Checking the Itinerary

Now that the long days of summer have faded, I’ve reined in my screen time again. But I logged some late nights this summer—all in the name of writing research—to focus on two of my five 2021 VWS destinations:

• Rebooting my fiction reading
• Binge watching TV shows and movies set in Ireland and the U.K. as research for my story

My motivations behind these were to read and watch more in my WIP’s genre, hopefully find new comparatives, and enhance my world building—no big surprise, right? But this exercise was more enlightening than I expected. I discovered I was in the middle of a genre identity crisis. 

What’s Your Genre?

It’s embarrassing to admit that I almost hit a one-year (gasp!) drought on fun reading, but it’s true. Halfway through 2020, my fiction reading mojo disappeared in a snap and my focus switched to writing craft and personal development books. By the beginning of 2021, I was worried; so the simple act of fiction reading made my VWS list. 

But was the solution that simple? Apparently not since I spent the first few months of 2021 with failed attempts at two YA reads. Both books are critically acclaimed, but they were the right books at the wrong time for me. 

As spring and then summer approached, I turned back to my kryptonite—streaming television. I assured myself there was no need to worry because I had permission to watch as many stories based in Ireland and the U.K. as I could squeeze in. 

I started with The Nevers, which had just premiered. The promos were filled with two English women running around Victorian London in petticoats at the turn of the twentieth century fighting to protect “gifted” orphans with unusual abilities from evil forces. I was intrigued and the story was based in the U.K., so it counted. 

The two leading ladies are actually both Irish actresses, so I figured double points for this pick. 

Plus, I love any story with a leading lady who is kicking butt. 

I didn’t think twice about its sci-fi epic label, and it quickly became my new guilty pleasure. I even broke my rule of waiting until all of the season’s episodes had dropped and watched The Nevers in real-time, which is HUGE for me.

Eventually, Northern Spy by Flynn Berry stopped my fiction reading backslide. It’s set in Ireland, so bonus points. Northern Spy is an adult suspense set in Belfast and follows two sisters and the impact of the current day IRA on their lives. 

I then jumped into Karen M. McManus’s The Cousins, which is a YA suspense book involving a rich and reclusive grandmother, a family secret that’s decades old, and grandchildren tasked with uncovering that secret. I was captivated by a great story and discovered a new comp for my WIP. 

Next up was Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, which is a YA mystery. 

You’ve probably noticed my genres are suspense/mystery, with a lean towards YA, and some women’s fiction thrown in. Or so I thought…

My Genre Identity Crisis

I recently allowed myself to get sucked into a Harry Potter marathon weekend, but it’s okay thanks to its U.K. location. When I first discovered Harry and his friends in 1997, I wasn’t a fantasy reader; and YA was not yet trendy. Adults, like me, who still enjoyed reading YA didn’t necessarily broadcast that when we gave our friends book recommendations. But all I cared about was escaping into a great story.

While re-watching Hermione’s transformation last weekend, I thought about some of the other shows I’d binged in recent years: Game of Thrones, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Umbrella Academy, and The Mandalorian. I started each show either because of a personal experience or a trusted recommendation. My most significant commitment happened after visiting a GOT filming location in Malta in late 2017. I plowed through seven seasons of GOT in time for the season 8 premiere in early 2019.

Then it hit me. My dedication to suspense/mystery and women’s fiction had waivered. 

The majority of the shows I was watching were fantasy or sci-fi. How did I miss that? 

I’m clearly more focused on genre these days—there’s no escaping it when it’s the love language between writers, publishers, and readers. But regardless of why I started watching any of these shows, I’d raced through all of them because I LOVED THEM! 

Somehow, my genre taste took a wide turn when I wasn’t looking. I find it even more perplexing that there’s now a fork in the road between my go-to streaming and my reading/writing preferences, which haven’t changed… yet.

Is It Ever Too Late to Declare a Genre?

How old were you when you picked your favorite genre (or two)? Whether you realized it or not, it was probably very early on. 

I believe many of us subconsciously pick a genre by the path of least resistance. We love a book and read more by the same author, which are usually in the same genre. We ask our friends for recommendations, but we’ve already self-selected based on whether that friend’s last recommendation was worthwhile. We are drawn to the book cover art and titles, both of which are driven by the book’s genre.

What happens when you are well into adulthood and you realize you wish you’d paid more attention to fantasy and sci-fi growing up and now you have SO MUCH catching up to do? 

Questions started flooding in and the evidence started building:

• Will my reading and writing tastes start skewing towards fantasy and sci-fi? Two of my favorite books are sci-fi novels penned by Margaret Atwood, and Harry Potter and The Hunger Games are two of my favorite YA series.
• Am I even allowed to heart multiple genres without feeling like I’m cheating? So many books from my first genres have been patiently waiting in my TBR pile.
• What if I want to read YA fantasy for pure pleasure and not because I’m analyzing every book I read for how it can help my craft? A possible upside to reading YA fantasy in the first place.
• What does it mean to my future writing projects? Maybe I can’t, or don’t want to, write in another genre.
• What if I don’t actually have a favorite genre? I often pick stories with female protagonists who push boundaries and conquer, but I clearly don’t care if they are digging for secrets, learning magic, or saving the world while they’re doing it.
• Can you have a favorite protagonist instead?

What’s the Next Destination?

More questions than answers means I’m headed down another detour on my VWS adventure, but sometimes the detours are the best part of the trip. 

I’ve modified my TBR spreadsheet by genre groupings to make sure I’m spreading my reading love around. It also looks like I’m going to need a new bookshelf soon to house all of my new YA fantasy buys although I’m always open to new recommendations if you have any to share.

I’ve focused on four of my five VWS destinations in my series so far. My last pick was completing a book coaching class, and I’ve been steadily working through the Author Accelerator Book Coach Certification in Fiction. I will share some of my experiences with you in my next VWS installment.

As we head into fall, I hope to see you out on the VWS road. If you’ve already started your own sabbatical, drop me a note in the comments and tell me where you’re headed. If you haven’t joined us yet, it’s never too late to start. You still have more than 90 days left in 2021, which is plenty of time to squeeze in a long weekend adventure to crush one of the writing goals you declared back in January and get your momentum rolling for your 2022 VWS destination picks.

Have you ever had a genre identity crisis? How is your VWS going? Let us know in the comments or on social media!

Richelle Lyn is a compensation & benefits attorney and HR executive, who is now chasing a career as a writer. Her favorite reads involve leading ladies who push boundaries and conquer while preferably digging for secrets, learning magic, and/or saving the World. She is writing her first YA suspense novel. She loves her tea hot and her coffee iced. She calls South Florida home, but her favorite place to be is on a trip. You can check her out on Twitter and Instagram.

The post Virtual Writers Sabbatical: Challenging a Genre Identity Crisis appeared first on DIY MFA.

I challenged you in April to embark on a 2021 Virtual Writers Sabbatical, which is a build your own adventure focused on you and your writing craft. If you’ve already joined, I’m glad to have you along for the tour. If not, it’s never too late to break out of your bubble. Check out Create Your Own Virtual Writers Sabbatical, which includes a Sabbatical roadmap.

Here’s a recap of my Sabbatical destinations: 

1. completing a book coaching class; 
2. improving my Show, Don’t Tell skills; 
3. doubling down on my writing community and critique group involvement; 
4. reading multiple books on creativity, story building, coaching, and editing, and rebooting my fiction reading; and 
5. binge watching TV shows and movies set in Ireland and the U.K. as research for my story. 

Initially I thought my selections were unrelated, but I’ve learned my picks have common threads.

Lessons From Buzz Lightyear and His Friends

Creativity, Inc. Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace was my first read under #4. Catmull, a Co-Founder and President of PIXAR Animation, shares many of his career’s mistakes and wins while working for George Lucas and Steve Jobs and at PIXAR and Disney Animation. Whether you grew up watching Star Wars or PIXAR favorites, such as Toy Story and Cars, you will find Catmull’s recounting of what went on behind the scenes entertaining.

Catmull provides a fresh perspective on creativity and effective ways to nurture it while building a stronger business organization. However, his ideas are easily applied to writers. I’ve already tested a few of his lessons.

1. Share Your Work Early and Often

Don’t wait for things to be perfect before you share them with others. Show early and show often. It’ll be pretty when we get there, but it won’t be pretty along the way. And that’s as it should be.

Creativity, Inc., page 318

While working on my first novel, every point in the process has been a learning curve for me… until it’s not. One hurdle I had to tackle was sharing my work with others. I knew intuitively that I needed to have others’ eyes on my work in order to strengthen my writing, but trusting others with my story, not to mention my heart and dreams, was a scary thing. I knew that as an introvert and perfectionist just getting comfortable with sharing my early drafts (i.e., the “just get it on the page and expect it to be messy” drafts) was going to be a feat in itself. So, at the end of last summer, I enrolled in DIY MFA’s small group coaching program.

You may be surprised that my primary reason wasn’t to push me closer to finishing the first draft of my novel, which it definitely helped me do. Rather, I did it to force myself to become more comfortable with sharing my work. First, I would gain an instant critique group without having to search and test one out. Second, I would receive critiques while I was early enough in my draft for it to make a meaningful difference. Finally, receiving more feedback faster would help me quickly develop the thick skin I knew I needed to query agents.

It turned out I was shortsighted about how powerful and effective critiques can be when done well with the right partners. I loved every minute of the program, and I realized afterwards that I’d set the bar too low by only hoping to learn how to bounce back faster from receiving constructive feedback. Instead, I should have been focusing on the power of tapping into a brain trust.

2. Writing Can Be a Team Sport

Candor isn’t cruel. It does not destroy. On the contrary, any successful feedback system is built on empathy, on the idea that we are all in this together, that we understand your pain because we’ve experienced it ourselves…The Braintrust is fueled by the idea that every note we give is in the service of a common goal: supporting and helping each other as we try to make better movies.

Creativity, Inc., page 104

Novel writing is a solo sport. I knew when I started that I would spend most of the time in my head talking to my characters, and I was okay with this. But over time I realized just how solitary that experience can be, and I was craving good old-fashioned people connections.

Our coaching program ran for an intense three months. A year later, most of our cohort is still actively supporting each other’s writing, including creating spin-off critique groups, which inspired #3. Already, my days of fear and dread at sharing my work are gone. Instead, I’m excited about each step of the critique group process—submitting, reviewing, and exchanging feedback. Each step is another opportunity to grow.

The members of my spin-off group write in multiple genres and have different writing styles, strengths, weaknesses, and blind-spots. I receive real-time feedback on my story, characters, and my practicing #2. I pick up new techniques and styles to test. I watch up close how other writers create. Each call leaves me re-energized to work on my story. I knew we would learn from each other. But I didn’t realize that this new writing community was my own missing link.

3. Collaboration is Key

Every creative person…can draft into service those around them who exhibit the right mixture of intelligence, insight, and grace.…Andrew Stanton says…‘The people you choose must (a) make you think smarter and (b) put lots of solutions on the table in a short amount of time.’…Seek out people who are willing to level with you, and when you find them, hold them close.

Creativity, Inc., page 105

My group has only been up and running for half a year, but there’s already been a subtle shift in our discussions. It can be hard to process constructive feedback no matter how gently and respectfully it’s provided, but I’ve noticed a trust in each other has already formed. And we’ve switched from straight feedback to brainstorming solutions together to help each writer accumulate as many ideas and perspectives as possible. It’s always up to each writer to decide what does and doesn’t work for their story. But I love the idea of writers helping writers, especially when we’ve been hanging out in our heads with our characters for a little too long. 

This collaboration between writers is something I hear too little about, but I’m so grateful to have it in my writer’s toolkit. It’s also made me realize I’m interested in #1 because a book coach collaborates with writers to help them write the best book they can. But more on that in a future post.

Share Your Adventures

So that’s how a book about animated characters taught me that the most important thing I’d overlooked as a newer writer was my ultimate success will depend not only on my own creativity and writing skills, but also on the support of the other writers and coaches I have in my corner.

Have you added someone to your corner lately?

What did you think about Creativity, Inc.?

Let us know in the comments or on social media!

Richelle Lyn is a compensation & benefits attorney and HR executive, who is now chasing a career as a writer. Her favorite reads are suspense, mystery, and contemporary women’s fiction. She is writing her first YA suspense novel. She loves her tea hot and her coffee iced. She calls South Florida home, but her favorite place to be is on a trip. You can check her out on Twitter and Instagram.

The post Virtual Writers Sabbatical: How Creativity, Inc. Inspired Me appeared first on DIY MFA.