Hello, I am Artsolameelian, Artsola for short. I am happy to be here and get in touch with such a numerous plethora of writers and authors. I expect to see a colorful assortment of personalities. So this is a question I have, I thought it'd be cool to ask to so many people this to see what will be said. By the way, if this is not the place to ask this, lead me right.
This seems like the right place, but I'm no expert. I don't know if I can pick one genre, but a lot of my stuff ends up being a psychological thriller in one way or another. The stories aren't always driven by something scary (though some are), but many of the characters have some sort of philosophical awakening. The plot tends to be a catalyst for the protagonist's worldview changing in some way. Welcome to the forum, by the way.
I usually don't set out to write in a specific genre, rather I have a plot and a theme. When I'm writing I'll see which genre the story evolves into. However, most of my stories tend to lean towards fantasy and/or sci-fi, so I guess those two can be seen as my favourites. I guess I simply like the infinite possibilities of exploration those genres entail.
No favorites. I be-bop around from fantasy, psychological horror, sci-fi, drama. But nothing really smacks of upholding any one genre. I don't do swords or wizards, if and when I do magic there is no middle earth or knaves or mages. If I want to do soapy sci-fi I prefer to keep it old school ( think schlocky seventies. ) Right now I'm working on a huge novel that has a noir-ish fantasy vibe. It's more a twisted vision of small town Americana than other-worldly fantasy. And the short novel/novella I'm also thinking of starting is a psychological horror about a spooky house.
Thanks mate. Thrillers, thats quite thrilling. Woaahh cool a philosophical awakening, that sounds fresh and unique. Interesting story making device, I'll keep that in mind. With psychological thrillers, does the genre have to be realistic fiction? Or could there be a fantasy thriller?
I can't see any reason why it couldn't be. Just like there is no reason you couldn't have a fantasy romance or a fantasy crime story.
I feel the same, with non-realistic fiction anything could happen! That is a large part of why I love writing, the freedom of creation. If you have a plot and theme before you have the genre, how can that branch out to different genres? For example how could one plot/theme go in the direction of a fantasy story or a realistic fiction story?
I don't think I have a favorite genre. I tend to write 'literary' fiction that either falls outside of or combines typical genres. Why? Because that's what comes natural to me. Character driven satire and dark humour.
I write Fantasy because reality is boring. Only partially kidding about that; my writing is mainly escapist and world building is one of my main concerns, so I like having absolute control over the setting. The Fantasy world I made to write stories in pretty much takes it to extremes by lacking humans and letting me remake things from the ground up. What fascinates me in particular is getting to put myself into the shoes of a character to whom the entirely foreign landscapes, flora, fauna and general happenings aren't all that strange. I haven't been able to get into things that don't at least have prominent fantasy elements and I feel very restricted when I can't use any.
I've really been wanting to do that, make something from completely original lacking humans. When you have done it, do you still use life and when you do is it original life or creatures like anthropomorphic?
Historical fiction, everything I have ever written has been in this genre. I like the fact that my imagination cannot run entirely wild but is tamed by the conventions and mores of the time. This leaves plenty of room to focus more on character development, since the grander, overarching narrative within which the characters and there lives are based has already been dictated to me. I also enjoy imagining what it must have been like to live in former periods.
All life in the setting is fictional. Plants, animals and sapient creatures with their own cultures, languages and technology. It's a lot of fun coming up with things without being limited to what would be plausible on Earth and probably my favourite part of writing.
I primarily love writing sci-fi/fantasy because I need my fictional world to be bigger in some way than the real world (wilder, crazier, more vibrant...), otherwise I feel bored out of my mind. I can read/watch mundane stories (sitcoms, police procedurals...), but I can't make myself write them. I secondarily love writing horror, especially Lovecraftian "terrible secret" stories, for reasons that I'm not allowed to explain anymore. Sci-fi/fantasy still comes first. I can enjoy writing SFF without horror, but I can't write horror without SFF because mundane horror doesn't scare me as much as SFF horror does.
Defiantly Comedy, Suspense or Horror! Those make me feel the most emotions! Horror is my overall favorite. Especially during Halloween!!
I'm not sure how colorful my answer will be, but I just started writing fiction about a year ago, and my style would probably be akin to... 'adult contemporary'. Most of my writing so far has pertained directly to my orientation. I've been out for 16 years, and I've had relationships, sex, etc. But I've never really given myself to fully explore what being gay means to me, in terms not only of my sexual identity but my overall identity. So I've been writing stories about my life experiences, just really to sort it all out for myself. I know this is probably fairly rambly as answers go, but yeah.. Adult contemporary.
I'm curious, Artso, what is your favorite genre and why? Mine has to be romance (at the moment) because before I started writing seriously this was the only genre I read. Now I'm not so sure. I've broken free of my comfort zone and I'm now reading everything from courtroom dramas to crime, travel etc to broaden my experience. The type of genre I'm not interested in is anything to do with zombies, science fiction or fantasy. Okay you never asked that question but I'd thought I'd throw it in for free
I enjoy writing romance as well - but with unlikely pairings. It's a nice challenge to figure out how characters from different backgrounds will react when they start becoming very close to someone else.
I love horrror and i love books by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Elizabeth Kostova, I want to write like them or horror but I end up writing urban fantasy
