
As a new writer, you get a ton of advice. I'll admit, as someone who hasn't published a book (though I've been in over 50 anthologies and have serial fiction on my sites), I still get a lot of advice on how to get started. Some of it is just plain bad. Some are for beginners, and I haven't considered myself a beginner in a long while (I will still consider myself an apprentice, though :P There is something about having a lot of experience under my belt, knowing there is just SO much out there, I still need to learn!).
But let's talk about this. The best advice someone has given you that you KNOW is amazing, but you just can't follow it. I'll show you mine.
Stick to your lane. Pick a genre and stick to it. Yes, I understand that picking a genre or theme or subgenre makes it so much easier to market and get seen. It's easier to build an audience.
But as a writer, that just wasn't possible for me. I'm writing a steampunk novel. I have an epic fantasy serial and a cozy post-apocalyptic romance. I write horror short stories and my favorite ongoing project is cyberpunk.
Pick a lane doesn't work for me.
Except, it still does, doesn't it? I don't have the same genre. I don't have the same themes in my work. But there is SOMETHING that binds my writing together. So, I don't stick to my lane in the sense I always thought it meant, but there was still wisdom in this idea.
I just had to figure out what readers could expect from my writing. The same world? No. I love world-building, so you're going to have to travel to lots of new worlds when you read my stories.
The same themes? I'll be honest. I don't write themes. I'm sure they show up in my writing unintentionally. At best, we are influenced by our times and the lives we have led. By the hopes we have for the future. But I don't write themes. I'm a pantser. What shows up, shows up :P
So, what can readers expect from me? They can expect to read a story about two men who are trying to find their way to each other (even if they don't know it yet: P). Sometimes, a woman shows up (because I love poly FMM), but the men will always be in love with each other.
What else? A world where they can be themselves. Most of my worlds don't include homophobia. Not realistic, you say? I read and write for escapism. I don't need hate in my writing when the real world has plenty of it. Does that mean the world isn't stacked against my lovers? It could be. Chan Yi (from 531) is an AI that would be destroyed if people found out what he was. Kammon (from Elements of Change) is a magical soldier feared by the people who find out who he is, even the people he's protected. The world isn't perfect. Neither are people. But you can expect that homophobia has been left behind in my worlds. Even if it's just in their little small community (looking at you, Pillars of the Damned).
Anything else? I am a sucker for happily ever after. Or at least a happily for now. They will find their way to each other.
Also, science fiction and fantasy settings. The closest you'll get to realism to me is a paranormal romance, but my primary passion is in these other world experiences.
So I don't stick to a genre, but I do have a lane. When you read from Chris Bannor, you get MM science fiction and fantasy settings with inclusive worlds and happily ever afters.
I'm okay with that as what defines me. What advice have you gotten that didn't seem to hit the mark, but that you later found to be insightful?
Happy Exploring, my friends!
Chris Bannor
Fictional World Explorer
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