For most of the world —although maybe not most of Florida—fall is a time of change. The weather is changing; the days are growing shorter and the light more oblique. The leaves change color and go through a moment of glory before they say goodbye until next spring. Some people find autumn melancholy, because we’re sliding into winter. But if you’re like me, you find it tonic. Change does a body good!
It does a writer good too. Call it parallax: when you move, you see things from a different angle. New features show up. Proportions alter. So my advice for the day is to switch up your writing habits now and then for a welcome refresh of the way you see yourself as author.
Genre Jumps
One way to change things up is to try a new genre. Are you queen of the police procedural? Why not write a cozy mystery? They tend to be short, and you already know how to structure a who-done-it. It will give you a new perspective on professional crime solving to think about how an amateur would attack the problem. Look at all the forensic science you can’t use—unless the sleuth is a scientist. Hmmm… Possibilities here.
Are you a historical romance guy? Historicals are all about world-building, so it wouldn’t be a big jump to tackle a fantasy. This isn’t limited to alternative history—try a flat-out high fantasy with fairies and elves. What happens when a mortal falls in love with an immortal being? What kind of relationship can an elemental spirit have with the girl next door? Hearts will be broken (do fairies have hearts?)! But love might prevail, because nobody’s better than you at happy endings.
You see where I’m going. Don’t be afraid to edge outside your comfort zone at least once.
Make It a Mega-Transect*
Then there are the even bigger jumps that are like crossing a continent. From novels to poetry, for example. Or even non-fiction to fiction. Or long prose to flash fiction. The rules are all different. The precision with which words must be chosen by the poet makes lyricizing a great exercise for a novelist. And if you’ve ever sweated over a 250-word summary of a book, you can see how useful the skills of the short-story writer would be.
It’s too easy to fall into a rut and get comfortable with the easy and familiar. But writing the same old thing can become formulaic. There are well known authors out there (nameless!) whose books have started all to sound the same—same protagonist with different names, same plot. Don’t be that person. I dare you to step outside the familiar just this once! You’ll see your habitual genre differently. You’ll have ideas slide in at you through the side door. It will refresh you and your writing in the best sort of way, especially if you feel you’ve reached a dry spot in your usual rutted road.
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*Remember a few years ago when National Geographic sent explorers from one side of Africa to the other? That was the Great Cutting-Across. All sorts of good things happened along the way: new national parks, discovery of new species. A whole new viewpoint on the totality of a continent.
