Thursday, July 11, 2013

On Genre: This Might Be A Grapefruit

I dove into an orange, desperate for the juicy fruit. No cookie for me, today I'm having a healthy snack. I took to it with my nails, not wasting time on a peeling device. Part way through there was something funny about this orange, halfway through and I realized this might be a grapefruit.





Has this ever happened to you? How about with your writing?

You haven't written in months, you've been watching TV (cookies) and reading (granola - healthy, but not quite the Vitamin C that you need) and one day you decide you're going to dive back into it. Forget regimen and planning, here you go, it's fruit time!

You start out writing a mystery because that is your go-to genre, when suddenly you realize something's off. Turns out, this might be a sci-fi or even a fantasy.

I much prefer an orange, but that doesn't mean I have anything against grapefruit. After that first initial taste shock, they can be a delicious fruit. But - you have to approach grapefruit differently than oranges. Some people add sugar, while others add salt, similar to the addition of world-building that goes into a sci-fi or fantasy (Not to say there isn't world-building in mystery, but I'm talking about creating Elfin languages and the likes).


Just a short little fun post because Free Slurpee Day has me feeling wacky!



4 comments:

  1. Well put. Fantasy is my go-to and I've certainly sat back and looked at what I'm writing and think "what is a zombie doing there?"

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  2. Ha! I think a zombie should probably make a guest appearance in most books. The best would be when no one evens mentions the oddity of the appearance.

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    1. I think you're onto something. Perhaps your next mystery! Dead body on the bar floor. Smoking gun in the hands of the femme fatale. Mob boss sitting in the corner. Dirty off-duty cop covering up his presence at the scene. Zombie in the back room having an old friend for dinner (Hannibal Lecter said it was ok to borrow that line. I asked). Maybe he saw whodunnit. Let's ask! Heh.

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  3. I've had the characters take things in a direction I didn't expect before. No respect at all for their author, they just do whatever they like.

    As to oranges and grapefruit, well, I prefer apples, berries, that sort of thing to citrus fruits, so...

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