I am the first to admit that I am a huge genre hopper. It has become a little bit difficult to brand myself as an author for this very reason. A good brand for anything usually has some kind of cohesive theme to it. So a person who writes only romance novels will have an easier time describing themselves as an author than someone who hops not only age groups but also genres.
I figure that I’m new enough to the authoring thing that I can still test the waters in various genres before committing to what I want to do. If I decide to stop genre hopping at all, that is. So for now, I’m leaving my comfort zone of cute romances and chicklit and moving firmly into . . . a spy novel (with a romance sub plot – you know maybe that is my brand. . .)
That said, my current work in progress also walked into my head. Sorry, “how do you come up with ideas?” crowd, I still don’t know. I was thinking about a rival spy getting in the way and then I thought, “what if she wasn’t a spy?” and “what if he didn’t know that?” and “how about he tries to get the spy secrets from her anyways?” And thus, the skeleton of my story was born. I look forward to sharing more of the process of creating this story with you guys (because I have the blog set up already and I have just started plotting the book).
If you have any questions or topics you want me to address as I go, feel free to drop them in the comments below or send me a message through the contact page.
Do you like to read (or write) in multiple genres? Are there any common threads that you like to find in almost all of the movies you watch or books you read or do you prefer to branch out to various genres and themes? Do you think an author having a “brand” is important for you to follow them or read what they write?
Check out more posts about Derailed by a Tourist or click for details on my works in progress.
Eliza Solares 