Question

[mrissa]

For non-writers: if someone magically forced you to write something, what would it be and why? Length/category/genre/audience/etc.

For writers: if you could only work in one length/category/genre/etc. ever again, which would it be and why?

Does anybody feel that they aren't covered in either of those two categories, writers and non-writers? If so, can you explain why?

Myself, I think if I had to stick with one thing, it'd probably be YA fantasy novels. I'm glad I don't have to, but if I did....

I'd like to think that whatever I'm working on now will be the best thing I've written to date. But sometimes it's hard to compare adult SF short stories to YA children's novels to adult fantasy trilogies in that regard. Besides, I'm opposed to total orderings in general. We all know that by now, right? Mrissas Don't Like Total Orderings. Rule of life.

Comments

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Well, considering I'd be working heavily with the no-doubt angry resistance movement that would spring up at this restriction, I probably wouldn't have time to write. :)

No, I'm with you on YA fantasy. (I think that satisfies both length and genre.) I'm glad I don't have to, but 1) there's no way I'd get as much fulfillment out of writing romance, and 2) adult SF is too hard for me without doing other stuff in between, so I know I'd never get anything done. And 3) YA fantasy has the advantage of being a good vehicle for the odd short story that might occur to me. (Most of my short stories would be best expanded into novels or not written at all, anyway.) And 4) I've got way more YA fantasy worlds in my head than I do the other kinds. Or worlds that could be turned to that end with little trouble.

(shudder) What brought on this nightmarish Hobson's choice?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

What brought it up: I'm trying to figure out how my brain compartmentalizes "what I do" and "what I don't do." It knows. I'm not so sure.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Heh. Really? I know I don't do mysteries. I find them to be the most boring of genres to read; I can't imagine writing them.

(Exceptions have been made for character-driven mysteries: Lord Peter, for example. And I quite like the series about Jane Austen, but frankly, the author (Stephanie Barron) is lifting authentic chatter wholesale from Austen's letters (which I don't blame her for; in fact, I'm sure that's why I'm still reading the series).)

Yes, if you had asked, "What genre would you be willing to never, ever be able to write in?" -- I would have had a more enthusiastic and ready answer. :)

Answering "what I do" is much less simple...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

And another thing: what makes a fantasy world a YA fantasy world?

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

Funny you should ask. I realized it was poorly worded after I posted it.

I mean that I have fantasy worlds, and that the YA story is what I've considered building there. And then I have fantasy worlds, and I've built adult fantasy there, but I think I could have YA fantasy, too. There are younger characters running around somewhere in them, who have interesting stories, too.