So, I just made sort of a weird call while working on a recently-started novel. I'm going to write genre, fantasy. I guess it's sort of more magical realism than anything high fantasy, but pantsing means just about anything can happen. This story (though I can't exactly say what the story is exactly at this point) doesn't work in the real world, and I don't think it will be as good as it can be if I try to make it work in a truly realistic world. The idea of something new is often exciting. New novel. New genre. When was the last time you guys tried something new with your writing? I can't say I'm one to branch out too far from what I'm used to, but this feels right. Still, I'm a bit surprised to be slipping into fantasy genre. Perhaps this is some sort of learning experience. How important do you think it is for a writer to try new things? How often do you feel pulled to make a major shift in your writing like a novel in a new genre or something? I'm not sure how well I'm going to pull this off, but it would be nice to have something come of it or help me evolve as a writer in some way. The thing I don't know is if I'm chasing too many tails here or spreading myself too thin. Would you take on a new genre or do a major stylistic flip before you've really mastered anything? I think it's probably important to try new things. At the same time I am sick of all my failed attempts and it's just as likely this novel ends up being one of those more than anything else.
So you're hobbit-curious? Nothing wrong with that, it's important to follow your desires... Funnily enough I have just gone the other way - I have two (and a quarter) fantasy novels in the drawer, half a sci-fi, half a not quite sure (probably fantasy, it's sort of Lewis Caroll meets Mikhail Bulgakov), but the thing that has got my creative juices flowing again after quite a long blockage, is a murder mystery. Not sure what's so enjoyable about it, but I think it's about drawing more on personal experience than inventing a plausible species or writing spells... Do I think it's important? I suppose that depends what motivates your writing - if you want to make a living I suspect that continuity and brand are very important. I simply want to write books that are good, at least to me. I would like other people to enjoy them, of course, in fact what I would really like is for people to pay money for them and feel that it was money well spent, but the primary motivation is to be happy with my work.
@Hammer -- Wow! We're totally ships crossing in the night here. LOL. I just finished writing a murder mystery. I've done a few fantasy short stories, but this is my first attempt at a longer piece in the genre. Got any tips for new fantasy writer, especially in terms of magical realism? I do write to sell and publish my work, though an ongoing challenge. I have not published any genre work, but I'm not to worried about creating a brand. I guess I'm just not sure if I'm a good enough fantasy writer to write a good fantasy story. And I could very well be doing all this to avoid revising my murder mystery. Still, I want to be able to do this.
Ha - that is quite funny. Which one of us is running away from the circus to become an accountant? (c: (actually, dammit, it's me, isn't it?! Should 'a thought about that a bit more...) All fiction writing is, IMHO, fantasy -- at least to some extent. We are trying to convince readers that something exists when really it doesn't, so in your murder mystery you will have built a world for the characters to "live" in, and some characters to kill each other for (motives), possibly with some misleading mischief along the way. You will then have invented clues for a fictitious character to solve something that didn't actually happen to give me, the reader, the pleasure of playing along in your fantastic world (in the true sense of the word fantastic, an object of fantasy). In my murder mystery I am trying to hint towards a paranormal explanation which, obviously, turns out to be erroneous - all a bit Scooby Doo. The only difference with genre fantasy is that you take it a step further with wizards, dragons, or angry gods. People who pick the book up will already have suspended their disbelief when they start reading so the writer's job, again IMHO, is simply (huh, simply!) to make it all enjoyable. I love MR authors like Ben Aaronovitch who slip the fantasy elements in without you even noticing, but other reader prefer the whole "the magic passes from seventh son to seventh son and only manifests when Christmas day falls on a Sunday with a full moon" level of explanation which, frankly, bores the arse off me (c:
