Guest Post- Rie Sheridan Rose

I asked a good friend (a sister from another mother) and writing mentor to do a guest post on writing in multiple genres. It’s something that a whole lot of people don’t talk about. We all read in different genres and forms (poetry, high fantasy, magazines, news papers, chick-lit, romance, contemporary, literary fiction, classics, gossip columns…. and those are just from my reading list LOL), but do we write in different genres? Why did Nora Roberts have to write under a different name in order to be taken seriously as a mystery writer (ok, that had something to do with gender at the time, too…)… but the question remains. Will you follow an author across genres? Have you ever thought about it?

Without further ado, here’s one of the bendiest writers I ever did know. She crosses genre and form with a single bound… and does it extremely well.

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So, when I was asked to do a guest blog post, I said sure. About what?

Maybe I should have asked that FIRST.

I have been asked to talk about writing in different genres. I suppose this might be because I have written/published:

1)      Science Fiction

2)      Fantasy

3)      Horror

4)      Steampunk

5)      Romance

6)      Erotica

7)      Poetry

8)      Young Adult

9)      Picture books

10)   Lyrics

11)   Non-fiction

12)   Blogs

In other words, pretty much a little bit of everything.

Some people think that one needs to specialize in a specific genre to be good at it. I personally think that limits your potential. For one thing, what if you become blocked in your genre of choice? If you are having trouble writing on a fantasy, say, why would starting a new fantasy be any easier? If, however, you write in a range of genres, and you become blocked on the fantasy, you can work on your horror novel for a bit.

Also, no genre is perfectly contained within itself. A good fantasy may include romance or horror. A good romance may be science fiction in setting. The more genres—and their conventions—that you are familiar with and comfortable working in, the more layered and rich your work becomes.

Personally, when I am blocked, or wishing to write, but don’t have a lot of time, my go-to genre is poetry. For one thing, poetry is dictated by form, not subject, so you have the best of both worlds. You can write poetry in any genre. I have an entire collection of fairy tale poetry, for example.

In short, my best advice is never limit yourself. Keep trying new things. It will help you grow as a writer. Every genre that you try is another that may become your new favorite. You will never know if you can write in a genre until you try. But if you find you don’t like one, let go of it. Don’t feel trapped into a rut.

I know I have tried time and time again to write a mystery novel. For some reason, it still eludes me. But I haven’t given up wanting to write in one of my favorite genres to read. I keep trying.

Writing is supposed to be fun. Always remember that. And keep experimenting—it will keep your writing fresh for the readers.

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To find Rie’s work on Barnes & Noble, go here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/rie-sheridan?store=allproducts&keyword=rie+sheridan

To find Rie’s work on Amazon, go here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=rie+sheridan  (but be careful, cuz I think there were a couple of red herrings on this one.

To view her blog and keep up on what she’s up to: http://herestheclean.com

 

Thank you for Visiting, Rie!

 

Catching my breath…

In a very real sense. I’ve had chronic bronchitis for a very long time, but it went on hiatus since… well, pretty much since Ray was born. Sinus infections? Oh my yes. But bronchitis wasn’t my main thing. Until now. It started around Thanksgiving and, Well, I’m finally breathing pretty good, the cough is almost gone, and i feel human again.

So here I am.

I was also catching my breath when it came to writing. I started out on my goal of writing the rock opera with Bon Jovi as the main (only) music… but… I discovered that something I had written before fit in as well. I had orginially started the other piece as something to do with mommyhood, but the rage kept bleeding over and taking it over so I set it aside.

I also wasn’t sure about the tone. It could come across as smart- alecky, which is not what I intended. The newer version is not… it’s more serious.

But the real problem is…. It’s so damn scary. I’m scared even now.

But I’m still gonna do it.

I can feel myself wanting to clamp down, put the story on ice. But I was writing, having fun, listening to Bon Jovi as RESEARCH, people! The actual story line, though, has gotten to a point where I’m afraid to step over the threshold. It’s at the first turning point.

I’ve said before that it’s deeply personal.

It’s also non-fiction.

Which probably accounts for at least some of the fear (ALL OF IT). I may just create a narrator as a character, removing me by one… but that feels like cheating.

Do other people get this petrified of just putting the truth down on paper and accepting the consequences? Good, Bad or indifferent?

New Years Goals: 2013

So it’s a new year again, this time with my luck number~ 13. I haven’t done any “resolutions” for a very long time, I’ve mostly skipped on that portion of celebrating the new year.

This year is different.

What’s different about it? Well, I’m getting my voice back (writing wise) and feeling more capabale in general. More able to take on risks. Sooo… without further ado, I give you:

RESOLUTIONS 2013

1. Write a novel. This one’s a no brainer, and it’s one that has been chasing around in the back of my mind for a while. I think it needs to perk a little bit more, but that’s ok. I’m a quick writer.

2. Write my Bon Jovi Rock Opera. Actually, it’s either more of a one woman play or something with a narrator that does all the talking, except for the songs. This one has already started to tingle my fingers, which writers will understand. I drove to work on Friday screaming ‘ MY FINGERS ARE ITCHING, MY FINGERS ARE ITCHING!!!” I hate to think what the person next to me thought, but you know… Itchy fingers for a writer are a good thing.

3. Get passports for my sonand I. I don’t know how easy or hard this will be. I don’t talk about it much, but I have full physical and legal custody of my son, so you would think it would be easy. However, the ex is still alive, if not in the picture right now. So we shall see. But this leads into wanting to be able to travel to Europe with Ray in 2014.

A girl’s gotta have some goals, right?

4. Accept how I look. Not to say that i don’t want to loose weight, or what ever. But I hate getting my picture taken. HATE IT. If you’ve friended me on facebook, you know I RARELY post pictures of me. But what does that do to my son? When he’s older, is he going to care whether or not i was overweight? Or will he care more that he has no pics of his mom, and none of us together? Yah. I got over myself real quick with that one. I posted 2 or 3 pics with me in them to Facebook last night, as a matter of fact. So progress!

5. Be Joyous!! Let the boogie out!!!

6. Pray every day for the women of the world. It’s easy to forget here in the US, where we have an expectation of safety to a certain degree (and yes, mostly, but there are always exceptions)… But in other parts of the world young girls are being beaten, shot, killed for daring to want an education. In other parts of the world, young women can be out with an escort and get beaten and raped,… and ultimately killed. This last case polarized the country, and hopefully will bring about change in India. I’m still gonna pray for them. just my thing.

7. Figure out how to write a montage scene in fiction with 2 characters who are geographically far apart. I think i’ve figured it out, but will see.

8. And this one hurts. Even more than number four. Write more, read less. I can’t write if my head is always in someone elses world. I just can’t. I know some of you are here because I started reviewing books.,.. and i’ll still do that to a certain degree. But writing book reviews brought me back to *my* writing…. And I need to do this. For me, for my son.  (BTW– i do have a very interesting book review for next week. HA!)

Anyways, that’s the list as of right now. 8 tiny little goals. Right? Not too ambitious, right?

 

Yah, that’s what I thought!