The Challenges of Writing Genre Fiction, and Doing it Well

This picture has nothing to do with anything except that
Longs Peak is majestic, and blog posts without photos are boring.

Nothing specifically book related to tease your interest today, but I promise if you peruse this post, you're going to get some hints at a few things...
Let me first say I'm by no means a proven voice on writing genre fiction well, but in light of the years I've spent actually doing it, I at least have the insight of my experience. What follows are merely my opinions on a topic that really has no right answer and certainly no one way of achieving great results. That said, writing well, especially in light of genre, is a very interesting topic for me. Essentially it's an attempt to answer the question, "What makes a book good?" Genre fiction is of particular note because of the fact that it is so tremendously popular, but often gets a bad rap in certain circles.  Sparing you all from too many words on an overly academic topic, my particular interest in genre fiction vs. literary realism is two fold. First, I believe genres offer a unique experience to imbue a text with meaning in a way straight realism doesn't-almost like the idea of the Id being the dream-like playground for the subconscious. The second, I get plenty of literary realism every day. I brush my teeth, I eat food, and I ponder whether or not the fact that I tripped over some clutter has any grand meaning in the human experience. Genre is fun. There are certainly some great works of realism, but for me departures from reality are entertaining and fascinating. Now don't mistake me, because my first rule of writing genre fiction is that it still has to be realistic. So what do I think the challenges of achieving that are? Here's a brief overview on my current top five.

1. Forget the Familiar: It's way too easy to fall into the trap of the familiar in fantasy. There's always a tension between giving audiences what they love and exploring something new. We've seen dark lords time and time again. The young hero who has yet to fully understand his significance and potential is a concept as old as the monomyth. We know elves, dwarves, and goblins far too well and magic has become something akin to big budget nonstop CGI action. Finding your own voice and place in this genre isn't easy, but very worthwhile. In the end, working my way through this aspect of the endeavor was certainly the most challenging. A last word on this: villains who want to take over the x, y, z are so incredibly boring anymore.

2. World Building: The thing constituting the most fun aspect of writing fantasy also makes it daunting. The complete freedom to shape the very nature of a place as expansive as you want carries a little bit of weight with it. In my experience, everything you come up with has to have purpose and history. Any epic is shaped by much more than the immediate circumstances of the story. If an author doesn't take time to explore what led to the moment of that story, it's a little hollow. With the advent of instantaneous access to information across the world, it's fascinating to see how connected everything really is. While a fantasy world might be limited by technology or other factors, it's essential to explore the ways in which it's all connected, whether that the relationship between nations or the literal way geography and landscape impact a story.
Culture is the next big key to the concept of world building. No one does anything in a vacuum. If an author doesn't take time to develop and nuance different cultures then... well your story probably isn't about too much.

3. Beating Readers Over the Head With The Rubber Hose of Your World: When I'm reading a fantasy or sci-fi novel, there is nothing more jarring then getting slammed by tons of words and names I can't place by the end of the first paragraph. I prefer relying on imagery to build a sense of place or person before I slip in the names and details that make it specific to my world. I like a read that gives you a bit of a film like experience, that lets you take in the details organically rather then explication forcing you to wrap your head around something you aren't familiar with.

4. Your Characters are  Still Real People: If readers can't relate to your characters as human beings... or at least as things with similarities in the way they function or act, then you're stuck hoping the plot is the greatest thing since the invention of... awesomeness. In my opinion a great story is made great because of characterization. If you can write characters people will connect with, root for, despise, admire, and want to meet the plot details will fall into place. Even if you are writing about someone caught up in the most impossible circumstances if you can remember that character is still (likely) driven my the same basic emotions, desires, and thoughts most of us are you'll not only pull off a more convincing and dynamic character, but one an audience is going to connect with.

5. The Bells and Whistles are There To Accent: Similar to my thoughts on world building, I'm also of the opinion less is often more. Some of the exciting elements of writing fantasy make it a mine-field for writing that doesn't reach its potential. The easiest one to talk about is magic. You won't find magic in my book, and that's because as I wrote I found it didn't serve any purpose in the world. You will find some elements of the supernatural and a few things which verge on being magical, but I won't say more than that now. Like every other element I've given my two cents on, there has to be a reason for using any of the conventions. If something serves an actual purpose in driving the story or the characters then belongs. If not, then your risk losing more than you gain.

The Long Road Behind: From Fantasy To Reality

Copyright: 2013 Weston Brownlee, Eternal Sun Studios

Before long, the story of the Amaranthine will unfold. I'm very excited to see this moving forward in tangible ways. While I don't yet have a release date to give you all, I can say there's some very exciting things coming if you're interested in learning more about the world the story takes place in, and the landscape of the series. What will that look like?
For the time being I'm hoping to remain very active both here and on the newly created Facebook page. At this phase, my primary goal is to generate a serious interest in the series, and so far it's been fun to see there's already a strong reaction to it.
As for the blog itself, things should start looking a little more polished and fine tuned, but for now there's nothing wrong with a little simplicity.
Keep checking back to get the word on the big reveal of the series website. I promise you won't want to miss it. There should be some exciting sneak peeks into the world, which will include at least three short stories that will be published digitally through venues like Apple and Barnes and Noble.

That said, this first post isn't so much about the story of the Amaranthine, but the even bigger story behind it. Believe it or not, work on the first novel in the series began about twelve years ago as a short story for a class in school. After some encouraging words from my teacher, I set out to turn it into a novel. While the early fruits of my efforts are of such a nature I'd be mortified to let anyone see them, the entire process has remained a lot of fun in the way I've seen ideas evolve as my skills matured. By the time I entered college, I had completed a 450 page manuscript. In a sense, I grew up with this story. I thought about it all the time, wrote often, kept notebooks full of information on it, and even filled my room with artwork, (some of which is still on display in the room my wife affectionately has termed "the man cave").
College was the time I came to a real juncture, consistently hearing that while I had really accomplished something great, it was time to put it aside as my "apprentice novel" and develop new ideas. While I did spend my collegiate years developing other projects, this story never left me and I always knew I would see it through. The world was always growing bigger, the history richer, and the characters more real.
For a long time, finishing the first novel was truly a struggle, but not so much in terms of the writing. The challenge in standing by a story I had started so young was the vast measures by which it had to change to be viable. This meant what now feels like countless rewrites and completely gutting previous versions. While elements of the story have carried across the years, the presentation and writing itself certainly have not.
In hindsight, what used the be my greatest frustration is now something I appreciate tremendously. The Amaranthine could not be what it is now without all the time it took me sloughing through earlier drafts. Being poised to send it out into the world for readers leaves me in the most exciting place with my writing I have ever been and I cannot wait for everything that lies in store.