Written by I noticed something odd the other day when I was writing.
Sometimes I like to listen to music while I write, and I put my iPod on shuffle. I have a variety of music in my lists, because I like all types of music, from Classical to Goth… from Jazz to Club. So, as I listen to the music, my mood swings from one extreme to another, yet I find nothing wrong with this, in fact I rather enjoy bouncing from high to low, philosophical to whimsy. I like to hear Yanni then H.I.M. like to hear Lady Gaga then Tchaikovsky.
But when I noticed the method of my music listening pleasure, I wondered to myself –
Does this affect my writing?
Do the multiple moods of the ranging music show up in the writing?
It does not seem to …
Find Genre
The shuffling of music however, works much like how our thoughts work. Like many others out there, it seems like hundreds of thoughts pass through my mind simultaneously, never colliding but swishing by each other. I grab the messages I want to write – sometimes the words or phrases come out backwards in the rough draft, and sometimes I make words up too. Like many famous writers have already admitted, the rough draft is junk, and most of writing is the re-writing.
Surely, this happens to others out there too….
This may be part of the reason why some writers think that there isn’t a genre that fits their work.
While we write, the creative juices flow and we think of so many things at once. We think that what we have written is a remarkably deep story, and that the traditional genres just won’t give it due justice.
Guess what – they do.
The hardest part of this job, especially for multi thinkers, is to unscramble those words, organize the work. Only then will you find the right genre, discover the one-liner to describe your work, the one paragraph to hook, and the ever dreaded the elevator pitch.
Be assured, it has been done before – just not in your unique way, from your scrambled head.
I am not suggesting that anyone’s work is a copy of something else.
What I do mean is that underneath all stories, there are some basic structures, and they usually can fit in a genre. So don’t sweat it. Keep writing, continue to listen to your music, and grab every word you think makes sense to your story.
Take all that stimuli and make your own art.
Eventually the story will come out in your voice, a unique twist to the structure, and it will fit a genre!
Ask the basic questions:
* Who will read this?
* What is the strongest content?
* What genre does that content fit?
Keep reading – Keep writing!
