Digging Up the Past - Part I

The following post was published in my previous blog on 6-26-13. I find myself feeling now how I felt then so it's appropriate that as I look through my old things, I share the nostalgia.

Genre Explorations

For those who have read my work (and for those who haven’t, don’t worry, I’ll be sharing soon), I don’t veer too far from the type of writing that I do. My main character is almost always female and has a distinct voice. My characters deal with everyday problems like love, work issues, family issues, and whatever other issues happen to humans in day-to-day life. I find my writing to be relatable and representative of the many different women of today. When I asked someone to describe the way I write they said, “Your work is about women, for women.” Don’t get me wrong, I love having my niche. I love being able to produce work that other women would like to read, but that is not all I want for myself as a writer. I’m ambitious and I want more.

When asked what genre I write in, I’ve been conditioned to say it is women’s fiction. This alone is a stigma and I certainly want to avoid my work falling victim to it, which could cause the loss of many potential readers. It isn’t that I am not proud that I write for women because I love being a woman and relating to other women, but I don’t want to close out an entire group of readers based upon gender. I personally believe my stories cross the gender divide and can be enjoyed by many; however the name of the genre often causes male readers to avoid it altogether.

I have attempted to dabble in other genres before, but I never saw each venture through to the end because I didn’t find myself to be ready to write about things I wasn’t sure I could complete. Basically, I was afraid that it would be terrible. In hindsight, it may have been terrible, but I should have kept on at it. I’ve always been fascinated by fantasy and science fiction, but I never thought I’d be able to pull it off. I didn’t deem myself creative enough to create an entire world that would captivate the minds and hearts of readers. In my head, I just wasn’t that writer.

Recently, I was doing some digging on the internet (as I normally do) and I read a testimony of a romance writer who dabbled for the first time in fantasy and sci-fi which resulted in her landing her first literary agent. Similar to me, she was used to the niche she created for herself and didn’t think she’d be able to veer from its path. Fortunately she did because the mix of her romance stories with fantastical elements became literary gold. Having said all this, I have decided that I too will try my hand at exploration and see where it takes me. I have tons of ideas and I do not know where they lead, but I’m excited for this journey. Who knows where it will take me?