Writing out of genre, updates, and things

To say that I’ve been lax on my blogging is an understatement – but here I am, a full third of the year since my last post finally getting back on the blog-pony.

I’ve been busy?

On the surface, that is correct – I actually HAVE been busy. Between houseguests, spontaneous personality combustion in the workplace (that left me completely alone and without support staff for three months), training new employees, and generally welcoming home a sailor from a very long and depressing deployment, blogging has not been at the top of my priority list. Even Twitter took a backseat.

So, things are more or less settled out, I’m able to breathe once again, and I’m preparing myself for the next onslaught of craziness that will pounce upon me (why, is that the Holidays coming up!?).  And, breathing again means blogging again. And writing again… and my, how I’ve missed it.

My current challenge is to write something that I normally abhor. Sci-fi/Fantasy, to be exact. To be even more exact, a sci-fi/fantasy SERIES. There are few things I find more annoying than a sci-fi/fantasy series. There are exceptions, of course (anything by Douglas Adams, the “Swiftly Tilting Planet” series by Madeleine L’Engle, and a VERY small smattering of other works), but for the most part, if it’s sci-fi/fantasy AND a series, I will avoid it at all costs.

I’m sure this comes as a shock to many of the people who know me. I’m a geek. I like geek things and geek shows. I watch geek movies. I cannot, however, stomach geek books. I just… can’t… do it. Oh sure, I forced myself through the Fellowship of the Ring series… I hated it. Yes, yes, the story part was compelling – but when Samwise busted out in song every other page, an entire chapter was dedicated to describing a MOUNTAIN, AND there was a full 100+ pages of “endnotes” that really should have been written into the book itself (maybe get rid of that “description of a mountain” chapter?), well… let’s just say that I don’t hold many fond memories of reading those novels.

I couldn’t even get past the first book in the Dune series. Believe me, I tried. Then I realized that I just didn’t care to waste my time forcing myself to read something I clearly would not enjoy (not to mention, it’s another book that had copious endnotes… WHY endnotes?!). Since then, I’ve steered clear of the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Oh sure, I’m a big fan of Stephenson. I’ve read the classics by Asimov and Clarke. I hold Vonnegut in the highest regard (though, I’ll admit, I don’t really consider him to be a science fiction writer). I not only loved Enders Game, I have a signed copy of the book (given to me by one seriously cool friend). So, yes, I know sci-fi. I’ve read sci-fi. I won’t go so far as to say I hate sci-fi… but I definitely don’t love it.

My complaint about it is fairly close to my complaint about chick-lit, romance, and horror novels. More often than not, they’re formulaic, the characters are either bland or overly exaggerated stereotypes, and my interest in the plots range from “I don’t care” to “I don’t believe that.” With the exception of romance, I will admit to liking a few books in the above listed genres – but… they’re genre books, and the quality of writing in a genre book is just… lacking.

My preferred style of writing? Fiction, yes, but basically “contemporary literature.” There are no space men, ripped bodices, superhuman powers, people (or Devils, for that matter) wearing (or even referring to) anything Prada, or scary monsters in my normal story lines. More often than not, my story-lines are about regular, every-day people encountering regular, every-day problems and dealing with them in a variety of regular, every-day ways. Granted, I tend to exaggerate situations, heap more problems on top of the problems the poor characters are already having, and then make my characters deal with those problems in ways that cause even more problems. You know, like any good author (though, I have a long way to go and a LOT to learn before I could be considered a good author).

What’s the point to all this?

Well, often, I have a few stories bubbling around in my brain. I write a few notes here and there to keep myself from forgetting them, but it’s a normal thing. It takes me an embarrassingly long time to develop one of those little stories into anything substantial enough to write, so it’s not uncommon for me to have the same story in my head for several months (or, really, several years – the Soup Storm bubbled around in my head for a good 13 years before I even outlined the rough draft).

That leads me to my dilemma. One story pushed itself to the forefront in a matter of a week. I had a little spark of an idea and that idea ran with itself (trust me, I didn’t do any of the running with this idea) into not only a completely, almost pre-outlined story in three neatly packaged acts… It went and turned itself into a series. Oh, and it’s sci-fi/fantasy.

I’m completely confounded by this idea or where it came from. Normally, I keep my ideas to myself, keep little notes on my hard-drive, and don’t mention to anyone that they exist until after I complete my first rough draft. This story got me talking, and I gotta admit, I don’t know who was doing the talking because my mouth and brain couldn’t work fast enough to get the idea out. My dear, sweet husband sat quietly dumbfounded as I prattled on to him about the characters, the organization they work for, the universe they live in, and the entire meta-story arc that will encompass the entire series. When I was done talking, I was shaking uncontrollably, full on shivering (complete with teeth clattering… and I live in Hawaii, so trust me when I say that I was NOT cold)… and personally, stunned because none of what I told him was anything that I had thought over before I started talking.

I busted out a quickie outline and I’ve started in on the first chapter of a sci-fi/fantasy SERIES that has me scared to death. Read the rest of this post: I harshly judge most genre novels after reading only a few sentences. Now, here I am writing one and I have to admit The Fear has me second-guessing almost every single word I write. At the moment, I’m plowing ahead and chanting the “keep writing and don’t look back” mantra.

Here’s to trying new things!

No related posts.