All Over the Map

by Laura DiSilverio

This weekend, I had the pleasure of doing an event at the Park Hill Library in Denver with the fabulous Chris Goff. We were interviewing each other, and she asked me a question that made me stop and think.

"You have written four cozy mystery series, a humorous PI series, three standalone suspense novels, a young adult dystopian trilogy, and you're working on a women's fiction book. Why don't you stick with what you're good at? Why keep trying new genres?"

I stumbled my way through an impromptu answer, but since then I've been thinking about it. Do I have ADD? Am I simply contrary? Am I easily bored? Do I need new challenges? Maybe a little of all of those (mostly the last two). But truthfully, I am overflowing with ideas, stories, and thoughts I want to share, and some of those ideas come across more effectively in one genre than another.

The standalone suspense novels came about because I had "darker" issues and characters I wanted to explore that wouldn't work as well in the cozy format. Also, I was interested in trying multiple third person narrators and seeing how that would affect plotting and novel construction. (You might have to be a writer to see why that would appeal.)

 

The YA trilogy happened because of my daughters' prompting and because I wanted to try my hand at world-building. I found it wonderfully freeing to invent a plausible world with its own values and technology and even vocabulary. With those books, I also took on the challenge of writing from a sixteen year old's point of view and using present tense.

 

The women's fic that I'm working on now is called The Empty Nesters Club. My youngest goes off to college this August (joining her sister at the University of Alabama--Roll, Tide!) and I will be--sob!--an empty nester. This one is very much written from the heart and doesn't have a single dead body. I was intimidated by that at first--What would I do to liven things up in the middle if I couldn't kill someone off?--but I actually had too many events and conflicts to include in the book, and I had to pick and choose.

 

What other genres might I try in the future? Well, the next book I plan to work on has historical elements, which is new to me. It takes place in the 1970s and the present. I'm enjoying the research for that one. I can see writing a caper novel one day, or perhaps sci-fi. The genres I can promise you I will never write are erotica and horror.

What about you? Do you mix it up in your work life, if possible? Do you read multiple genres, or are you faithful to crime fiction? Let me know in the comments!

Comments

[Elaine Viets]

Laura, I understand the restlessness that makes writers want to experiment with new subgenres. I've written cozies, chicklit and now I'm going back to darker fiction. Experimentation keeps our writing fresh -- at least I hope it does.

[Laura DiSilverio]

I share your hope, Elaine!

[Mark]

I think I would mix it up more in my reading life if I could. I have too many cozies calling my name to think about it too hard, however. But differences do keep things fresh for the reader and the writer, so I appreciate it when I get to read a different twist on the genre.

[Laura DiSilverio]

You do so many reviews, Mark, that I'm astonished you read as many books as you do. I don't know where you find the time, in between working and running and everything else.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

I've actually wondered about this for you, Laura--but each time you try a new genre, you do it so beautifully!

What reactions have you had from readers? Are you seeing new readers--or your fans just reading another book from an author they love?

[Laura DiSilverio]

There's some reader crossover, but not as much as I would have thought, truthfully. Some readers are omnivores, who read many genres, but it seems like more readers have a genre or two that they're loyal to. I think I have largely separate audiences for the YA trilogy and my crime fiction, although there's more overlap between my cozy audience and my suspense/thriller audience. We'll see how many of those readers want to try The Empty Nesters Club when it comes out!

[catriona mcpherson]

I wrote two novels that weren't crime and was surprised to find out how sexist "women's fiction" publishing was (in the UK in the 2000s). I love the crime genre as a writer. As a reader, I think I read some of everything: hard science fiction, fantasy, crime of all kinds natch, romance, YA, poetry, literary fiction, scripts . . .

[Deb Romano]

I very rarely read romance, and mostly when I have, it's been by accident! I read traditional mysteries/cozies/suspense/thrillers/crime fiction. My favorite non-mystery genre is memoir. I went through a period when I read at least one a week, in addition to as many mysteries of any kind that I could fit into my schedule.

[Mark]

How do I read as many books as I do? I have no life.

[Laura DiSilverio]

Catriona--Tell me more about the sexism in women's fiction. What do you mean by that?

I'm like you with the reading. I read pretty much everything, including plays and poetry. My current read is WIT, a play. Highly recommend it.

[Laura DiSilverio]

Deb--I haven't read much memoir. What draws you to it? What's one of the best or most memorable that you've read?

Mark--Ah, the no life approach to getting something done. Been there, done that. :-)

[catriona]

Laura, I didn"t like the requirement for what I saw as extreme likeability/niceness in the characters and the disapproval of funny stuff as well as the disapproval of dark themes
It just seemed very restrictive. On day when I pointed to Nick Hornby as an example of where I thought my story fit there was a puzzlement
Because he's a man! I think it would be different here and now.

[Deb Romano]

Laura, I am most drawn to memoirs of people whose lives are totally different from mine. Some I have especially enjoyed are Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Mennonite in a Little Black Dress-I can't remember the author's first name (Rhoda? Rhonda?) but I think her last name is Janzen. I usually rely on the website Story Circle Book Reviews for memoir recommendations.

[Laura DiSilverio]

Catriona--That's so interesting. I'm not sure the women in my Empty Nesters Club are all that nice. They do some questionable things.

Deb--I read Reading Lolita, but not the others. I've heard a lot about The Glass Castle, so I may give that a try. I've heard they're making a movie out of it.

[Deb Romano]

Laura, although I'm glad I read The Glass Castle, I don't think I could see a movie version of it.