Gamer is almost finished, which means I’m about to start a writing new book. The new one’s not a sequel to anything; Gamer is a standalone and Demons & Battleskirts 2 is on the back burner until I get this new one out of my head.
The new book (working title, Woman in White [WiW]) is in a completely new genre. Not sci-fi or urban fantasy, nope, this time I’m swinging the other way and going for high fantasy; a clash of pantheons with epic butt-kicking, name-taking women at the centre. It’s going to be awesome.
However, switching up my writing genre is necessitating switching up my watching and reading as well. All those fantasy costume dramas I’ve been bingeing? Replaced with modern and sci-fi (Reacher season 2 anybody?), the books… Hello Murderbot book 7.
Why am I doing this? Because all that fantasy is screwing with WiW, like seriously fucking shit up to the point where I’m staring the screen going, “huh?”
A lot of authors will tell you they don’t read/watch in whatever genre they’re writing because they don’t want to subconsciously influence their work. For me, it’s not quite that. It’s more a case of I see, hear or read something and plot bunnies start multiplying.
Once the bunnies begin to breed, I start thinking about my story and what might happen, and while that sounds like a really great thing… It’s not. My muse is as perverse as I am; you can try and tell us what to do, but we’ll probably do the exact opposite, just to screw with you.
In the argument between what I think I should write and what the muse wants to write, nobody wins. Except the cursor, taking centre stage on the screen. I’ve found the best way to avoid the problem, is to avoid breeding plot bunnies in that particular genre.
And so, now I’m switching up my entertainment. Goodbye fantasy dramas with your extravagant costumes and elaborate fight scenes, hello modern day fluff and mayhem. How I’ve missed you.
Featured photo by Ryan Moulton on Unsplash.