Creating a Genre With a Genre
May. 24th, 2017 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhodrymavelyneI call myself a science fiction writer. It would be more accurate to say I’m a fantasy writer. Neither label quite applies, though. Both genres use imagery of a rugged, survivalist journey through another world.
Those aren’t the stories I want to tell.
To me, science fiction means alternative universes. You might find decadent worlds, saturated with technology, or peaceful planets where warfare is waged via words. Trouble lurks in these settings, just as it does in any story. It just takes on a different form.
The conflict of my stories lie in mirror images, distorted reflections, and inversions of our own problems into a new, yet recognizable form. They lie hidden in beautiful gardens, bustling metropolises, or the choir of a church. My images often involve flowers, statues, cloud scapes, or a surreal setting which hints at the very heart behind magic.
These are not images the market associates with science fiction and fantasy. Not from what I’ve seen of a lot of cover art.
Science fiction and fantasy means other worlds, other universes, other realities. To question the very nature of realities and explore them in new forms. These are some of my goals as a writer. This is why I categorize myself as a science fiction or fantasy author.
I’m starting to wonder if I’m in the wrong genre, though, after looking at the rugged, masculine imagery associated with science fiction and fantasy. I’m not sure if its marketing schemes apply to me, since they’re directed at a male audience. I’m placed myself under the rainbow flag, hoping that queer science fiction and fantasy is a good genre to find my readers. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people, learned a lot, but I’m still not sure if this is the right genre.
I’m not sure if my readers even have a genre. My stories would appeal more to women, interested in pretty male heroes, gender ambiguous female characters, and magical settings which explore the heart of these characters.
I probably fit more in with the shoujo manga or shounen ai genre of manga than science fiction or fantasy. Only I’m writing prose, not drawing manga.
My characters embark on journeys, but not of physical combat and survivalist endurance. Their journeys are emotional, through dreamworlds created by their own hearts, or anothers. Much of the conflict takes place during dialogue. The pictures within their heads are often as strong as those in the landscape. Sometimes, those pictures literally change the landscape.
This is what was once described as magic. It’s a kind of art. Art and magic are never far away from each other in my work. In order to create magic, along with art, my characters need the space to do so. This often requires a setting very different than an action scene. The characters reflect these settings. They’re often more gentle and contemplative than a rugged, action oriented protagonist, who doesn’t have time for scuh things.
I’ve categorized myself as science fiction and fantasy, but the genre is an uncomfortable fit. For both myself and my characters. We reinvent ourselves in fairy tales and folk lore, but not even that feels quite right.
Rather than challenge a genre which has a lot of ardent supporters, I’m going to try and create a genre within science fiction and fantasy. A possible name for this is ambient fantasy.
Ambient is a term associated with the music which has inspired much of my prose. Amethystium, Enigma, Delirium, Cusco, and Karunesh’s work are often called ‘ambient’. There’s a touch of aestheticism to the name, isn’t there? It makes me think of some of the gorgeous art work I’ve seen at FanimeCon and YaoiCon of beautiful, androgynous figures in fantasy settings. I’m very interested in aesthetics, in polishing up my prose to make it as attractive as possible, letting it flow in a gorgeous stream. I want to recreate what has been lost in history and myth, shaping it into new settings and new characters. A lot of the individuals rattling around in my head want similar things to what I want. We’re trying to tap into a greater consciousness, yet we venerate what’s small and right in front of us. We’re searching for the beauty in our worlds and in others. We don’t always come to happy endings, but we try to learn from our misfortunes and continue. We’re very romantic, but we don’t really fit in the romantic genre. Not all of us. We’re explorers of our own inner landscapes, which create and inform the outer.
This is why I need a new sub genre. There are readers out there who’ll be drawn to this new type of science fiction and fantasy, for it’s not truly new. Shoujo and shouen ai manga readers have been searching for it for a long time, finding it in pictures. I want to bring it out in prose.
Are you interested?
Those aren’t the stories I want to tell.
To me, science fiction means alternative universes. You might find decadent worlds, saturated with technology, or peaceful planets where warfare is waged via words. Trouble lurks in these settings, just as it does in any story. It just takes on a different form.
The conflict of my stories lie in mirror images, distorted reflections, and inversions of our own problems into a new, yet recognizable form. They lie hidden in beautiful gardens, bustling metropolises, or the choir of a church. My images often involve flowers, statues, cloud scapes, or a surreal setting which hints at the very heart behind magic.
These are not images the market associates with science fiction and fantasy. Not from what I’ve seen of a lot of cover art.
Science fiction and fantasy means other worlds, other universes, other realities. To question the very nature of realities and explore them in new forms. These are some of my goals as a writer. This is why I categorize myself as a science fiction or fantasy author.
I’m starting to wonder if I’m in the wrong genre, though, after looking at the rugged, masculine imagery associated with science fiction and fantasy. I’m not sure if its marketing schemes apply to me, since they’re directed at a male audience. I’m placed myself under the rainbow flag, hoping that queer science fiction and fantasy is a good genre to find my readers. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people, learned a lot, but I’m still not sure if this is the right genre.
I’m not sure if my readers even have a genre. My stories would appeal more to women, interested in pretty male heroes, gender ambiguous female characters, and magical settings which explore the heart of these characters.
I probably fit more in with the shoujo manga or shounen ai genre of manga than science fiction or fantasy. Only I’m writing prose, not drawing manga.
My characters embark on journeys, but not of physical combat and survivalist endurance. Their journeys are emotional, through dreamworlds created by their own hearts, or anothers. Much of the conflict takes place during dialogue. The pictures within their heads are often as strong as those in the landscape. Sometimes, those pictures literally change the landscape.
This is what was once described as magic. It’s a kind of art. Art and magic are never far away from each other in my work. In order to create magic, along with art, my characters need the space to do so. This often requires a setting very different than an action scene. The characters reflect these settings. They’re often more gentle and contemplative than a rugged, action oriented protagonist, who doesn’t have time for scuh things.
I’ve categorized myself as science fiction and fantasy, but the genre is an uncomfortable fit. For both myself and my characters. We reinvent ourselves in fairy tales and folk lore, but not even that feels quite right.
Rather than challenge a genre which has a lot of ardent supporters, I’m going to try and create a genre within science fiction and fantasy. A possible name for this is ambient fantasy.
Ambient is a term associated with the music which has inspired much of my prose. Amethystium, Enigma, Delirium, Cusco, and Karunesh’s work are often called ‘ambient’. There’s a touch of aestheticism to the name, isn’t there? It makes me think of some of the gorgeous art work I’ve seen at FanimeCon and YaoiCon of beautiful, androgynous figures in fantasy settings. I’m very interested in aesthetics, in polishing up my prose to make it as attractive as possible, letting it flow in a gorgeous stream. I want to recreate what has been lost in history and myth, shaping it into new settings and new characters. A lot of the individuals rattling around in my head want similar things to what I want. We’re trying to tap into a greater consciousness, yet we venerate what’s small and right in front of us. We’re searching for the beauty in our worlds and in others. We don’t always come to happy endings, but we try to learn from our misfortunes and continue. We’re very romantic, but we don’t really fit in the romantic genre. Not all of us. We’re explorers of our own inner landscapes, which create and inform the outer.
This is why I need a new sub genre. There are readers out there who’ll be drawn to this new type of science fiction and fantasy, for it’s not truly new. Shoujo and shouen ai manga readers have been searching for it for a long time, finding it in pictures. I want to bring it out in prose.
Are you interested?
