"what is the one time you stepped way out of your wheelhouse (brand, medium, genre, etc.) and what did it teach you?"
2024. Almost all the anthos I submitted to were for genres in which I'd never written before though I'd read stories in all of them. Lots of lessons learned: Choose characters that interest me. Explore writing a viewpoint character different than I would normally consider. Enjoy the whimsy. And "give it a shot." 🙂
I have several IPs that I can write more stories for if readers find them interesting, so I'd count the experiment as successful.
And good luck with your noir tale, Anna and Tod. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. 👍
I actually wrote 2 shorts recently that were totally off my usual. (one has been accepted to an anthology, and the second, I'm fairly sure will be accepted to a different anthology.)
Anywho, while I write things with humor bits and pieces, because life has humor bits and pieces, one was VERY whimsical. (To the point of near silliness! - okay, I do some sill stuff, too...but not Christmas silly!) And the other was closer to mil-fic - again with a Christmas theme - again, not my normal wheelhouse. (Hm...I need to do a holiday story for my kids books pen name)
So, it was worth it. I did learn that I could veer out of my comfort zone and still come up with a decent story that I was pleased with. I learned that writing to theme wasn't as impossible as I thought it would be.
P.S. I can't wait to see the Literary Emu Fiction story and the vehicular romance! lol *Cackles insanely!
"what is the one time you stepped way out of your wheelhouse (brand, medium, genre, etc.) and what did it teach you?"
2024. Almost all the anthos I submitted to were for genres in which I'd never written before though I'd read stories in all of them. Lots of lessons learned: Choose characters that interest me. Explore writing a viewpoint character different than I would normally consider. Enjoy the whimsy. And "give it a shot." 🙂
I have several IPs that I can write more stories for if readers find them interesting, so I'd count the experiment as successful.
And good luck with your noir tale, Anna and Tod. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. 👍
I actually wrote 2 shorts recently that were totally off my usual. (one has been accepted to an anthology, and the second, I'm fairly sure will be accepted to a different anthology.)
Anywho, while I write things with humor bits and pieces, because life has humor bits and pieces, one was VERY whimsical. (To the point of near silliness! - okay, I do some sill stuff, too...but not Christmas silly!) And the other was closer to mil-fic - again with a Christmas theme - again, not my normal wheelhouse. (Hm...I need to do a holiday story for my kids books pen name)
So, it was worth it. I did learn that I could veer out of my comfort zone and still come up with a decent story that I was pleased with. I learned that writing to theme wasn't as impossible as I thought it would be.
P.S. I can't wait to see the Literary Emu Fiction story and the vehicular romance! lol *Cackles insanely!
I'm looking forward to what I do with it too! LOL -Tod