Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Genre swapping

Hi everybody! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you joined us today. As you’ll know, if you stopped by on Tuesday, all August long we’ll be talking about getting outside our writer comfort zones, and expanding our abilities in the realm of writing. Why? Because it’s something I’ve been working on lately, and because we become better writers when we write outside our comfort zone—even if those dabbling adventures never make it past our secret hidden files on our computers, to see the light of day. It’s worth your time, if only to get your brain working a little differently than it did the day before. It’s all about change and growth, this month!

Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Genre swapping

If you’ve followed me at all over the years, you’ll know that my genres are science-fiction and fantasy. They’re my cup of tea, my faves, my comfort zone if ever there was one. And I’ll be the very first to tell you that I’m terrible at writing anything set in the present day. I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m just not good at it. So that’s what I always go to, when I need to get myself out of my comfort zone.

We all have that one genre we hate writing, that one genre we dread, the one genre that for some reason, our brain doesn’t click with and we just can’t get into. I’m not sure what it is, but there’s always at least one of those genres. Unfortunately for me, my problem seems to come with almost every genre but my chosen two. *sigh*

What I’m trying to say here is that, as writers, it’s important for us to be well-rounded. It’s important that we know how to write multiple genres, and that we know at least three or four genres and are at least mildly comfortable in them. If only because a young author in one of those genres is bound to come to you and ask for advice, and it’s better for both of you if you don’t give them advice for the wrong genre. ;-)

Really though, if you never write outside your primary (or secondary) genres, I highly encourage you to do so. Even if it’s just a dalliance, an exploration, a dabbling day where you explore a genre you generally despise. Try it.

Why? Because genres never stay within their lines. Especially in my chosen genres, things bleed through and cross over from one genre to the next. Think about it: both science-fiction and fantasy are actually more thematic than anything else, and within them can be mysteries, romances, histories, thrillers, you name it. The same can be said of romance, where it’s not uncommon for thrillers and histories to bleed through the lines. Genre is a construct, my dear writer friends, and it’s a construct we need to be comfortable with breaking down.

It’s time we stopped confining ourselves to one or two specific genres, time we stepped outside the box a little and explored some genres and themes we’re not comfortable with.

If you’re like me, maybe that even means just going to a different form of your primary genre. Take, for example, the Druid Novels. They’re my babies, my favorite things I’ve written thus far. I love them. And they’re fantasy, but they’re not high fantasy. They’re completely designed and created by me, with no rules set by any other standard. But now I’m dabbling in writing high fantasy, and it’s much more difficult than I would’ve imagined at first. It’s like writing in a whole new genre, if I’m being honest. But by writing it, I can feel my writer brain cells expanding to include new information, new ideas, new realms of possibility. And I'm collaborating, because I've never done it before, and because I needed help. Yep, I admit it. I needed help.

So I highly suggest the genre swap, if you haven’t already tried. You'll learn a lot, along the way. You might even learn, like me, that you need a little help.

[love]

{Rani Divine}