Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Go Eclectic or Go Home

RJ made a really good point yesterday when she said that it’s important to put a new spin on common trends in order to present something fresh to readers. It’s easy to say we should just avoid tropes that we’ve seen over and over again, but I prefer to keep an open mind and leave all options on the table. After all, every story has been done a million times anyway, so to discount any component solely because the market is crawling with similar ones is not exactly productive.

This is why I love all the genre merging going on right now. You can sit down with the spark of a new story and take it just about anywhere. Want to write a paranormal ghost story? Make it a fast-paced political thriller. Dying to take on a werewolf novel? Maybe it takes place in outer space. Like Dragons? Combine them into a weird west tale. Sure, some of these are a little off the wall and may never work as a novel, but a new twist is worth exploring.

And now I can't control it; my mind starts reeling with literary flights of fancy. A coming-of-age horror story. A dystopian romantic comedy. Time-traveling celebrity gossip reporters sucked into a historical murder-mystery. The possibilities are practically endless and the results are so much more fun than formulaic genre fiction. Some of these have been done before, but at least they don't feel clichéd or uninteresting. Combined with solid writing, even quirky ideas can appeal to a broad audience. How many people probably thought Brian Jacques was crazy when he said he was penning an epic fantasy about rodents?

Despite what the title of this post indicates, I don't necessarily believe every story has to be wildly innovative. All I'm saying is that we may not need to ignore the standards, but we should do what we can to improve on them. That's part of the fun of being a writer. When we build our worlds, we get to ask the big 'What if?' It can't hurt to follow that original notion with an enthusiastic 'Why not?'

8 comments:

Marilyn Muñiz said...

Great point Ella on combining genres to make it fresh.

Ella Gray said...

Way to encourage my madness, Marilyn, LOL.

rj.garside said...

Love the story ideas Ella. I love dragons in the west. I agree - "why not?"

EW Gibson said...

"why not?" I agree

Ella Gray said...

Thanks RJ and Elizabeth!

Stacie Carver said...

at the RT convention it was noted that the readership for steampunk is not huge - yet. But appealing to different genres can really boost readership of this still very new genre. Why not have an erotic steampunk novel or an steampunk that is very much urban fantasy as well. As readers start to happen across steampunk combined with their other favourites, readership is bound to increase.

Brian Jacques is a genius. That series has been going on forever and it probably started with a why not?

Ella Gray said...

So true, Stacie! I've read several articles and posts lately stating that steampunk is already on it's way out of popularity and I find that so hard to believe when it seems like we've only scratched the surface. At least from a literary perspective - as a fashion asthetic, it might be losing ground, but I hope that won't lessen the appeal of the stories yet written.

And I agree totally about Jacques. R.I.P.

Melanie said...

Ella, you've hit on my favorite way of generating ideas. Juxtaposition. Anything can happen when you shove one idea up next to another and lock the door! Questions are a good way to keep the novelty going, too. What happens if...? And then what? Noticing natural mix-ups is good. And we aren't limited to novels. One really good way to get those into and out of our systems is writing shorter pieces (something I expect to explore later in the blog). One way to get ideas it to honor that we have them, let them out, give them a home. We have the power to shape the marketplace just by being insistent and persistent.

Now to get back to my own writing. My tropes await!
m

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