The following article first appeared in Windy City’s
fall/winter issue of Blowing Kisses.
Permission granted to forward to sister RWA chapters with proper credit.
Fredericka Meiners, co-editor, Blowing Kisses, Windy City RWA
One Writer’s Trek Across Different Genres And The Reasons Why
By Dyanne Davis
As a beginning writer I’ve skipped about, writing cross genres despite advice against it. Many new writers cross genres before they have mastered one. My advice? Follow your muse, do what’s right for you. I’m still in the learning process.
I have written in different genres for two main reasons: boredom, and stretching my creativity. In trying to get a handle on what to write, I found that the adage, “write what you know” didn’t work for me. I couldn’t find a way to make nursing appear sensual or attractive. “Write what you like” seemed better suited to me. But what I liked was vampires, and didn’t know if I wanted to write that.
When I wrote my first interracial romance, I thought, “okay, I’ve told that story, there is nothing more to be said on the subject.” But my publisher wanted me to write more of the same. Knowing the market is as important as knowing your audience.
I first heard the phrase “branding” in a Windy City program. I learned that it takes three books in the same genre to become a brand. The publishers are looking for authors they can brand, writers who can produce several similar stories. The readers are looking for the same thing. And here I thought, “tell it once and it’s over.”
Is there validity to the complaint that stories by certain authors are the same? Maybe.
But readers also enjoy reading stories similar to those they’ve already enjoyed.
I continue to get letters from readers who want a sequel to my first book, The Color Of Trouble. The danger is that readers have their own ideas about what should happen next and may not be pleased with my version. Right now my muse is not leading me in that direction.
Despite the importance of branding, I find I need to write in a different genre. It is necessary to my own creativity not to become bored with what I’m doing, and or to retell the same story with different characters. Luckily, I learned that lesson for myself. I saw the same names and some of the same scenes repeating on my paper, and stopped and reread it, knowing that I’d read it before. Sure enough I had—in the last book I’d written.
Because my publisher’s mainstay is multicultural fiction, it’s a given that I will be writing in that particular genre.
Then the question remains, why do I switch? I suppose I write in different genres for myself. It keeps me enjoying what I do. Switching genres for me is like cleaning your palate with sorbet at a restaurant before the main course is served. I switch to keep my work fresh. At the same time, knowing the importance of building an audience, I now write three stories in each genre before switching.
My inspirational fiction was filled with raw emotion, and contained more than a glimpse into my soul. It was much too personal to share. I then decided to try to write what I most enjoyed reading—paranormal stories. There my imagination can truly take flight. No one can tell me that my vampires cannot take communion, because I created them so that they could. I write paranormals purely for the fun of it.
In crossing genres, I believe I found the beginning of my voice. My editors say that I do emotion really well, and that my dialogue is natural. What I noticed is that my voice is faith based, annoying, and preachy. I’ve learned to edit most of it out. I think I was becoming aware of the tenets of my faith showing up in everything I write, but when my vampires begin to pray, it was one of those ‘Aha’ moments.
I’m not a typical plotter in my writing, which goes against my Virgo genes. I am a planner in real life who always needs a backup plan. Not so with my writing. I give my characters free rein.
I love writing. I love the undisciplined characters, and the sheer wonder of not knowing what’s going to happen to them. I eagerly wait for their arrival, allowing them to lead me here and there, and being amazed when they show me why they behaved in a manner so foreign to me that I wanted to slap some sense into them. I’ve found myself going “WOW” many times at learning the why of the stories I write. Not because I’m such a great writer, but because I had no idea of the pain my characters had endured. Even Adam, my wonderfully dark vampire, makes me feel for him and the pain he’s lived with for over a thousand years.
Through all of the years of writing and all of the manuscripts under my bed, I’m finally beginning to get a glimpse of what I’m doing. I now agree with my critique partners and my editors. My voice is partly getting the emotion out on paper, and using threads of my religious beliefs, by hiding some moral lesson in my stories without preaching.
In the end, I write cross genre because as much as I love writing, I love reading even more. So I follow my muse from genre to genre knowing that while the voice will be the same, the story will be different. And if I’m not bored, then hopefully my reader will not be bored either.
A Windy City member for nine years Dyanne has served as publicity liaison, contest coordinator, program chair, and vice president. When not writing you can find Dyanne reading, her greatest passion next to spending time with her husband Bill and son Bill Jr. You can reach Dyanne at her website www.dyannedavis.com or read and post to her blog at
http://dyannedavis.blogspot.com