GENRE
JUMPING by Kathy Ivan
Do
any of you have this problem?
Almost
everything I write has some elements of suspense and/or mystery. That’s the way my thinking process works. I have to have some kind of hidden motivation
underlying the gist of the story, or I tend to get bored. My longest series is romantic suspense (New
Orleans Connection Series), and it will be fourteen books long after my release
next month.
But, lately I find myself easily distracted and wanting to change things up and switch
genres.
My
brain is crammed full to overflowing with story ideas, and there is no way I’ll
ever be able to tackle them all—not unless cloning becomes possible and legal
anytime soon. LOL
But
recently focusing on one idea is a struggle, because I can’t seem to
concentrate on just one thing. I’ll
start outlining and story-boarding a series that sounds amazing, with fully
developed characters, and before I start the actual writing, my mind is off
onto another tangent, wanting to switch things up and write a cozy mystery. No, wait, let’s do some paranormal. Nope, I wanna write that urban fantasy
series. Wait, a hard-boiled detective dark noir sounds awesome. Oh, maybe it’s time to write
some werewolves and vampires. You get
the picture.
Anybody
else have this problem, or is it just me?
What do you do to muffle that little voice that wants to work on all the
things—at the same time?
Kathy
Ivan is a USA TODAY Bestselling author who is currently working on a new
series—if she can settle onto one idea, and can be found at www.kathyivan.com and www.facebook.com/kathyivanauthor.
4 comments:
Kathy, Your dilemma sounds familiar. Honestly, I do believe every writer has experienced much the same ambivalence from time to time. After writing 14 books in a series and now leaving it, you probably feel a bit emotionally adrift. These familiar characters have become your friends, and now you must find a whole new assortment of acquaintances. Maybe the best solution is to put thoughts of a new project aside for a while, regroup, recharge and when your mind and body are ready for the change, voila!, a solution will leap into your brain. Anyway, for what it's worth, that's my amateur shrink suggestion for the day.
It's a tough one, Kathy. My brain gets full of ideas too. I adore Romantic Fantasy and Steampunk. But I'm also very invested and enjoying the main series I'm writing, probably because I don't limit the kinds of stories I allow myself to tell in it (although I'm not about to introduce paranormal elements or anything--except how cool would aliens be??? LOL).
I think you need to follow your passion. Just don't expect all your readers to come with you on the journey. But you might find new ones who will :)
This is the story of my writing life. I cross way too many genres and it makes it hard to market, a challenge to write, but gratifying in the end. And I have so many other diverse ideas wanting out. Too bad I'm not a speed writer. LOL
Lovelly blog you have here
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