Here’s something I’d love to know: do you read the same genre(s) that you write? And if so, is that because you’ve always loved reading it, or is it primarily for research purposes?
Science fiction has always been my preferred genre to read and that’s what I tend to be drawn towards writing; though I have noticed that the more I write, the more diverse my reading habits have become.
While I've always read wide, my writing preference is for speculative fiction (which covers all the bases of science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, etc). What I read really depends on my mood and what I need as a reader.
"Literary" fiction is kind of touch and go for me these days as I've read too much of it that is pointless character sketches or playing around with things claimed to be ground-breaking that is just annoying (no, I will NOT read your work if you don't follow traditional grammar conventions including some means of indicating dialogue using punctuation marks). On the other hand, I've also encountered some superb literary works that leave me breathless--and I find that more entertaining than literary game-playing.
I do have a strong preference for Pacific Northwest/American west settings, and those are my most likely settings if I dip into historical readings. Family sagas, again, primarily with Western settings, also grab my attention. Right now I find myself integrating my setting preferences, my fascination with family sagas, and my speculative fiction interests into my writing. It's a tough niche to market, however. I think once it gets discovered...it may do well, but the process of finding that discovery is convoluted and sometimes I despair of ever finding it.
This preference in settings also frequently has me snarling at yet another fantasy story set in a quasi-medieval setting. Take me out of Europe and you're likely to have me as a reader. Contemporary Europe, sure. Fantasy faux-European? Uh-uh.
I used to read sci-fi exclusively. That was the area I wanted to write in. It was my first love when it came to fiction. As I got older, my tastes started varying, but I felt like a certain kind of betrayal if I read non-Scifi. There was a time when I thought fantasy was going too far off the reservation. But then I started reading Guy Gavriel Kay's 'Tigana', which blew my mind. Then, I got into the Bosch series on Amazon and started reading crime thrillers of all kinds. I realized that with all these other genres my ideas for SciFi started to evolve. I think it's like Jazz. Your love could be pure Jazz, but the best Jazz musicians listen to all sorts of music and incorporated the ideas into their own music. I mean, Cannonball Adderley did a rendition of Fiddler on the Roof, which is absolutely epic! I think reading other genres is a way to gather ideas to enhance the topic I'm most interested in. I let it happen naturally though, I don't force myself to like a particular genre, but I've learned so much beyond the boundaries of Sci-fi. highly recommend looking at other genres to enhance the one you spend most of your time in!!
Yes. With the exception of Biography (read, don’t write.) I mainly write stories. The genre doesn’t matter to me and I sometimes mix them. I think writers will naturally write what they like (want) to read. Unless they are writing solely for money and picked a popular genre. But I don’t think I could write something I didn’t enjoy.
Interesting. In the case of my gothic novel, yes, I’ve read all the gothics! Now I’m writing a utopian novel, and I am definitely reading all the utopian books. But it is also fantasy and I haven’t read a lot of that.... yet. I have some homework to do!
I'm not a genre-based reader or writer. I choose the setting that best suits the story I want to tell. That has included contemporary, historical, fantasy, and science fiction (though all my science fiction, except one published story, was deservedly consigned to the fire long ago).
I believe that the heart of genre is the focus on a particular virtue: beauty for romance, strength for superheros, cleverness for science fiction, perceptiveness for mystery, power for fantasy, etc. (https://gmbaker.substack.com/p/seeking-the-true-heart-of-genre). Fascination with a particular genre is fascination with a particular virtue. Nothing wrong with that. But I think I am more fascinated by the interplay of the virtues, which leads me to a more cross-genre approach to reading and writing.
But there is also the factor that at any given time a genre can have a particular fixation. We live in a very ideological age and I think different genres take on the taint of different ideologies. The taste for, or distaste with, a particular genre can also be based on the current ideology that dominates it. Personally I can't abide fiction with an axe to grind, whether I agree with the cause or not. This means I often have to look back a few years to find things I want to read, and, for that matter, a style I want to imitate.
You would think that I would be reading scads of sci-fi since I write space operas. But in truth ... no. My preferred genre (wait for it) is historical romance novels. Then, thriller novels like the ones written by Baldacci. Also, big chonky fantasies like those written by Brandon Sanderson.
I read very widely but oddly, I don't read as many space operas as I "should". I think the main reason is that the type of sci-fi I like to read is not in great supply. It's an odd mix of science fiction and fantasy, and the books that came close to it is the Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
I also prefer optimistic sci-fi, so I like reading pulpy Star Trek novels. (The Star Trek New Frontier novels by Peter David is a favourite of mine.) Sci fi tends to be a morose genre, though I have a soft spot for the Expanse series By James SA Corey.
For the most part, yes, I read the same genres that I wrote. For any given stretch of reading my list includes a good bit of science fiction or historical fiction (and biography/history on the nonfiction side). I also enjoy fantasy, but so far I haven’t made any real effort to try to write anything in that genre.
I could give a long and detailed answer, but it would boil down to "I write what I feel like writing, I read what I feel like reading, and both can be all over the place."
2022 has been a slow reading year, but, 2021, I easily read over a hundred different books from Dumas, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, J. Michael Straczynski, Sir William Scott, Sir Terry Pratchett, Jerry Pournelle, Lord Dunsany, Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, J. M. Barrie, Ben Aaronovich, Jim Mortimore, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dominic Greene, HR Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, Rafael Sabatini, an attempt as Thomas Mallory (Morte d'Arthur remains unreadable), Andre Norton, EE "Doc" Smith, Mary Shelly (comparing the 1818 and 1831 versions of "Frankenstein"), Patrick S. Tomlinson, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Jasper Fforde, and, last (but certainly not least) some Simon Jones.
Need to catch up on my Simon Jones, of course.
But, as I'm attending the Fforde Fiesta in May, I do need to prioritize the Jasper Fforde for the moment. I hope he felt better after writing, "The Constant Rabbit." It's much less subtle than any of his other works and I feel its writing was more an act of catharsis for the author than a truly polished story.
I Started reading SciFi/Fantasy at the tender age of 10. Although I had been watching horror and SciFi movies for a long time before. (My favorite SciFi movie of all time is The Thing (From Outer Space)). So my favorite reading genre is SciFi/Fantasy. But I also enjoy Adventure, Spy, Cop, War, Detective, some Drama, Horror, Thriller, and a few others. I even read some Romance. As far as writing is concerned, I have thus far only written in the SciFi/Fantasy, Horror (based upon a nightmare I had when I was about 10) and Historical Fiction (During and after the crossings of the Ice Bridges by the CroMagnon into the Americas). I have also written a lot of poetry which I plan to publish in the near future (Aversion of my only saga is inserted in the middle of my first book. It is titled The Gift Of War. I wrote the original back in the '60s, when I was in the Army, posted in Germany). I will possibly try a few other categories, but that is still in the dim mists of the future. Right now, my immediate aim is to become established as a serious writer. (I am writing 5 more books right now, but it is taking some time. One of them is an attempt at light humor in the Quest Of Mankind series. Others are from remembered dreams and one is a pure Horror story (the forces of the Creator fighting against the overwhelming forces of the Fallen One. Don't know for sure where that one is going), which is still in the making. Ideas and dreams keep coming, but I only remember very few of them. Sometimes I remember to add them to my possible Short Story folder. Anyhow, that's a bit of me for now.
While I've always read wide, my writing preference is for speculative fiction (which covers all the bases of science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, etc). What I read really depends on my mood and what I need as a reader.
"Literary" fiction is kind of touch and go for me these days as I've read too much of it that is pointless character sketches or playing around with things claimed to be ground-breaking that is just annoying (no, I will NOT read your work if you don't follow traditional grammar conventions including some means of indicating dialogue using punctuation marks). On the other hand, I've also encountered some superb literary works that leave me breathless--and I find that more entertaining than literary game-playing.
I do have a strong preference for Pacific Northwest/American west settings, and those are my most likely settings if I dip into historical readings. Family sagas, again, primarily with Western settings, also grab my attention. Right now I find myself integrating my setting preferences, my fascination with family sagas, and my speculative fiction interests into my writing. It's a tough niche to market, however. I think once it gets discovered...it may do well, but the process of finding that discovery is convoluted and sometimes I despair of ever finding it.
This preference in settings also frequently has me snarling at yet another fantasy story set in a quasi-medieval setting. Take me out of Europe and you're likely to have me as a reader. Contemporary Europe, sure. Fantasy faux-European? Uh-uh.
I mostly write sci-fi (to date), but while I do love reading sci-fi, my reading tastes definitely go far wider than my writing tastes (abilities?)
I used to read sci-fi exclusively. That was the area I wanted to write in. It was my first love when it came to fiction. As I got older, my tastes started varying, but I felt like a certain kind of betrayal if I read non-Scifi. There was a time when I thought fantasy was going too far off the reservation. But then I started reading Guy Gavriel Kay's 'Tigana', which blew my mind. Then, I got into the Bosch series on Amazon and started reading crime thrillers of all kinds. I realized that with all these other genres my ideas for SciFi started to evolve. I think it's like Jazz. Your love could be pure Jazz, but the best Jazz musicians listen to all sorts of music and incorporated the ideas into their own music. I mean, Cannonball Adderley did a rendition of Fiddler on the Roof, which is absolutely epic! I think reading other genres is a way to gather ideas to enhance the topic I'm most interested in. I let it happen naturally though, I don't force myself to like a particular genre, but I've learned so much beyond the boundaries of Sci-fi. highly recommend looking at other genres to enhance the one you spend most of your time in!!
Yes. With the exception of Biography (read, don’t write.) I mainly write stories. The genre doesn’t matter to me and I sometimes mix them. I think writers will naturally write what they like (want) to read. Unless they are writing solely for money and picked a popular genre. But I don’t think I could write something I didn’t enjoy.
Interesting. In the case of my gothic novel, yes, I’ve read all the gothics! Now I’m writing a utopian novel, and I am definitely reading all the utopian books. But it is also fantasy and I haven’t read a lot of that.... yet. I have some homework to do!
I'm not a genre-based reader or writer. I choose the setting that best suits the story I want to tell. That has included contemporary, historical, fantasy, and science fiction (though all my science fiction, except one published story, was deservedly consigned to the fire long ago).
I believe that the heart of genre is the focus on a particular virtue: beauty for romance, strength for superheros, cleverness for science fiction, perceptiveness for mystery, power for fantasy, etc. (https://gmbaker.substack.com/p/seeking-the-true-heart-of-genre). Fascination with a particular genre is fascination with a particular virtue. Nothing wrong with that. But I think I am more fascinated by the interplay of the virtues, which leads me to a more cross-genre approach to reading and writing.
But there is also the factor that at any given time a genre can have a particular fixation. We live in a very ideological age and I think different genres take on the taint of different ideologies. The taste for, or distaste with, a particular genre can also be based on the current ideology that dominates it. Personally I can't abide fiction with an axe to grind, whether I agree with the cause or not. This means I often have to look back a few years to find things I want to read, and, for that matter, a style I want to imitate.
You would think that I would be reading scads of sci-fi since I write space operas. But in truth ... no. My preferred genre (wait for it) is historical romance novels. Then, thriller novels like the ones written by Baldacci. Also, big chonky fantasies like those written by Brandon Sanderson.
I read very widely but oddly, I don't read as many space operas as I "should". I think the main reason is that the type of sci-fi I like to read is not in great supply. It's an odd mix of science fiction and fantasy, and the books that came close to it is the Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
I also prefer optimistic sci-fi, so I like reading pulpy Star Trek novels. (The Star Trek New Frontier novels by Peter David is a favourite of mine.) Sci fi tends to be a morose genre, though I have a soft spot for the Expanse series By James SA Corey.
Dystopian nonfiction. For real
For the most part, yes, I read the same genres that I wrote. For any given stretch of reading my list includes a good bit of science fiction or historical fiction (and biography/history on the nonfiction side). I also enjoy fantasy, but so far I haven’t made any real effort to try to write anything in that genre.
I could give a long and detailed answer, but it would boil down to "I write what I feel like writing, I read what I feel like reading, and both can be all over the place."
2022 has been a slow reading year, but, 2021, I easily read over a hundred different books from Dumas, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, J. Michael Straczynski, Sir William Scott, Sir Terry Pratchett, Jerry Pournelle, Lord Dunsany, Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, J. M. Barrie, Ben Aaronovich, Jim Mortimore, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dominic Greene, HR Haggard, Rudyard Kipling, Rafael Sabatini, an attempt as Thomas Mallory (Morte d'Arthur remains unreadable), Andre Norton, EE "Doc" Smith, Mary Shelly (comparing the 1818 and 1831 versions of "Frankenstein"), Patrick S. Tomlinson, Lewis Carroll, Mark Twain, Jasper Fforde, and, last (but certainly not least) some Simon Jones.
Need to catch up on my Simon Jones, of course.
But, as I'm attending the Fforde Fiesta in May, I do need to prioritize the Jasper Fforde for the moment. I hope he felt better after writing, "The Constant Rabbit." It's much less subtle than any of his other works and I feel its writing was more an act of catharsis for the author than a truly polished story.
I Started reading SciFi/Fantasy at the tender age of 10. Although I had been watching horror and SciFi movies for a long time before. (My favorite SciFi movie of all time is The Thing (From Outer Space)). So my favorite reading genre is SciFi/Fantasy. But I also enjoy Adventure, Spy, Cop, War, Detective, some Drama, Horror, Thriller, and a few others. I even read some Romance. As far as writing is concerned, I have thus far only written in the SciFi/Fantasy, Horror (based upon a nightmare I had when I was about 10) and Historical Fiction (During and after the crossings of the Ice Bridges by the CroMagnon into the Americas). I have also written a lot of poetry which I plan to publish in the near future (Aversion of my only saga is inserted in the middle of my first book. It is titled The Gift Of War. I wrote the original back in the '60s, when I was in the Army, posted in Germany). I will possibly try a few other categories, but that is still in the dim mists of the future. Right now, my immediate aim is to become established as a serious writer. (I am writing 5 more books right now, but it is taking some time. One of them is an attempt at light humor in the Quest Of Mankind series. Others are from remembered dreams and one is a pure Horror story (the forces of the Creator fighting against the overwhelming forces of the Fallen One. Don't know for sure where that one is going), which is still in the making. Ideas and dreams keep coming, but I only remember very few of them. Sometimes I remember to add them to my possible Short Story folder. Anyhow, that's a bit of me for now.