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}

Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Embrace the opposite

Hi guys! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by. It’s finally August, and we’re now sadly beyond my birth month. I suppose it’s time I stopped celebrating. I suppose. But since it’s August, and since this is something that I’ve actually been dealing with in myself lately, I’ve come up with a topic that I think you’ll all absolutely love. We’re going to talk about getting outside your comfort zone, as a writer.

Sure, I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering why in the world you’d want to get outside your comfort zone. After all, it’s quite comfortable in that little box you’ve decorated for yourself. You’re good in there. You know what you’re doing. You know what’s what. But this month, I want to challenge you to go beyond what you know, and expand your ability to write. Expand what you’re willing to write and what you believe yourself capable of writing. Open your mind to explore the whole realm of writing—because when you do, you’ll grow as a writer. And that’s really what we all want to do, isn’t it?

Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Embrace the opposite

Most writers that I know are novelists, but I do know a few short story writers. There’s nothing wrong with either one. In fact, there are millions and billions of amazing things about being a short story writer, and millions and billions of amazing things about being a novelist. No one is better than the other. They’re both great, and they’re both skills you should have—which is why I picked it for the first subject of the month.

For the novelists:

You’re pretty well-versed in using lots of words to describe your scene, to expand your story, to really dig deep into the hearts and minds of your characters. You’ve become adept at using lots of words to show your readers what things look like, sound like, appear to be—but while that’s all well and good, a skill you’ll need at some point in your life is the exact opposite.

You need to learn how to be succinct. Why? Because there are times when you don’t need so many words to describe what’s going on, when you don’t need to know every single detail. And because by learning to be succinct, you’ll learn what words are completely necessary for your story, and which ones aren’t.

This, if you hadn’t already guessed, is something short story authors are already doing, every time they sit down to write.

For the short story authors:

You’re amazing when it comes to succinctness. You know what words are necessary and what ones are crutches. You know what phrases need to be there, and what ones need to be removed. You know how to tell an epic tale in an incredibly small number of words. You’ve become adept at cutting whole sentences and paragraphs out of your story, because you know it needs to stay under a certain word count—and while I’d be the first in line to tell you that you’re incredible and I wish I had a cheat sheet for your skills, at some point in your life, you need to know the opposite.

You need to learn to be flowery and flowy, how to describe things in full detail, not leaving out a single thing. You need to know how to get deep inside your character’s heads, to understand them down to their very soul. And the best way to do that, my dear authors, is to write a novel. Because novels, unlike short stories, demand that you use all your words.

Of course, this is exactly what novelists are already accustomed to doing.

As a writer, you need to know both. Why? Because there are short stories that demand floweriness, and novels that require succinctness. Because there are always situations where the other skill is the most useful, and because, let’s face it, we become better writers when we step outside our comfort zone and write in a way we’re not used to doing.

I’m not saying you have to publish your experiments, or even show them to anyone, ever. I’m saying that you should dabble, for yourself, to get your mind out of that pristine little box of comfort you’ve built around you.

And don’t worry, you’re not alone. I too am a novelist, who dabbles in the art of writing short stories. And I’m here for you, if you need help along the way.

[love]

{Rani Divine}

Rani's Favorite Things: Buddies to the end

Hi guys! Welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m so glad you stopped by. It’s the start of August, but we’re tacking today’s topic onto the end of our July series, because I don’t like to split my weeks in half. So, we’re talking about some of my favorite things! Still. Since I still had one more thing to talk about. You know how it is.

Anyway. This month has been a lot of fun for me, and I’ve really learned a lot about myself along the way. I’ve remembered a lot of things I think I’d pushed to the back of my mind for so long that I just didn’t consider them to exist at all. I really think it’s a good learning lesson for all of us, to sit down and think about our favorite things, think about why those are our favorite things, and even determine what effect those things have had on our lives. And today, I technically have six more favorite things, to talk to you about.

Rani’s Favorite People: My friends

In particular, I’m thinking of Devon, Andrew, Tammy, Nicole, Holly, and Casey. They’re the friends I consider myself the closest with, though some of them I don’t get to see very often, and some of them I only speak with on occasion. These are the people who’ve helped to shape my life into what it is today, through the friendship we’ve shared along the way. These are the people who I’ve been friends with through all sorts of ups and downs, and who I know I’ll be friends with for years to come. These are the people who I know won’t grow apart from me, because I refuse to let that happen.

And I think we all need people like this. We all need our inner circle, our group of friends we can go to about anything and everything. Our people we can laugh and cry with, our people we can share with. Our people.

They’re who I want to celebrate today, because they’re some of my favorite people ever.

I won’t bore you with the stories of how we met (though some of them are pretty funny), nor will I tell you why I picked these six people to talk about today, but I will tell you what they mean to me, and how they’ve affected my writing over the years.

They’ve been there, since the beginning. All of them, actually. They’ve been my friends longer than I’ve been writing. Some of them even proofread Telekinetic before its official release. Others have been around to read every single draft of every single book I’ve read. Others have only read a little bit, because their lives are insanely busy. But they’ve always been there to support me, from the beginning. And they’ve always been there, checking in, making sure I never stop writing. Because I think they all knew, some of them even before I did, that writing was in my blood.

They’ve helped me, along the way. Whether it was beta reading, proofreading, concept help, or even getting my facts right about the rearing of horses, these are the friends who have helped me in my writing, from start to finish. Some have even helped and encouraged me to start recording my books in audio format (they’re long, guys; don’t expect to see them this year). I love them, for that. I love them for all their encouragement, and their willingness to beta read things that I’m not even sure are ready for human eyes.

Some of them have even co-written, with me. One of them, in fact, is writing a novel with me right now. Others have written short stories with me. Others have written things and sent them to me, to make sure those things were good. And I love that these people know they can come to me, for things like that. Whether it be writing a poem to their sweetheart or trying to get an A on their next paper, they know I’m always here for them.

That, after all, is what really makes a friendship. They’re my friends, yes, but I’m their friend, too. And I’d do anything for those five people. Anything.

Love you guys.

[love]

{Rani Divine}