Being a pretty conservative, straight-and-narrow reader, I tend to read literary fiction, historical fiction, commercial fiction, and an occasional mystery. I'm living on the edge right now by reading Angelology, by Danielle Trussoni. Gasp...I know...it deals with a subject beyond tangible reality. I'm enjoying the novel thus far, and it makes me wonder what I've been missing by keeping my reading list so "vanilla."
While I can't imagine myself writing anything outside my traditionally preferred genres, I think that reading other genres might help me be a more creative writer. I've fallen into a genre rut and I can't get up! My next book needs to be from a genre I don't usually read.
What genres do you like to read and why? Do you tend to stick with one or two genres? What book best represents the genre you like to read? Help a girl out here, will you?
I've always been a huge fan of sci-fi/fantasy. There are just so many possibilities! You can separate yourself from the real world and all the depressing things you might find in books and walk away from it with a awful sense of "what if that happens to me?" No mater how bad things get in sci-fi/fantasy, it's not half as depressing and something similar happening in the real world.
ReplyDeleteI fell in love with the genre(s) reading Anne McCaffrey as a kid starting with her YA but I read pretty much everything eventually. It's not hard sci-fi or epic fantasy type stuff. It just takes you to a different world with different norms and fun things we just don't have in our lives but sound like so much fun. (Dragons you can ride, anyone? Crystal mining that requires singing with perfect pitch?)
Good point, Leah. With the news lately, a little escape might be nice!
ReplyDeleteI typically read/write satire/humor with a 3rd person perspective. For one of my writing classes I decided to write a gritty noir type story in 1st person. It wasn't very good in my opinion and is in dire need of a couple rewrites. But I think experimenting outside of your comfort zone is essential for any writer.
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