It’s A Genre Thing

Up until 2018 pretty much all I ever wrote was non-fiction. I must have written some stories at school but all I remember is at one stage being told off for only reading non fiction books. These were likely to have been about birds, horses, skiing, aircraft, cricket and science stuff. Nevertheless my teachers weren’t entirely happy.

Next came my apprenticeship for grown up life – seven years of university study, all the text books I had to read and all the essays, research papers and analyses that had to be written. While these were often hard and required a lot of research and thought, they were by and large enjoyable.

Then came the world of work! From writing articles on air traffic management systems through to airline emergency procedures, contracts and letters of advice. All of it non-fiction, but the element that I enjoyed most about my work.

Anyway, it was therefore something of a surprise and an unexpected pleasure, that just felt right, when in 2018 I started writing fiction again.

It all started with a challenge: I was supposed to be writing about technological advances in agriculture, but I literally kept falling asleep. I just wanted it done and while the research interested me the whole process of writing it down for my audience didn’t. So an editor suggested that I write it as a fiction piece as well. Now there was a challenge which just had the be taken up! It was harder than I thought but that’s good and meeting that challenge is all part of the enjoyment.

I have always enjoyed a broad palette of film, TV, theatre and novel genres but my own fiction has drifted towards mystery thrillers. I don’t actually know why, but does that really matter?

Reading and writing fiction is liberating, and I think this genre particularly so. Everything in life is a mystery just waiting to be explored. Everyone you meet or just see has something to hide, something to say, even if just in your own imagination, and it’s up to you to work it out and take your reader on the journey to resolution. How cool is that?

So tell me, what genres do you like to read the most? And, what’s your favourite thing about that genre? Let me know in the comments below.