Should I Write in Different Genres?
Should I Write in Different Literary Genres?
How to start writing in different literary genres? One of the tips that we give here at iSpirit Publishing is that you must know your audience.
Knowing who you’re writing to is essential when planning a writing career. As most of the writers who pass through here are beginners and do not yet know their audience or their own writing well. One of our recommended exercises is recognizing their own literary genre and the main books and references of this genre that may have influenced your style.
It is a path that we consider easier for those just starting out. Still, it leads to a more complicated question: can a writer ONLY write one exclusive literary genre?
The short answer is NO!
Writing just one genre may be an easier way to find and retain an audience, but it’s not the only one.
Perhaps you, like me, like to experiment with different forms of writing. On the other hand, to know your audience, you will need to do a more in-depth job to understand your writing and understanding who would like to read it.
Don’t Limit Yourself to one Literary Genre, just understand Your Gifts.
There are more common factors in your writing than just the literary genre.
So, do a broader, comprehensive search of your work. Look for those 5 (or 10, or 20) work that you liked the most, that you feel most represent you. What do they have in common?
Perhaps it is a type of character, such as strong women, maybe it is a theme, like modern life, or maybe it is your scenarios (for example, you like to talk about regional issues, your state or city). If you already have a longer path and more developed writing, it may be your voice.
A Creative Mind may Express multi-diverse Writing Styles
The important thing is to keep in mind that your brand of writer does not need to be limited to one literary genre. Still, you can also understand other aspects of your writing.
It is possible that if you do an analysis with a lot of our “manuscripts,” some of them are entirely different from the others. That does not mean that you should not write that type of text anymore, but that you should focus on others, on what you do if instead, what really moves you in writing.
Build your brand on top of that and worry less about what style of text you’re writing. Incorporate more of these common factors among your writings, make them stand out in the narrative, and seek the right audience for this type of text.
Here is the practical example:
Personally, I prefer to write chronicles of daily events, in fact, I use them to better understand what is going on and what I think about life.
On the other hand, I always had a fascination for short stories, small tales almost like little parables. And It is no secret, that I also have that long project to finish my long narrative, a novella.
And what does all this have in common? My main characters in the short stories and in my novel project tend to be strong women, the scenario is always current, very 21st century, and deals with day-to-day issues.
See how it is not so difficult to find something in common between your written texts, even though at first, they are part of such different literary universes?
And the question that does not stop is: who is your audience then?
Regardless of the form, the people who will like what you write will be your public. With these people, you communicate, irrespective of the format of the texts that you need to gauge your experimental writing modalities.
Is it up to you now, writer? Do you want to venture into different literary genres? What do your texts have in common, in what context is each of them worth publishing? Are they all adding your brand in some way?
Make an analysis of the texts that you think most represent you. or those you really liked. Preferably take examples of the different styles or genres you want to write. See what unites them, the elements in common, and think about how each thing fits into your experience as a writer.