Blogging Circle: Limits and the Fantasy Genre (July)

Let's start with the definition of limits.  A limit, when not used in math, is an extreme value or boundary.  There's also BDSM limits, but that's for an extremely different post that needs to be marked as NSFW.  Our post today deals with limits of my own writing.

There are two questions for the month's post.  Extremely open ended, but I'm not the one who asks them.

• What will you absolutely not write no matter what?

I seem to be unable to write straight up literary fiction.  I need a genre to play in or I simply don't know what I'm dealing with.  I won't say "no matter what" because there could always be a case where I have an idea and then it just suddenly fits.  Also don't think there should be "no matter what" when it comes to writing because what doesn't work today might work tomorrow.  

That's my problem with the entire topic, to be honest.  I don't think there should be limits on your own writing.  Yes, there are things that you have problems with writing or simply don't want to write, but to say that you have limits on your writing is to sell yourself short, in my opinion.  There are other who are going to say "well, I won't write fanfiction no matter what!" and that's up to them.  But again, it's not really a limit but a choice.  You're choosing not to write a specific genre and that's okay.  You are choosing what you want to write, which writer do every single day, and it's not limiting yourself.  It's going where the story wants to take you.  Which leads us into the next question.

• Where do you put your foot down in your own genre?  For example, do you write fantasy but not a darker shade than a medium shade of gray?  Do you write erotica and rape is not acceptable to you?

First off, this "not a darker shade" thing is a bit of bullshit for a fantasy writer like me.  There's fantasy and then there's dark fantasy, which is a sub genre of fantasy.  Right now, there is a lot more dark fantasy out there, thanks to the Song of Fire and Ice series, but it is not the standard barrier of fantasy.  That belongs to some of the older and classic authors, like Tolkien and Lewis (we can go round and round on how Chronicles of Narnia isn't really YA but later), and some of the newer like Anne McCaffrey, Jim Butcher, and Neil Gaiman.  I say newer because they aren't really classic just yet, although a case could be made for Neil Gaiman because he's epic in his own right.  If you don't believe me, go read American Gods and then get back to me.  I'll wait.  

While we're waiting, let's get back to the question.  No, I cannot write dark fantasy at the moment.  I like happy endings and good triumphing over evil; it feels right to have a story that goes with that sort of flow.  I also have issues with killing off my characters, which I'm trying to get over, but it's hard.  So, no, I don't go beyond the medium shade at the moment.  That's not to say it won't happen in the future, but at the moment, no.

As for erotica, no, I wouldn't be able to write rape.  Then again, I don't think a lot of erotica writers like to write rape, but not my genre, so I couldn't say.  Any erotica writers reading that would like to chime in are welcome.  

That's it for this month.  Any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll try to answer them the best I can.  Cheers!

Coming in August!

A few things. One you don't have to wait for until August because there's a subject up this month.

1. A return to writing the WriYe Blog posts. I've got a back log of prompts to write for, but I'm really just going to write the one for this month. I might go back and grab another month or two, but if I don't jump in now, I'll never start them up again. So look for that before the month is out and then around the 15th every month.

2. The first big thing is that I'm going to be handwriting a novel starting August 1. I'm going to use the blog to show how it's going, probably with pictures of my handwriting and all. You might be getting rants about how hard it is to handwriting most days, but that's what'll be happening. That will be a Monday and Wednesday post with a Friday post showing off some writing - either part of a chapter or a picture.

3. The second big thing is that I'm going to get seriously cracking on the editing / rewrite of Mystery of the Dark. The trials and tribulations of that will be Tuesday or Thursday, depending on how it's going and if I want to rant about it. That will make Saturdays being the showing off what's been done during the week.

4. The third (and possibly last unless I think of something) big thing is that I am going to be generating new content as well. I've got a YA-ish fantasy novel to write called Hidden Scions. I've got an epic fantasy novel to overhaul in terms of editing and just basically writing it all over again. There's NaNo coming up as well. So, whatever day I don't post about Mystery of the Dark, I will be posting about new content. Or it might be the same day and then more on another day.

So, that's about it. I'll probably post random interesting articles I find or book reviews of new things that I'm reading. I read Wild by Cheryl Strayed which was really good, considering I devoured the entire book, and how it's making me want to make my own walking the wild plans.  Other than that, look forward to things in the future.