[Raymond Birdsell]

Okay - so with all of one short story (go little rat go!!) to my credit - I should probably hesitate to use the word "career" - but hey - what can I say - I'm an optimist!!

With Ratticus falling solidly in the humor genre - am I asking too much for readers to make the leap to an entirely different genre for my next story or book?

A fairly full formed (say that 10 times fast) story idea fell upon my head yesterday - and it would fall in the thriller genre (so far - who knows where the story will go when the virtual pen actually hits the virtual paper after all).

Anyone have experiences (good or bad) with this?

Raymond

 

[Ripley]

I don't have experiences to share on this front, but I think you should just go for it and see what happens. Any genre with a bit of humor is a good thing, so if you can carry that ability over, all the better. For example, one of the reasons I like John Scalzi as a science fiction writer is because he makes me laugh.

I intend to cross genres myself at some point. I love research, so I would like to turn that toward writing a nonfiction book on a science topic TBD. I don't see why that wouldn't flow from my science fiction start. On my blog, the most hits are always science related. (My H1N1 flu post actually brought in my largest number of hits in one day--nearly 170. Not bad for a new blog.)

 

[ChristopherDavidPetersen]

Hey Raymond,

I have 4 books published, all from different genres. I only started a couple of months ago, so my numbers are impressive yet, but they are climbing each month (some dramatically).

I believe that if I had more books from the same genre, my sales would probably be higher. Without another book to hold the readers attention, they look elsewhere for a similar reading experience.

Just my two cents...

 

[A_Writer_]

Write what you love.


Angelina

 

[VegasWriter]

This whole "genre" thing is nothing more than formula writing. It's like the competitive TV series ... one good success story spawns multiple imitations. A good writer, one who can hold the reader's interest, should be able to craft a good romance, a good mystery, a good thriller, a good whatever. I believe in genre jumping because I enjoy the process of writing -- anything and everything. Maybe one day the world will catch on.

 

[Raymond Birdsell]

This whole "genre" thing is nothing more than formula writing. It's like the competitive TV series ... one good success story spawns multiple imitations. A good writer, one who can hold the reader's interest, should be able to craft a good romance, a good mystery, a good thriller, a good whatever. I believe in genre jumping because I enjoy the process of writing -- anything and everything. Maybe one day the world will catch on.

Great point!! I agree - in theory I should be able to hold my reader's interest - no matter what the genre. If I can't - I certainly don't deserve to have it read.

Thanks for all the good points and advice everyone - starting the new story tonight - wish me luck!

 

[Alain Gomez]

This whole "genre" thing is nothing more than formula writing. It's like the competitive TV series ... one good success story spawns multiple imitations. A good writer, one who can hold the reader's interest, should be able to craft a good romance, a good mystery, a good thriller, a good whatever. I believe in genre jumping because I enjoy the process of writing -- anything and everything. Maybe one day the world will catch on.

I say definitely experiment with different genres. Find out what you like to write.

But I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with the above statement. Romance, mystery and thrillers require COMPLETELY different approaches to writing in order to be executed well. That's like saying "Oh because the person is athletic, they should be able to play basketball, soccer and golf well." Uhh.... no.

 

[41419]

My first title was a literary short. My second was an old-school science fiction short.

My next will be full-length non-fiction. The one after that is an epic historical novel.

I think mixing is okay!

Sales numbers were similar, and sells of the first picked right up along with sales of the second, which leads me to believe people were buying both, even though they were different genres.

Dave