Thursday, September 18, 2008

I must admit

Okay, I know a few of you might think that I am a horror writer. It is true, I do like horror. I read every 'scary' book I could get my hands on as a child (this worried my mother, and I don't know what my father thought of it). King, Clegg, Koonzt (the early stuff), Bloch, the list could go on. But I have to admit it, there can be no more denying it.

I am not a horror writer. I don't really call myself a speculative fiction writer although I was ecstatic to come in as an honorable mention in the Return to Luna Anthology (I am sure they butchered my name when they read the honorable mentions but that is okay.) I am a writer, pure and simple. I have had pieces published that I called westerns but got put into literary journals (The Life, Cerulean Rain issue 1), and experimental pieces that could have taken place on any street you've been down (Life in Vignettes, Literary Chaos print issue #1).

I've written two books. One an adult thriller that will probably never see the light of day unless I rewrite it from a different point of view. I am working on a children's novel that I am re-writing from a different characters perspective (that's a load of fun, let me tell you).

I guess I don't want to be pigeonholed. I like to write whatever my mind comes up with and I want to be able to run with it. Heck I even have a children's picture book out for consideration with Tricycle press.

Does this make me a bad writer? Good grief I hope not. I hope that it makes me a better writer.

4 comments:

Aaron Polson said...

I'm not really a horror writer, either. Not exclusively, anyway. I feel that a writer has everything to gain by exercising the writing muscle in a variety of genres, forms, styles...

Fox Lee said...

I don't think there's any "wrong" way to be a writer. I call myself a horror writer because that's most of what I write and a huge part of what moves me. Also I enjoy the spectrum of reactions I get from people when I tell them what I do (tee hee).

When I write something in another genre, it gives the creepy part of my brain a breather. I think of them as horror breath mints. Today I will be working on a mint involving ping pong and sharks.

Cate Gardner said...

I swear I already replied to this post... I think sometimes I get the word verification wrong and wander off before I realise. Anyway, I said something like this...

Though I like to think of myself as a horror writer, I don't think my stories are actually all that scary (or scary at all). I think I should change my genre labelling to a 'writer of oddities' - it seems far more appropriate.

Jamie Eyberg said...

I like the 'writer of oddities':)
That seems to fit me to a T. Maybe odd-writer would be a better fit for me though.