Marjorie Liu’s always insightful blog asks today about extreme possibilities, which reminded me off Lynn Veihl/PBW’s writing dangerously.
So I asked myself what extreme possibility I could imagine for my writing. What dangerous projects do I yearn to tackle?
1. I have a crazy love for Harlequin Presents but have never tried to write one, largely out of fear I’d end up writing a parody.
2. I have a crazy love for dark fantasy romance/UF and a series idea that has sat on the backburner for too long. I’d love to write the living daylights out of it and knock it out of the park, commercially and artistically.
3. I have a crazy paranormal action-adventure romance I need to finish and set free. Magical weapons of mass destruction, bad guys, hot sex! What could go wrong?
4. I have a crazy love for YA and a great project I haven’t had time or brain cells for.
I think basically my extreme vision is being able to do it all; Presents, UF/Paranormal romance, YA. Well, why not try? It’s good to have goals. And as Marjorie points out in her blog, it once seemed extreme to earn a living as a writer. Having hit that, it’s time for a new extreme vision. (And my Presents attempt really might turn out a pathetic parody but I’d probably learn something in the process, and finally be able to let that dream die, at least.)
My heroes tend to be alphas, some pretty surly. *g* A pure mystery would
be fun; I’ve done a caper but that’s not the same thing. And thrillers
are a huge challenge, also. Good goals, Sam!
I say go for it, Charli. And that’s a good question to ask. I’ve been thinking similar thoughts lately, wondering what I’d truly like to write.
It is good to challenge ourselves. And to think bigger. I loved what she said about not looking at our feet.
Love this question! I think I have accomplished one of my extreme possibilities by writing my recent novella, Two Perfect, which is a threesome story. A born traditionalist when it comes to romance, I never really thought about writing about three lovers, but this story just sort of took me in that direction, even though I found a way to also stick to my romantic roots. It was gratifying, and I do believe that three people can be in love with each other, but in the end, it still comes down to commitment to one, IMO. So this book was a chance to explore that.
I think we all have Presents fantasies, LOL, but I know I couldn’t write one. My heroes all tend to be nice men, so I don’t think I could write those cranky Presents heroes, LOL.
But other extremes for me would be trying to write in the direction of pure mystery and thriller — my extreme writing would probably try to take one of my areas of study from school or my research, and write a series of mysteries or thrillers based on that.
I might also like to write some more erotica, something that doesn’t necessarily focus on romance, but that explores some other relationship dynamic, but we’ll see.
Great question, Charli!
Sam