Risingshadow has the honour of publishing a guest post by Betsy Dornbusch.
Betsy Dornbusch is the author of a dozen short stories, three novellas, and three novels (Archive of Fire, Exile and Emissary). She also is an editor with the speculative fiction magazine Electric Spec and the longtime proprietress of Sex Scenes at Starbucks.
Her latest novel, Emissary (The Seven Eyes, Book 2), was published by Night Shade Books in April 2015.
GUEST POST: Dreaming in Genre by Betsy Dornbusch
They asked me here today to talk about subgenres of fantasy, and because I'm feeling contrary and a bit cocky with a new book out: EMISSARY, available everywhere fine books are sold, I'm going to call your bluff on the whole genre thing instead and state my feelings plainly. Genre is just marketing construct. Useful construct for finding books in bookstores, maybe, but not so much for writers trying to write their stories.
Before I start with all the mindblowing I’m about to do: some qualifications: I’ve been writing for quite a while now, since pre-self-publishing. I also talk to hundreds of writers a year online and in person at conventions. I write fulltime and when I’m not writing I’m thinking, talking, or reading about writing. I’m also prone to exaggeration at times.
If you came here for a list of fantasy subgenres, look [here.] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fantasy_genres
Still around? Okay, cool. Instead I want to talk about how genre applies to writers, and argue it doesn't, much, and actually can serve as a pretty significant hurdle. Genre is the thing that keeps you from putting a gunslinger in your medieval world, dinosaurs in present day, priests on your rocket ship, or some actually good idea that I didn’t just come up with on the fly into your story. I think writers are better served to collect ideas without worrying where they’re going to be shelved in the bookstore.
So here's where I get really cocky and maybe piss some of you off, but hang on with me for a minute. If there's one change that disappoints me with this fabulous era of opportunity for writers to be read it's that they start worrying about getting read way earlier than they should. I mean, take it from someone who knows, if you worry about who is going to read what you write while you write it, you either won't get very far very fast or the writing will suck. Then, if you have to force elements in—“Crap! I can't call this sharkpunk without the shark raging against The Man”—it gets formulaic. Writing can quickly devolve into a story by imaginary committee.
It’s not a bad thing to know the genres (see above link) but toss all that out the window when brainstorming, planning, and writing. I plan for my books, a lot. I write a tagline, back cover copy, and a synopsis before I write my books. I stare out the window for hours. I talk to people about my book, and I dream about it. But never do I dream in genre.
One caveat: this advice is worthless though, if you have a particular creative condition. It happens when I make visual art. Some people actually are more creative in a box, confined by requirements and conditions. I’m sure there are writers who work well this way. (Like fanfic writers, for instance, write in the box of existing worlds.) I tried it in writing and it was all right, but it didn’t work as well for me as it does when I painted on commission. I’d argue most people need the doors wide open most of the time though.
So I guess my point is: Give yourself enough room and rein to explore your story freely and worry about genre later. Much later.
Links
http://www.tatteredcover.com/book/9781597805322
http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9781597805322-0
http://www.amazon.com/Emissary-Second-Book-Seven-Eyes/dp/1597805327
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/emissary-betsy-dornbusch/1118593806?ean=9781597805322
http://twitter.com/betsydornbusch
Information about The Seven Eyes fantasy series:
Book 1: Exile
Draken vae Khellian, bastard cousin of the Monoean King, had risen far from his ignominious origins, becoming both a Bowrank Commander and a member of the Crown’s Black Guard. But when he is falsely condemned for the grisly murder of his beloved wife, he is banished from the kingdom and cast upon the distant shore of Akrasia, at the arse-end of the world.
Compared to civilized Monoea, Akrasia is a forbidding land of Moonlings, magic, and restless spirits. It is also a realm on the brink of a bloody revolution, as a sinister conspiracy plots against Akrasia’s embattled young queen – and malevolent banes possess the bodies of the living.
Consumed by grief, and branded a murderer, Draken lives only to clear his name and avenge his wife’s murder. But the fates may have bigger plans for him. Alone in a strange land, he soon finds himself sharing the bed of an enigmatic necromancer and a half-breed servant girl, while pressed into the service of a foreign queen whose life and land may well depend on the divided loyalties of an exiled warrior...
Exile is the beginning of an ambitious fantasy saga by an acclaimed new author.
Book 2: Emissary:
Draken vae Khellian, bastard cousin of the Monoean King, had risen far from his ignominious origins, becoming both a Bowrank Commander and a member of the Crown's Black Guard. But when cursed black magic took his wife and his honor away, he fought past his own despair and grief, and carved out a new life in Akrasia. His bloody, unlikely path, chronicled in Exile: The First Book of the Seven Eyes, led him to a new love, and a throne.
Draken has seen too much blood... the blood of friends and of enemies alike. Peace is what he wants. Now he must leave his wife and newborn child in an attempt to forge an uneasy peace between the Monoean King and the kingdom of Akrasia. The long bloody shadow of Akrasia's violent past hangs over his efforts like a shroud. But there are other forces at work. Peace is not something everybody wants... not even in the seemingly straightforward kingdom of Draken's birth.
Factions both known and unknown to Draken vie to undermine his efforts and throw the kingdom into civil war. Forces from his days in the Black Guard prove to be the most enigmatic, and a bloody tide threatens to engulf Draken's every step.