Question: Choosing genre

[Peyton Stafford]

Ah yes. Well therein lies the problem. Don't really want kids reading bdsm scenes with Kilatra.

I have some of those in A Trembling Wind, so I rewrote them so that adults would understand what was going on but kids would get that something exciting was happening, and more exciting stuff was coming, but they would not understand the details.

 

[Serra K]

Take that back. Both C. S. Lewis and Tolkien did it. But I have zero confidence people who love C. S. Lewis will appreciate my diverse cast haha.

I'm a fan of C.S. Lewis, his stories and essays. Pretty sure I'd enjoy your tales too. Bible mythology is one of my favourite archetypical structures. My story is also based on it (but also others, and no science, unless you know where to look for it).

 

[izi 出久]

In libraryland, there's a movement to stop book burning and witch hunting. Those few states constitute the Midwest, the South, and the Mountain States. Just to spice up the trilogy, have you thought of adding some Biblical quotations between chapters?

It takes place on two separate planets far removed from earth, but in a later series I do plan to bring earth in. And other people. Technically the Bible does not exist in this alternate universe, but this series (and some of the others I'd like to write) are meant to be books of alternate scriptures. And no bible quotes BUT a few of the characters do say things that are somewhat close to certain scriptures, concept-wise.

 

[izi 出久]

Bible mythology is one of my favourite archetypical structures.

There are some WILD stories in the bible. I'm surprised more people haven't done retellings of some of those stories. Like, dang. There is a story of reanimated skeletons in the old testament. And pre-flood, Babel, and Nephilim (ok, some have been done on those guys). But plenty more. Even better things in the book of Enoch.

 

[Serra K]

Shhh don't tell anyone!!

 

[Rich.]

I think the way to think about how to pigeon-hole your creative work is [...] no original thought allowed. [...] Only tropes and cliches are allowed. We must maintain the status quo.

I think we've all felt like this at some point. It's part of the hard realization that publishing is a business and that authors need to be mindful of it.

Who was it who said (something like), 'Writing free verse is like playing tennis without a net'? It's the same with genre fiction (including 'general fiction', which is just another genre) – if there's no meet-cute, it ain't a romance, etc, etc. Tropes do evolve, of course. They're bent, stretched, subverted and combined, which is where we find opportunities for creativity, and is how genres change.

We don't have to play this game, though. We can reject entirely the fetters of traditional publishing's demands. We can write 'freely' and let our creativity take us where it will. And afterwards we can self-publish if we want to sell what we've written. But in that case we'd better make doubly sure we're mindful of the business side of things. Selling stuff is hard, and knowing about markets helps in that regard.

But then again, we don't have to sell anything at all. We can just write for the sake of it, and share our words here and there. It's comes down to individual choice. It depends on what you want.

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I haven't read anything that is a retelling of judeo christian religion / mythology in high fantasy, and sci fi. With a few lgbtq+ characters.

It's largely missing the lgbtq+ element, but maybe – if you haven't already – check out the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Look at the back jacket or label for those books you think share the same potential readership market. Sadly, the books I read are liable to say GENERAL FICTION on the back cover -sadly only because some agents find it too broad brush, don't like working with it as a genre category.

 

[Hannah F]

In libraryland, there's a movement to stop book burning and witch hunting. Those few states constitute the Midwest, the South, and the Mountain States. Just to spice up the trilogy, have you thought of adding some Biblical quotations between chapters?

In Scotland, we have monuments to honour the fate of persecuted witches and people persecuted for witchcraft e.g. the Witches' Well in Edinburgh.