Genre Hopping



That gray period between the alarm going off and actually climbing out of bed can be used for something better than cursing the climbing out of bed part. Last night I woke up with a half-formed idea, possibly helped along by sinus drugs.
By the time I got up a the idea had solidified, right down to some characters and lines, for a new novel—a fantasy parody, kind of an anti-Harry Potter. (I mean in an anti-hero kind of a way; we’re very pro-Harry Potter in our house.)
Despite my history with humor, I’ve never written a full parody before—nor have I ever written a fantasy, so there I go genre hopping again. That’s the least of my problems, considering I get ten or twelve good story ideas for every story I actually get time to write. I also recently came up with an idea for a new book in the Storm Chaser series, although whether that ever gets written depends on sales of The Notorious Ian Grant.

Someday, one of my books will hit with a larger audience (I hope). When that happens, it might be a signal to stick with that one genre for a while, and build an audience. Meanwhile, all I really need for Christmas (other than book sales) is more time to write. 

Does anyone have a favorite, out of what I’ve published so far?

10 comments:

  1. I need to read the other 2. Got the short story one on my Kindle. But I loved Storm Chasers.

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    1. I'm glad! I'm curious as to whether I'll get different answers to that question based on preferences in genres, though ... I mean, for those people who've actually read all my published books, which is probably a low number considering the variance in the subject matter.

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  2. Some of the best ideas start with half-formed ideas!

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  3. And what does Emily think? She is probably your best adviser. She might prefer one, but believe that more people would like another. My twisted tales are all over the map as far as genre go or goes.

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    1. I value Emily's honesty (and editing skills). However, she's not a romance fan, so it's safe to assume she'd rather me work in other genres. She really liked my space opera -- we're both big SF fans, so it's safe to assume she'd like more out of me from that direction.

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  4. That's why I always have a tape recorder next to my bed. Eventually I'll get some batteries for it.
    I preferred Ian grant.

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    1. Thanks for that vote -- Ian Grant has gotten so relatively little attention compared to the original, I was beginning to think I was going crazy.

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  5. I think I favored Ian Grant more than Storm Chaser even.

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