Not Your Everyday Cup Of Tea

Not your everyday cup of tea.

Writing what you know is common among most writers. It's also pushed on us all the time. This means writing your preferred Genre.

For instance, if you read romance, you prefer the comfort of lovey-dovey and that's what you are going to want to write about. Or you are a science fiction buff, so you want to write the next Star Trek. This is great, this is what you are comfortable with, what you perhaps have been reading, and watching, and learning your entire life. So give it a try, give it your all, do it and have fun.

How about writing what you don't know.

I know you're saying what? Are you mad woman? How am I supposed to write about something if I have no experience or insight into it?

Well, it is great practice. It feeds your imagination with new ideas. Even if you are writing a horror, you will most likely have some of your characters getting romantic, so you should know how to write that.

Think about it reversed, if you are strictly a romance writer, you will be saying; "Well I won't be putting any horror in there!" Guess what, heartbreak is terrifying, commitment for some people is a horror show.

A complete story is not all about the - in your face gushing love scenes - or rip them apart blood and gore. You want to infuse a story with heart and soul, the raw emotion. And you need to dig deep to find it. So why not do a short practice, even if just a few paragraphs, on a topic you normally shy away from.

For myself, in life I am humorous; sometimes it's dry and goes over people's heads, other times its roll- your-eyes corny. But I find I can't write humor well. So that is my practice. Mostly I am starting to try and show my personality in my comments on other people's blogs, or posts. But I plan on my next few writing practices to be an attempt at humor.

Don't put your writing in a box and say isn't that pretty. Pick up a book that you would never read in a million years, and read it. Try on a new hat, experiment, learn something new and have fun.

Til next time, happy writing folks. Theresa