Even if it is done mostly as a personal challenge.
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| Never tell a writer they can't combine two or more genres together... because we WILL try. |
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!
You Can Do Anything You Set Your Mind To...
Writing is a craft, and if you have the chops and experience with it, you can tell all kinds of tales if you really set your mind to it. If you want to do a mash-up of the Trojan War with a super-advanced sci-fi setting where all the great heroes are replaced by mech pilots, you can do that. If you want to write a whimsical story full of fae nobles pulling pranks that has the tone of Game of Thrones, you can do that too (shout out to Max On Writing, Cursed Problems in Writing for this example). Or if you want to write a book about a hard-nosed alleycat solving mysteries in a world of furry street beasts with the tone (and brutality) of a classic noir novel, you could check out my very own hardboiled cat novels Marked Territory and Painted Cats.
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| Seriously, go give it a look! |
If you go back through the catalog of fiction, you will find all sorts of ideas that seem ludicrous, absurd, or like they simply wouldn't go together. However, it's not a matter of whether you can combine these particular flavors of story; the question is whether you're skilled enough to pull off a particular storytelling recipe.
On the one hand, you should embrace the idea that nothing is out of bounds... on the other hand, though, it's important to examine your skill set, your experience, and your talents. Because while anyone could cook a particular dish with the right skills and know-how, not just anyone has those resources, which means you need to take a moment to ask whether you're really up to the task.
And if you're not, then you may need to work yourself up to it.
With That Said, Not Everything Appeals To Every Palate
While I stand by everything I've said so far in this week's update, I feel it's important to add in something of a caveat. Because it's possible to write a perfect blending of two distinct styles, or genres, or story archetypes that create a new, unique reading experience that no one has read before. It's possible to tell a story in a way that is executed with skill and finesse, and which hits all the right notes. And after you've pulled off that hat trick, your audience will either walk away, or boo you, because what you gave them is not what they want.
Because at the end of the day, fiction is like food in another way... just because you can doesn't mean that's what the market wants.
You might be able to make amazing Asian/French fusion food that boasts a unique menu of flavors that are something your customers' palates have never experienced before... but if they came here expecting your restaurant to be one thing or the other, but they get both, that isn't going to go over well. Sure, some people might keep an open mind and try it, but a lot of people are going to walk out the door before they do much more than glance at the menu.
If you're going to be doing this professionally, it's not just about what you're capable of as a writer; it's about satisfying people's demand. So keep in mind that you might make the best plant-based vegan steak available... but if there's no one interested in that, it isn't going to matter how perfectly done and juicy it is.
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Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!
That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!
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