Reading Outside Your Genre
Greetings and Salutations Scribblers! I’m Katie, the CEO and founder of the scribbler’s den where writing craft meets writing community. I’m so glad you’ve joined us for another writing craft video. Today, we’re going to talk about what you’re reading and the effect it can have on your writing. Specifically, how it’s important to read outside of the genre you write.
I’m a fantasy reader, it’s my go-to if I want to reread a book and it’s the genre I’m most likely to walk out of a bookstore carrying. I write fantasy, so it’s important that I read in my genre. This lets me study and be aware of genre expectations and it can even influence my thoughts to ask deeper questions about our world or what might happen if…and then I get to fill in the blank with some cool fantastical idea that involves magic and cool creatures.
But, at the same time, I have to make sure it isn’t stifling my creativity or making me feel like I’m in an echo chamber between the books I’m writing and the books I’m reading. For me and a lot of other writers, we like to push our boundaries and our goal is for our writing to evolve. Whatever that looks like, if you’re only feeding your creativity with one genre, it’s likely that you’ll get stuck one day. You’ll start to feel like you’re just rewriting the same thing, like there’s nothing new or novel about your writing.
And this where reading outside your genre can be a lifesaver. Since choosing to focus on my writing with the goal of publishing, I’ve increased my reading sphere and it’s done wonders for my writing.
By reading more romance books, I’ve been able to hone my craft in creating romantic tension. By reading autobiographies, I’ve learned more about human nature and how different events have life-long implications on people. I’ve also learned that I really love autobiographies. I especially love listening to them when they’re read by the author because you get the emotion and power of their voice behind their stories and that is a power storytelling tool.
Reading thrillers and mysteries–one of my least read genres–I was able to learn about how to set up the clues so my character figures things out and how to use red herrings to push my readers in the wrong direction.
Basically, whatever is at the heart of another genre is something I can generally apply to my fantasy books and actively seeking those out and reading them allows me to be a more diversified writer and create more complex stories.
I’ve had so many writers tell me that they don’t read outside their genre and it makes me sad. Not only are they potentially missing out on fantastic novels, they’re not giving themselves the chance to realize their own potential.
Reading widely can also give you inspiration to combine genres and create something entirely new and unexpected. A great example of this is the television show Firefly. It took the premise of what if we set a western in space and ran with it. And it’s so brilliant. There’s also a brilliant Firefly spinoff novel written by Rosiee Thor you should totally buy or get from your local library!
But what other genres could you smash together? Right now Romantasy is having a great moment in publishing and all because authors said they wanted fantasy with a bigger emphasis on romance elements, so they adhere to both and readers love it.
In the end, reading widely will make you a better writer not only because you’re getting inspiration and input from diverse sources, but because you’re going to be exposed to even more writing styles which will give you more books to analyze what you liked and didn’t like. And from there you can apply that to your own writing to keep developing your writer's voice.
So, tell me in the comments what you write and the genre you like to read that’s different from what you write!
Be sure to check out the scribblers den website to learn more about our writing coaching and developmental editing options.
Have a fantastic rest of your day and I’ll see you next week! Happy Writing Scribblers!
As always, your mileage may vary! If you have any tips for recognizing burnout before it takes over completely, please drop those in the comments below.
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