Me- Hi Rena! I'm so glad you agreed to help me out - thanks so much for the fantastic answers.
Me- You
are a writer of more than one genre. Would you advise others to try to
write in a totally different genre to improve their craft ? If
so, why would that be constructive?
RJT- YES! Take
a look at the books on your shelves. I bet you that some of the books you own mix
genres and form. The Wolves of Mercy Falls by Maggie Stiefvater mixes fantasy with
romance with a dash of poetry. The
Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade mixes historical fiction with fantasy.
Frankie Pickle series by Eric Wright
mixes the graphic novel with the chapter book. Hugo Cabret by Brain Selznick mixes the art of the picture book
with the art of a novel. I could go on.
The point is all these books are bestsellers.
Perhaps that picture book, or whatever project you are working on, needs
a touch of horror or romance to make it stand out to publishers. Perhaps your picture book would be better if
it was a novel. Studying other genres will help you add in dashes here and
there and will likely make your writing better.
Plus
dabbling in other genres will help you assess your strengths and weakness. I
can’t write romance to save my life unless of course it’s a satirical piece or
a poem for a loved one. You will learn what you like to write. Maybe you have
knack for writing humour or romance, but you’ll never know if you don’t give it
a try.
Me- Which
genre do you find to be more challenging to write for? Why?
RJT- Every
writing project comes with its own challenges.
One of the challenges I face is switching between projects. Most of the
picture books I write involve animals and pre-school age kids while the novel
I’m working on is for eight-and-up and is a fantasy novel/graphic novel hybrid.
Going from the mindset of a three year old or a dog, to a mindset of a thirteen
year old, or going from a picture book where you don’t typically tell the
illustrator what to do to writing a graphic novel where you are suppose to give
instructions to the illustrator can be disorienting. Recently I was working on a concept series
involving sounds. While I was writing this series, my novel set on the
sidelines because I was stuck in non-fiction mode and couldn’t get into fantasy
writing mode.
Writing
for adults is much harder than writing for kids, at least when it comes to
writing fiction. I find that there is more room for creativity when writing for
kids versus adults. Trying to find the
balance between what a parent wants and what a kid wants to read in a picture
book can be difficult versus MG novel where I’m only thinking about the
kids. Writing fantasy is much easier
than writing non-fiction. I can stretch the truth when writing fantasy, but in
non-fiction you have to stick with the facts.
Fantasy
of the fairy tale variety is my preferred genre with poetry coming in second. Writing
anything outside my preferred genres presents a challenge for two reasons—1) I
don’t get enough practice writing in other genres. 2) Most of the books I read
fall under the fantasy or poetry genre.
RJT- My inspiration comes from three places. 1) From the material I read. I generally like to spend a bit of time reading in a particular genre before writing in it. I mentioned above that I had a hard time switching from non-fiction to fantasy well this usually doesn’t happen because reading in a genre before writing in it helps get my head in the game. 2) My husband. He is my muse. I’m constantly bouncing ideas off him, which usually sparks new ideas. 3) Being challenged. Writing to me is about solving a problem akin to algebra (I know I’m one of the few writers out there that actually likes math). Recently a writing friend posted a picture of basket full of socks. She said something along the lines of I bet you will think of some sort of monster story. Sure enough a week later I had produced a poem about a sock monster.
Bio: Beware
of the fiery haired writer that calls herself Rena J. Traxel. She spends her
days brewing up a batch of fantastical stories. She also blogs about writing,
shares poetry and downloadable activities @ www.renajtraxel.com
Thank you for your visit today!
