Every story has its best form.
Understand the tradition that you’re writing into.
Understand your predecessors.
Now there is a point where it’s not helpful
to be reading as you’re writing in the same genre,
because you can start comparing.
But I think you want to have a real education
in what you’re walking into… what is this world you’re walking into.
Mystery, romance, sci-fi, fantasy… there are more genres
than I can possibly think of.
And you can make up your own genre. That’s what I’m saying about the rules.
You don’t necessarily have to follow them.
But you should absolutely know what those unspoken rules are.
And it’s usually involving length of story,
how many words you’ve got in your story.
Content, are you writing sexy or are you writing sweet.
You should know what readers’ expectations are
because readers’ expectations are everything.
And if you want them to come back time and time again,
you have to meet those expectations.
Putting your own spin, your own take… giving readers eighty percent
of what they love and what they know and enjoy.
And then giving them something fresh.
Most authors, and in our case, all of them to one degree or another,
are starting in a different place than they actually should be.
We call that process genre-therapy, and it basically is:
what is it that you enjoy most, and then separate it
from the genre you’re in right now.
Don’t consider those inextricably linked.
OK, so you like banter, you like this, you like that…
what is it that those things exist in that you actually are passionate about.
And it may not be what you consume.
But what is it that you’re passionate to write.
It’s usually something different.
Absorb everything you need to know. And then you need to let it all go
and allow yourself to be creative
and to create something groundbreakingly new.