Read Far and Wide, Not Just Your Genre

Welcome to the show. This week we are going to talk about why you should not restrict yourself to just one genre. 

#1 You should never stop learning new ways to say the same thing. 

Our alphabet is made up of just twenty-six different characters. However, those characters build an army of words that can say just about anything.

Here’s the thing. You can rewrite many a sentence a gazillion different ways and say the same thing. Authors will do this, and you need to pay attention. Think about the simple sentence, The cat is black. Okay, simple right. But what about the cat? Is it a Main Coon? Is it an American Shorthair? What about an all black Siamese? Black is also a word you can work with. Onyx, black as the depths of hell. Dark as night. Black as if all the light in the world would flee from its presence. You can do a million things with this simple sentence.

#2 Language changes. 

I don’t care if you are writing in French, English, Germany, or Martian. We don’t speak in old English anymore and you shouldn’t write that way. 

I love the classics. You want a trip, read the original French to English translation of Alexandre Dumas’s classic, Three Musketeers. I, for one, loved it. Hard to read though. It takes considerable time to work your way through the text. Once you hit the rhythm though, and look a few things up, you can have an amazing experience. 

#3 Learn what is selling and get a feel for why they are selling.

This one does occasionally backfire on me though; I will be the first to admit. If I know something has become insanely popular, I try to read it if I have time. It helps me keep a pulse on what people like and what is trending. Sometimes I can catch trends before they blow up into something so big that everyone gets lost in the whirlwind of books coming out.

For example, there was an adult book which came out a few years ago which I read because I was curious what the hype was about. To be honest, it was not my cup of tea, but it gave what I was looking for. Right now I am reading a book which became super popular really fast. I have to say that this time, it was worth the hype. 

#4 What trends you want to follow and which ones you definitely don’t. I am not a big fan of following trends. But I can see in the short stories and what is happening on television what is likely going to be big in the near future and I am going to write that direction. I am certainly not suggesting that you write young adult if you are primarily a romance novelist. But I would take note of what is trending in the YA world right now and use it to inform my story lines since that may be the next big thing. 

#5 My last reason is simple. Reading is fun.

It should not be work. Never forget why you got into writing in the first place. If you are anything like me, you enjoy a good book.

Please don’t mistake my advice for telling you not to read in your chosen field. Yes, if you are into police procedurals, read them. If you are into Rom-zom-coms, well then, read them. But I am not sure how many romantic zombie comedies you are going to find. But, good luck. If you are into horror, delve into horror. 

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