So the title of this blog is a bit of a mislead. It isn’t just genre variation you should read, but many other variations of fiction and non-fiction too. Languages of origin, racial backgrounds, education backgrounds, philosophical thought, etc., etc. All of that means valuable things you can read. But for this, let’s say the genre was my focus to get you to branch out of.
There’s a common thread I see in writer and reader groups, and it sparks some debate among others. “I only read {genre} because it is the only thing I like!”
Which, I mean, okay. Fine. Do that if it makes you happy. If all you want is to read that then you can do as you like. But I have opinions about that. If your goal is to write better, understand books better, grow as a reader, and if you really are in a rut and have craved variety in the books you devour, give pivoting to a different genre and try.
Now, don’t confuse genre for medium, by which I mean swapping from novels to graphic novels or podcast fiction (although those are fun). What I mean is that you move from sci-fi to comedy, or from fantasy to mystery. That sort of thing. Easy peasy? Yes, on some level, but also nope.
The push back I see on this simple genre jump is, at times, defensive and aggressive. A sci-fi author might scoff at reading romance or literary (the rather overly bursting genre that seems to have only the requirement for deep insights) could miss the foundation of some of their own favourite books.
For some literary professors, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly remains a staple in teachings of gothic literature, but others can find it to be the foundational structure of the modern sci-fi horror. Should you read it if you want to get great at human insight in horror and sci-fi? Absolutely, I feel you should try it out. You don’t have to, but the benefit of stretching your comfort zone is so important.
In the age of upcoming AI-driven change (not quite SkyNet, but…eh. We’re getting lost in scope of it), an immense problem emerged for authors. I’ve seen many now feeling they can’t outpace AI, that they need to just use AI and forget it all, and they’re not wrong that they can’t outpace it. It writes faster, and the data scraped is more than you can read.
However, it is important to remember that it lacks creativity and it lacks imagination. So that is why you should be ready for more variety to expand your brain’s comfort zone further, to create variety, and to realize that writing and reading, together, should not be a slog to churning out as many books as possible.
Your brain can make connections that AI can’t; you can jump from one logic to the next in a way AI cannot.
Here are the reasons I suggest trying to read books of different genres, styles, and backgrounds.
- Variation in Storytelling
- Genres can Intertwine
- Challenge What Your Bias, Even if You Don’t Know They’re There
Variation in Storytelling Style
Have you read anything from Hemingway? And when I said Hemingway, did you also think of Ernest’s brother, Leicester Hemingway? They both wrote more literary type books. I’d say people aren’t as familiar with his legacy, but there is an important point I’m trying to make. If you read books from the two brothers, the variation is there in structure and narrative, but more specifically in style. Which leads to my point that even related writers do not write the 100% same and many authors who are good at their craft don’t either.
Style and genre are connected and separated, depending on the author. When an author finds their authentic voice and they stop mimicking those they admire, their style changes, their voice changes. Not every author writes the same way, and this is true for structure and narrative.
If you latch onto first person perspective because you know it is great for teen lit, you’d either need to get great at it or you need to know that eventually you need to back off before it becomes stale. Before it becomes you.
The strongest advice I ever had as an author is that my books when my POV got jangled was: the narration should be me, perched on the reader’s shoulder, telling them a story, but they don’t really see me there.
Even when the POV is first person, the first person is taking the person on a journey that they are experiencing or have experienced, yet the reader doesn’t get caught up in the obvious tells of a first person POV where it is self-insert.
POV aside, in reading variations of style, you can also see how perhaps you should learn to pivot a story from a linear narrative to something less constructed. As a writer, getting some freedom is important for your creativity. Perhaps you go forward, then back two steps using flashbacks.
Or what if your story’s ending is known right away, but then you decide to tell the journey backward? You can build up a foundation, similar to the book I’m thinking of ending things, that is rocked by the internal narration of someone wholly unreliable.
Or you can shift it to the left, take that story of a hot hero and demure heroine you’ve been bored with and make it a story about a female gangster controlling the life of a more innocent male bystander but the story is told by the eyes of his mother. Instead of modern thrillers, you can learn this by reading Margaret Atwood and using what you learn from her writing to style something like the once-popular pulp novels that once had gangsters and dames galore.
The point here is that learning how other writers, in other genres, build stories, you can start to really experiment with your books. Variation keeps writers from burning out. Readers too.
Genres can Intertwine No Matter What You Read
This is true if you go backward further in fantasy’s history (but not too, too far). George MacDonald, one of my favourites, inspired generations of writers who in turn have inspired the entire genre of fantasy. If you read his work, you can feel the tingles of old stories in your brain, as if you have read them all before…because those books you read now have a legacy.
While his works are foundational for modern fantasy, you can see that, in part, it is because of the famous Don Quixote which laid the groundwork for the modern novel as we know it.
Many famous films do this as well. I am in the camp of Star Wars not only being a space opera but also fantasy and sci-fi (how I like to interpret those genres anyway). Books such as Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin are often shelved as fantasy yet are dense literary feasts as well with themes, characters, structure, and settings as important as the plot itself.
I have read a lot of fantasy, more than many genres to be truthful, and I also found perhaps the merit of Peter Beagle’s books having an old romantic edge to them is not because of modern romance, mind you, but the old medieval romances.
Since I’m on a fantasy kick right now, Sara Douglass is an incredible blender of historical novels with fantasy novels, and that made sense for her considering her educational background.
Romance novels such as Outlander are definitely romantic, yet that book series combines elements of sci-fi (time-travel), fantasy (mood and suspension of disbelief), and historical (way too much to point out individual parts).
A lot of fantastic books blend genres, yet even genre snobs get their noses out of joint when you point it out to them. Which is fine; we all have preferences. However, if you say you really only enjoy light reading, such as older Harlequins, you could try a cozy fantasy which focuses on the day-to-day life of a witch, or a cozy mystery.
Sci-Fi fans can branch out to space operas, which then have some fantasy elements, and fantasy fans could try some horror written by Clive Barker.
When you see the connections between genre, you’ll find more times when your favourite genre has other genres intertwined.
Challenge What Your Bias is when you read, Even if You Don’t Know They’re There
Have you ever listened to an older song by an artist you dismissed and realized “Wait, this is a banger!” or thought “I think I might cry”? Or did you pick up that book you dismissed for whatever reason, whether for its philosophy, history, way of storytelling, or even genre, and tried it because you had no other choice (hello airport lounge)? Maybe you even thought an author wasn’t writing for you.
Yeah. Me too. Not happy I did it ever. And I always think “See, this is why you aren’t unbiased about books, Tea. Bad reader. Bad writer.” But it happens.
We carry our biases into books. I remember there was a time when Indigenous books were dismissed out of hand as rustic tributes to the past and thankfully, that is changing. Reading books written by BIPOC and LGBT+ people is important on many levels, but for this blog, it allows you to see the world through different lenses you haven’t been exposed to.
You get some fantastic visions of how sometimes the world is and we don’t notice it. Even though I knew nothing of African myths and legends, outside of cursory reading, I fell in love with Marlon James’Black Leopard, Red Wolf and went through the rest of his books, because he wrote fantastical settings in a way that I, as a queer white woman, could not because of my background and preferences.
The same goes for reading the works of Kadono Eiko (Eiko Kadono). I normally don’t read children’s books of certain age demographics, but reading her books and those of other children authors from around the world let me experience the differences and similarities in my childhood experiences in a charming, comforting way.
It can be the same if you are a political centrist and read philosophy supporting either right or left political views.
Essentially, I am suggesting you try to push past your knee-jerk reaction of “That’s not for me” and ask why it isn’t. Sometimes your reasons will be good, other times not.
This being said, if you are reading an opposing view, avoid the extreme reactions of “I’m just going to tear this apart” before you even start. That’s what wannabe movie critics do when they go in with an advance bias against what they see. You can do it for books too. Keep an open mind.
What if I really don’t like it?
Remember that sometimes we don’t like things. That’s okay. People who read the Twilight series swear by its fun engagement, but I only managed half the book before giving up. Yet it made Stephanie Meyer happy to write them and my friends happy to read them. I respect that.
Another instance is that I never finished the Harry Potter series (never got past chapter 4 of book 1) and out of principle I never will because of Joanne Rowling’s ongoing…well, whatever she believes she’s doing, and yet I know that at one time the series made my friends happy. I try not to cast my judgments about books these days or why my friends like them. Not easy though so it is a work in progress.
I enjoy (what others see as) awful movies but that doesn’t mean I have bad taste in movies. It is like going to the theatre and eating buttery popcorn and boxes of candy; I know it isn’t nutrition I need, but dang it, I want some buttery popcorn. It is always okay to indulge.
I read fiction that is indulgently awful and I also read books that make me go “wow, I wish I wrote that!”. However, while I’m not suggesting you self-judge or judge others, I suggest breaking past your own comfort zone to try other things in opposition to your biases.
Read it all. Sort of.
So what does it come down to? I could have easily summarized this with one word.
Read.
Too simple though, and you wouldn’t be here now.
I find people want tips and tricks for genres, for getting better at writing. And there are a lot you can look for. But the most consistently helpful advice I have ever seen from other writers is: Read.
You read and you learn. You read and admire how another writer wrote. You read and hate how another writer wrote. You read and envy them. You read and feel blessed by them. You read and you read and you learn to get better by seeing how others tell a story you didn’t think of.
Then, if you are a writer wanting to get better at what you do, you read some more. I don’t need to pump this blog up with SEO-focussed garble and tips to get traction because you likely already knew you had to read some more.
You need to get the used bookstore and grab something you might have never considered (I recommend little used bookstores, they’re treasure troves).
You need to at least try not to become stuck in your own silo, reading only the books you deemed worthy. You have to try to challenge yourself. Which is incredibly scary but also incredibly worth it.
So, if I at least gave you a push, can you tell me what book it is you thought you’d hate yet loved? Or a genre you really can’t stand but would try again?