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Genre Fear

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CostumeJuliery View Drop Down
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    Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 6:46am
Well....I did it. 
I signed up for the short story challenge 2021. 
A newbie...a rookie...a grasshopper. 
The anxiety, the perfection paralysis, the voice that says “You probably won’t even write anything...what a waste of money” can step aside. 

I just read through all the genres and definitions and realized that it will be much easier to silence that voice for some genres over others. 

What genre are you afraid to be assigned? 
Why?
Do you/how do you prepare for that possibility?

This grasshopper thanks you 🤟🏼
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JanetM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 9:42am
Welcome to the very addictive party! Consider it money well spent in writing motivation, at the very least. It's also great to share your story on here and get helpful feedback .And to get a chance to read other people's stories. You'll read some awesome ones here.

I'm always afraid of political satire and comedy. 

Sometimes I read over the definitions (like you already did) and think of vague plot lines and characters for stories I'd most like to write. Once I get my prompts my laser focus ends up on those. haha. I'm one of those people who really tries to make the object an important part of the story. Not that you have to. Anyway, it usually shapes my story. 

Welcome again, grasshopper!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jennifer.quail Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 10:15am
I dread political satire. I have resigned myself that for three SSCs in a row so far I have always been assigned Horror in round one (hey, NYMC, if I wanted to constantly write horror stories I'd enter a horror contest.) But I guess it's better than political satire.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote theinquisitor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 11:54am
For me, it would be anything that required me to be funny on demand. But it's easy to get too hung up on the genre definitions - they're only guidelines and they're pretty malleable. I'd suggest the best way to prepare would be to have a look through the review forums for previous years and read the stories that have done well.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Oryx Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 12:28pm
Welcome from a fellow grasshopper! Well, I'm sorta a fellow grasshopper, the current FF competition is my first and it just finished up, so maybe that promotes me to shrubberyhopper or something. You're going to be so glad you joined, because this competition is a blast! 

Comedy scares me. I feel like usually when I succeed at funny, it's an accident. But I got rom-com the last round and had such a blast writing for it!


Edited by Oryx - 07 Dec 2020 at 12:31pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nod1v1ng Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 1:35pm
I'm not entirely sure any of the genres "scare" me anymore. I dreaded PolSat until I got it, and it wasn't as bad as I had thought. 

The only things I haven't gotten are Crime Caper, Mystery, Rom, and RomCom, so I'm not sure how I would tackle them specifically but my standard process when I get prompts I don't like is to WTF for a bit, then stream genre appropriate movies while rolling my sleeves up and just getting it done. Kind of  stubborn, vengeful rage writing. Don't judge; it's a process. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  

Anything comedic (comedy, caper, romcom) annoys me since humor is so horribly subjective. HistFic can be tough because sometimes the object can limit your time period. Mystery for Flash seems like it might be a bit of a challenge, but for at least R1 Short Story, there's lots of room to plant your red herrings and twisty misdirects.

And of course, when in doubt - genre mash! 


Edited to add: oh, I really do not want ghost story though. Not because I'm afraid of it, but because I've had it 8 billion times.


Edited by nod1v1ng - 07 Dec 2020 at 1:46pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kristina_f Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 2:11pm
What genre are you afraid to be assigned? 

My least wanted for short story would be mystery or spy. I've never had either though, so I won't be upset if I get them.

Why?

Mystery: Mystery has to really balance out what you hide and reveal to get a satisfying ending. I don't believe all mystery relies on a big reveal, but if everything is too easily predictable, it's not likely to be satisfying. If, on the other hand, you just end on something never once hinted at even a little bit, it's bound to feel hollow and cheap. All genres require balance, but I feel with mystery, it's one of the most difficult types of balance to achieve without prior experience or talent in the genre.

Spy: My associations with spy are bad. While I know there is much more to the genre than Bourne and Bond, my exposure has largely been to the aspects of spy which cater to male fantasy--aspects I have a toxic relationship with, I guess. 

Do you/how do you prepare for that possibility?

Mystery: Remind myself that most people in the group will be no better equipped to write mystery than I am. I don't have to write a best-seller or genre-defying masterpiece; I have to write a competent mystery that is enjoyable to read. Find a simple, yet satisfying core concept. Research mystery fundamentals and basic formulas. Write a mystery which, while not earth shattering, is compelling even if a little formulaic in places. Focus on my strengths in terms of prose and hitting emotional cues.

Spy: Get over myself, I guess? Likewise, for spy, I'm going to reach for core aspects of the genre and more basic formulations (unless something crazy pops into my head that I just have to run with). Then I'm going to take everything I hate in the genre as I've been exposed to it (none of which is essential to the genre) and write the version of spy I feel good about.

Any other genre: As with mystery, railing against genre conventions isn't inherently good. It may feel like you can win points with originality by subverting expectation. If done well, you can. But convention drives genre to a certain degree and that's not bad. When you're unfamiliar with a genre, strip it down to the basics. What are the core elements, and what makes a person drawn to them? Don't overcomplicate. Then consider where your strengths are as a writer and just marry it all together. Bringing your own voice and perspective to the work will already add some originality. 

tl;dr 
I just remind myself that (within reason):
formulaic is not mutually inclusive with bad, and
innovative is not mutually inclusive with good.

When in doubt, create a simple plan based on core aspects of the genre, then focus the rest of my energy on my strengths as a writer in general.


Edited by kristina_f - 07 Dec 2020 at 2:28pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kristina_f Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 2:17pm
[accidentally quoted myself instead of editing]


Edited by kristina_f - 07 Dec 2020 at 2:27pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bluevervain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 2:42pm
This year's flash fiction contest was my first ever. I'd never written anything but drama and comedy before, so I was kind of terrified by ALL the genres. I ended up getting drama (yay!) and then sci-fi (uh-oh), and then the dreaded pol sat (blergh). And for round 1 of micro, I got historical fiction. I ended up with an honorable mention in FF, and I'm happy with my first round micro story, and beyond that, I feel a sense of accomplishment for having written something outside of my comfort zone. So at this point I'm not really scared of any of the genres. Lots of fiction genres really aren't my cup of tea, but trying to use my own voice to tell a story I wouldn't normally tell is such a fun challenge.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Reasonably_Crazy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 2:50pm
Originally posted by kristina_f kristina_f wrote:

Spy: My associations with spy are bad. While I know there is much more to the genre than Bourne and Bond, my exposure has largely been to the aspects of spy which cater to male fantasy--aspects I have a toxic relationship with, I guess.

I also hate spy. When I got it in Short Story it got me knocked out, so when I got it again in round 2 of Flash Fiction I felt doomed. I went in with an "Eff it" mentality and wrote a story about Amish people and tomato plants that technically had some spy elements (one was spying on the other and sabotaged his tomatoes for the harvest festival). No spy gadgets, no real intrigue, no "Bond girls" or guns or really any sort of danger.

I placed first.

I think in Short Story, the year I got bumped with my more traditional espionage story, one of the ones that advanced was set in an office where a woman accidentally sent an embarrassing email to her boss and was trying to delete it from his computer before he read it.

So I think the genre's more forgiving than it might seem on the surface!
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