Earlier today, Dear Spouse and I were strategizing our line-up for Netflix. We’ve just finished watching Frost/Nixon and The International, with Blindness up on deck, so he suggested we get something lighter next time. I moved Confessions of a Shopaholic to the top of the queue. Both of us have the same habit when it comes to movies and books: we genre hop, leapfrog style.As a writer, I don’t always have the leisure of switching genres. Yes, I write fiction and poetry, but within those areas my work lines up in similar manners. Regardless of if I am writing for adults or the YA audience, my style is still my style; in poetry, my voice is always my voice. While I never want to be predictable, I don’t stray too far from my roots.
When it comes to reading books and watching movies, however, my tastes vary widely and I enjoy going from one extreme to the next. My husband does this in reading, mostly because he reads about 50-60 books a year. Maybe he’ll read two crime thrillers in a row, but he’ll make a point of picking a satire the next time and then a light drama after that. He does this to ‘keep the genres fresh’ and to not mix up characters or plots, but also to keep from being bored.
I do the same thing with what I read. I’ll go from reading a small press poetry book to a best-selling household name drama to an easy breezy summer read. It allows for the unexpected, keeps things interesting, and usually provides enough variety for my writing brain that when I get back to working on my own material, I feel refreshed.
Of course, there are some who prefer the tried-and-true, whatever that may mean to them. I have heard readers say they only read sci-fi. Or they only read thrillers. Then there are folks who only watch comedies or dramas or spy flicks. We all have our preferences, but I find it interesting when I hear about someone “only” being interested in one finely defined genre. I think there are so many great stories out there – in print and in film – that I would be afraid of missing something if I limited myself from such pleasures.
Yes, in writing I keep to a certain realm within my chosen genres that work with my style and voice, but as an audience member or reader? I want to enjoy it all. And by
letting each of them take turns – now a mystery, then a family drama, next a silly comedy – I appreciate each one for its own style and open myself to discovering something new.
Yes, in writing I keep to a certain realm within my chosen genres that work with my style and voice, but as an audience member or reader? I want to enjoy it all. And by
letting each of them take turns – now a mystery, then a family drama, next a silly comedy – I appreciate each one for its own style and open myself to discovering something new. What about you? Do you read only certain genres of books? Do you narrow down your movie options to one or two categories? Or do you watch all kinds of films and read books from all areas of the bookstore? If you’re a writer, how does enjoying genres different from your own enhance your own creativity?
