, something that most Westerners aren't familiar with. So you should be asking yourself why Chinese fantasy tends to focus less on good and evil, heroic storytelling, etc. and whether or not this approach will work in other cultures.

By the way, my post isn't meant to discourage you from writing what you're writing, though it may seem that way. In fact, my goal is the exact opposite. I think it would be a great idea to introduce Westerners to literary traditions from other cultures. But perhaps it would be better to introduce any new elements gradually so that instead of a book influenced completely by Chinese literature, you have a hybrid between the Western and Chinese traditions. I'm not sure anyone has done that before, so it would be interesting to see how it turns out.

 

It is somewhat of a gift and a curse that I have, being unfazed by cultural differences. I can read the West African epics and enjoy it all the more with all the adult births, harsh brutality, and sacrificial cannibalism intact. Merely, I love culture so much, that I do not bat an eye at what others call different, as I see the humanity in all of humanity. This has indeed led me to think very heavily of what you brought up, as I find I am mostly only familiar with Taoism and Confucian ideals, as opposed to western belief.

Mind you, I take plenty of inspiration by Ovid and the Greek Epics, only I take them through the lens of eastern philosophy. What would a westerner say to a plane of existence where all religions are perfectly valid, and are completely true? This I wish to find out, and have been stewing over to find ways of introducing to those who find it alien. Surely, I plan to perfect this before I go ahead in making it happen.

 

The issue isn't really about acceptance but more about understanding. To use the Chinese poetry example again, you can appreciate Chinese poetry a lot more if you understand Chinese culture/folklore. To use another example, I accept Sufism and Middle Eastern culture, but since I don't know much about it, I can't fully appreciate a poet like Rumi.

 

I think it's great! If you write for an unfamiliar genre you're not bogged down by the common tropes. Some of the best stories (and a bunch of my favorites) have come out of this. You might not fit the niche, but it won't stop your idea from being good. Reading similar works IS good for your writing ability, but reading similar plots over and over can stifle your creativity sometimes.

 

I write Low Fantasy (our world but with magic and things tossed in) so I don't have the luxury of reading others' works. I seem to be alone in this genre, but I not be looking hard enough.
At least I know I'm mostly original!

 

The Dresden Files are a good example. And highly entertaining!

 

@thirdwind I'll back @Xueqin-II 's approach - opening oneself to other cultures and literary traditions, and doing it aside from the colonial angle of modernity - doing it with appreciation and understanding - even if one is essentially limited to an outsiders view of the "Other" culture.
Two things. First, the tradition is not the same as the culture. Contemporary western culture draws it's tradition all the way back to ancient Mediterranean empires. You accept Homer as part of your tradition - yet the culture of 6th c. Ionian colonies is fundamentally alien to you.
And second: a personal experience. I've been exposed to products of American pop culture since childhood - cinema, music and television, and later literature. In a way, I was exposed to Americana before I was exposed to coresponding aspects of my native culture. I know what BurgerKing is, what the suburbs look like, what is a shopping mall, what high-school means and how many of the American cultural concepts differ from concepts that I learned to accept as "my own". And yet, I truly accept that bondaries between the Balkan version of European culture and, say, the culture of Asian-Americans of the Bay Area are fluid and arbitrary.

@Link the Writer to answer your question: should you read in the genre you write in - I answer yes, simply based on what you yourself wrote

You know of these genres as much as the next guy who DIDN'T read books in them

 

Tradition is the result of culture. Let's consider an example I once heard from a Zen teacher. In most Western countries, a child would ask his parents, "How did I come into this world?" On the other hand, a child in China will ask his parents, "How did I come out of this world?" This different way of thinking is reflected in their culture and literature. So someone who isn't aware of this isn't going to fully understand or appreciate the subtleties of Chinese literature.

It's sort of like qawwali music. Someone who knows nothing of Sufism or South Asian music isn't going to completely appreciate it. (I only mention qawwali since you're the one who first told me about it. )

 

@thirdwind it's a dynamic relationship, of course. But you can look at the most banal of examples: Dragon Ball. Kids in America enjoy these shows although they are based on a Japanese interpretation of a classic Chinese novel - quite a convulted history actually. But still, 6 year olds need no footnotes and short history of the Ming

In a way, in my experience, it can effectively go the other way around - you learn to appreciate a completely "alien" culture by enjoying both the archetypical and the culturally-specific aspects of that culture's traditions... Of course, it remains something for more adventurous types amongst us - but for average contemporary consumers the pop culture of, say, 15 years ago is perceived as vintage, "alien" in a way. Kids today can't watch the Matrix movies because narration is sooo different and VFX are too primitive

 

I second this.