I am a dilettante
author. I like to say it’s my intellectual curiosity that leads me to try
writing in various genres. I wonder what the challenges are, what the pay off
is, is it possible for me to switch genres successfully. But that would be
lying to myself a little bit.
Sure, those are factors,
but probably a bigger role is played by boredom. Sticking with one thing, doing
it over and over, is not as satisfying to me as striking out with something
new. I’ve said for years, give me a blank page any day over revising and
editing a completed manuscript. I say
that I know edits and revisions are the what really make a manuscript
publishable, but, I don’t think, down in my soul, I’m convinced of that.
Starting a new
project always excites me more than finishing an old one. That explains why I
am always working on several manuscripts at once. I love the writing. The fixing,
meh, not so much. I am hesitant, sometimes, to call myself an author because of
that characteristic. I admire my author friends who love fixing their manuscripts. Alas, I am not among them. I do the
fixing, but I am not a gleeful participant. For me, it’s like a dental visit.
Necessary, but to be avoided as long as possible. Not good, I know!
Not to dwell in
anti-matter territory, what’s positive in my predilection to try the new?
Whereas all novels
have essential elements in common (character development, story arc, multi-problem/solution
scenes, and so on), there is the ability to transfer story components to writing
different genres. However, there are also specific elements that make that
genre distinct from any other. I make it a goal to find out all I can about the
new genre I’m attempting before I write the first paragraph.
An example of an
epic fail on my part, is writing middle school biographies of intrepid women. I
have dozens of women candidates for engaging books. I have passion for my
project. I think it is really important to shine light on women who have gone
unrecognized for so long. However, biography isn’t novel writing. It’s such a
different skill set, informational text writing in a voice appropriate to the
age group and with vocabulary that fits a specific developmental level, that I
have struggled. My text is gasping for life. It’s stilted prose at its worst. I
haven’t given up, but I don’t know when I’ll have the energy to return to
working out the vagaries of the genre.
But, obstacles and
roadblocks in one genre do not stop me from attempting others! This National
Novel Writing Month, I am joining nearly a half million writers from across the
globe as we set out to “win” NaNoWriMo by writing 50,000 words in 30 days. That’s
1667 words a day. Almost 7 pages. Every day. For 30 straight days.
This year I am
finally brave enough to attempt a genre I have admired for a long time. I love reading
hard science fiction. That’s science fiction rooted in the science, a novel
that takes the laws of physics and biology as we know them, and pushes forward
to what might be possible in the
future. Three authors I recommend for dipping into hard scifi, are Larry K. Collins
(The McGregor Chronicles), Kim Stanley Robinson (Mars trilogy), and Andy Weir (The Martian). Of course, I have a pen
name for my scifi stuff so as not to confuse readers. River Glynn will be
penning and publishing this novel.
River has spent a
good bit of time reading up on how to colonize space, what the challenges are, what
some solutions might be, and where we are currently in the process of making
space living a reality. In a few days, she’ll get a gauge of whether she can
pull off a hard scifi novel in the first of her Mars Murder Mysteries.
I think River
Glynn has a good story premise and a base from writing contemporary mysteries
with another pen name. She’s done character sketches and plotting. She figures
the worst that can happen is that she can only turn out a soft science fiction
novel. Not the worst thing at all, right? Go, River!
