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  1. R.Eagle

    R.Eagle Member

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    Which is your weakest genre to write in?

    Discussion in 'Genre Discussions' started by R.Eagle, Apr 18, 2017.

    I'm curious to see if there's a genre on this forum that members generally find difficult to write about or are simply uninterested in.

    Reveal your weaknesses, minions!
     
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  2. R.Eagle

    R.Eagle Member

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    For me -

    Erotica: I'm a sexy guy, but I wouldn't know how to translate that into words on a page. I would probably end up turning it into a weird body horror piece.

    Fanfiction: I hate the idea of riding the coattails of someone else's works and characters. I would find it difficult to capture the voice of the author and characters.

    History and War: Something like this would be far too esoteric and intimidating to produce. My knowledge of history is too weak and if I was a strategist all of my soldiers would die.
     
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  3. Commandante Lemming

    Commandante Lemming Contributor Contributor

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    Well, I don't write in genres I'm not interested in. Of what I've written, I'd say I have the hardest time with Comedy.

    My normal writing (Near Future Contemporary, Urban Fantasy) tends to involve a lot of snarky characters and a even sarcastic authorial voice, and sometimes people mistakenly think I'm writing comedy - but I like to keep the plotlines in the drama realm. When I try to write straight Comedy, it usually falls flat.
     
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  4. Skye Walker

    Skye Walker Banned

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    I'm awful at war-sci-fi things. And War things, in general. Sci-fi, in general, is alright.

    Hmm, what else. Oh, Historical fiction is not a strength of mine. I think I'm the worst at non-fiction, though. :bigconfused:
     
  5. Dr.Meow

    Dr.Meow Contributor Contributor

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    Anything based on a modern setting, I don't even try. Not only does it bore me to read something set in modern day, but I'll start snoozing if I try to write it...not that I ever have.
     
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  6. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    Can't write battle scenes and find it very hard to write anything that includes a huge mass of people. I find it very hard not to generalise and paint the whole thing and the side characters as cardboard cutouts.

    Can't write comedy either. The only comedy I've managed has been unintentional lol. My intentional comedy always falls flat.

    I enjoy reading modern drama but somehow I've never been able to write one. I'm just always stumped as to what could possibly happen in it? Like, why would anyone be interested in this character going to work, eating dinner in her flat, and going to a party? I do read stuff like this, but when it comes to writing it, I struggle to believe anyone's honestly interested.

    My main genre is fantasy with a heavy dose of romance thrown in. I'd love to write thrillers and mysteries, but I suck at planning and these are genres that require a heck of a lot of good planning.

    I've never been into historical fiction. Don't wanna read it. Don't care to research it.

    So yeah I only really write fantasy romance... dystopian is good too. Anything not too realistic that I can just make up :D
     
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  7. Spencer1990

    Spencer1990 Contributor Contributor

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    I'm so glad I'm not the only one that's struggled with this thought. I love contemporary drama in novels and film, but I struggle to find the right concept. I do shorts pretty well in this genre, but I have the exact same thought as you when I think about novel length ideas.
     
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  8. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    I cannot (read: do not want to) write romance or horror. I'd find romance deeply embarrassing to write - and also boring - and I really dislike most horror (I appreciate Edgar Allan Poe, but he's exceptional).

    I find contemporary drama to be a little boring. I'm attracted mostly to history (old history, not recent history) and science fiction. I love the exotic. The here-and-now? I get enough here-and-now every time I turn on the news or open the front door. Give me the exotic. That's why I love Kipling and Conrad as much as really good sci-fi.
     
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  9. BayView

    BayView Huh. Interesting. Contributor

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    This may really loop back to being a what-I-like-to-read situation, because I don't think any of us are going to be good at writing in genres that we can't stand reading.

    So, for me, hard scifi. I care about characters, not imaginary machines and hand-waved physics.
     
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  10. X Equestris

    X Equestris Contributor Contributor

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    For me, it would be comedy/humor and to a lesser extent romance/erotica. I can crack jokes just fine in person, but making it feel right in writing is a whole other matter. Romance is easier (my first short story sale had a romance subplot that gave the protagonist the willpower to triumph in the main conflict), but I don't really enjoy writing it.
     
  11. izzybot

    izzybot (unspecified) Contributor

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    I like to think I'm decently competent in all the genres I dabble in, but there are plenty I've just never tried out (military, historical, high fantasy, hard sf, true crime ...). It's hard to say I'm 'weak' in them, though - I might do all right if I tried?

    Of the genres I do I write, I tend to think my horror's the weakest. I mean, it doesn't scare me, so.
     
  12. Wild Knight

    Wild Knight Senior Member

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    I would say that my biggest weakness is, ironically, fantasy, my favorite genre. Up until recently, I didn't know how to come up with a good magic system to save my life without the paranoia of plot holes, the last thing I wanted to mess up on in my invented worlds.

    As for un-favorite genre weaknesses, that would be romance, hard sci-fi, and mystery. The former because I tend to dislike it so much, the middle is too incomprehensible to even consider, and the latter because I don't know how to keep a mystery a good mystery.

    And forget about contemporary. It has to have something fantastical about it, or I get bored. Fast.
     
  13. OJB

    OJB A Mean Old Man Contributor

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    I love Dune and Ghost in the Shell, but...

    I wouldn't be able to write a Sci-fi.
     
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  14. minstrel

    minstrel Leader of the Insquirrelgency Supporter Contributor

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    There's no law saying that hard sci-fi can't have well-imagined, well-developed characters. It's not an either/or situation - characters or machines. That's a false dichotomy.
     
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  15. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Well I seem to hold my own in Sci-fi.
    But if I had much to go on based on anything
    of relevance, pissing in the wind to get a shower
    would probably be more my speed.:p

    Though I like to try my hand at whatever tickles
    my fancy. Not going to be a one trick pony, ya know?
    Though Comedy would probably not be my strong suit.
    I tend to write shorts in just about everything, so as
    to not feel trapped by my passion for Sci-fi.

    The world is my playground, and I will be damned if I don't play.
     
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  16. Lifeline

    Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

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    I wouldn't be able to write comedy/humour if someone held a gun to my head :D

    I've no experience with thriller/drama/horror and I don't particularly care to find out if I can write the genres. Probably I could, I just would have to put a whole lot of effort into it. That's not to say that I can't write the tension of thriller, the emotions of drama, or the terror or horror, but a whole book would be stretching my patience. Disclaimer: I'm talking here about writing the things, reading them is another matter!
     
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  17. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I haven't tried writing in many genres. Some don't interest me as a writer (fantasy, thriller), and some involve too much research for this lazy writer (historical, sci-fi, crime). But if I did try my hand at any of them, I have no idea how good or bad it would be.

    The one I don't feel equipped to tackle is horror, which is my favourite genre to read. My problem is I've devoured so much of it that nothing scares me anymore, and books which other reviewers call depraved and terrifying barely touch me. I have no idea how to write a horror that would scare the majority of readers but not cross a line into 'sick' when I'm such an outlier. I think I could do a black comedy, which doesn't rely on scaring the reader, but not a straight horror. Which is a shame because one day I would like to try!
     
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  18. R.Eagle

    R.Eagle Member

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    I gave romance a try yesterday. Typed up nearly 2000 words of it and now looking back on it I cringe. Might have to destroy the evidence.
     
  19. pyroglyphian

    pyroglyphian Word Painter

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    Difficult to decide which is my weakest genre. There are so many strong contenders for the crown. :meh:
     
  20. pyroglyphian

    pyroglyphian Word Painter

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    :D destroy the evidence...

    Keep it. Maybe you'll view it differently in a few months.
     
  21. R.Eagle

    R.Eagle Member

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    Maybe I'll post it in the comedy section of the workshop.
     
  22. Phil Mitchell

    Phil Mitchell Banned Contributor

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    Romance by far. Without the performance of good actors it's something that doesn't have much going for it as far as I'm concerned. I can make it, but it feels unnatural and I don't like writing it.
     
  23. Lemie

    Lemie Contributor Contributor

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    I think the list will be shorter if I say what I CAN write.
    • I can't write typical Romance, because I don't understand it. Will they, won't they? JUST DO IT, ALREADY (I can write erotic, though, does that count?)
    • Anything that is reality-based is a no-no.
    • History might have been fun when I got good grades in it in junior high, now I stay away. And speaking of which - dragon doesn't make yesteryear more fun. Medieval fantasy usually bore me to pieces.
    • I think I'd write shit horror. I haven't really tried, but I'm everyone's opposite when it comes to the entire "keep it mysterious and don't tell us what we're up against". Not telling makes me think the person couldn't come to think of anything and left it blank. (Though I know that I'm technically wrong. People love that mystery and that's the reason nothing is ever explained. I just don't agree.)
    Do I need to keep this up, or should we just say that my genre is as narrow as a *insert something that is usually narrow*?
     
  24. Robert Musil

    Robert Musil Comparativist Contributor

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    I second those who mention comedy as being difficult to write. That might be the only thing I'd be afraid to try, because I know I'd just mungus it up. Other things I have no interest in (horror, crime, thrillers) but I think if you put a gun to my head I could still do it. But yeah, trying to write comedy would just be so intimidating.
     
  25. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    Writing comedy is so easy! Writing serious stories is much harder. If you can do the latter I'm sure you can produce something funny, unless you're one of the rare people with no sense of humour. :D

    [This is meant for all the people who mentioned comedy, not just the last post]
     

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