Discrepancy in your writing tastes and your reading tastes?

HotConsensualSalt

HotConsensualSalt

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Do you have distinct differences in the kinds of works you read vs the kinds you write? It might be a difference of genre, or a difference of format, or anything else.

I believe there should be a delta between what you write and what you absorb, to leave room to pull ideas/tropes from outside the genre/medium and incorporate them.

I've been recently exploring the original Conan the Barbarian stories to see if they're not than the stereotypes (yes, mostly), and also reading some more recent fantasy (YA and not), but nothing like the steamy, erotic modern martial arts drama I'm currently writing. There's no overlap, rather, what I'm reading is intended to help inform the story i hope to write next after Beat, Prey, Love. (Stay turned for Wylde Blue Wander)

Even though I write it, i also recognize that i don't read much serialized fiction. I grew up with discrete novels, and that's still what i turn to when i wanna read something. I'm branching out, but that's my starting point.

So lets hear it. What are you writing and how different is it from what you reading?
 
AliceMoonvale

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I don't think I even have any. Everything I enjoy reading tends to be the same genres I enjoy writing in as well.
Took me a hot minute to really think there, but I guess something I wouldn't 100% enjoy writing is in a modern setting. That's about it. :blobrofl:
 
Eldoria

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HotConsensualSalt said:
So lets hear it. What are you writing and how different is it from what you reading?
Click to expand...
Before deciding to write fiction... I have read a lot of isekai power fantasy, shounen, seinen, shoujo, josei, and only a little dark fantasy.

But I did not write those mainstream tropes... I chose to take my own path writing subversive motherhood ideological dark fantasy fiction. A dark fantasy subgenre that places FMC as the protagonist mother is not just a background but an ideology/idea of life that FMC fights for as an antithesis to the dark world filled with tyranny, war and endless revenge.

I know my fiction will not be popular like thousands of other mainstream fiction... but I am determined to complete this big project. I want to convey a moral message... that a mother's love is not a weakness but a protective force that protects her child and can even fight against a brutal world that tries to harm her family.
 
HotConsensualSalt

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empalgepuk said:
I love reading Sci Fi, but I will not write one, not even on gunpoint. I simply can't.
Click to expand...
Ok! That's a fun distance to unpack. What do you like about the genre, and what keeps you from ever writing it?


pangmida said:
I love writing angst and tragedy. But my soft heart can't take reading it in others' works for some reason. Happy endings only (when reading). ?
Click to expand...
This makes sense at least. You're in control when you write it. You and the characters are at the whims of the author otherwise. I will say though that I think I'm the opposite; I have a harder inflicting tragedy on my characters than I do reading it. Quietly, I think that's one of the issues I have with plot planning; I'm too nice, too soft on my characters.

But that's a post for a different thread.
 
empalgepuk

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HotConsensualSalt said:
Ok! That's a fun distance to unpack. What do you like about the genre, and what keeps you from ever writing it?
Click to expand...
I can handwave most bullcrap I write in fantasy genre as "it's magic."

SciFi requires me to think everything thoroughly and make most magical things explainable. I don't have that much energy and scientific knowledge to craft such mechanics.

But I love those details as a reader.
 
Zagaroth

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I can enjoy a LitRPG, but I do not think I will every try to write one. At least, not a 'real' one.

I do have an idea that involves a sort of virtual LitRPG situation (a 'resort' planet with high magic + high tech has a world wide running game with visitors getting a LitRPG experience), but I have no idea what the actual story would be and I know I do not want to get into any actual LitRPG stats. So it would reference LitRPG stuff, but not actually be one.
 
Fox-Trot-9

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There's a lot of overlap between what I write and what I read, but much of what I read are in manga/manhwa/manhua format, which makes for binge-reading material that I'd later incorporate into my writing. Strangely enough, I love reading straight mysteries/thrillers, but I can't write it without turning it into dark fantasy or incorporate elements in it from the manga/manhwa/manhua that I read.
 
Wenlock

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There really isn't much difference between the two but sometimes I like reading fluffy feel-good kind of stuff. Comedies with shenanigans. I like reading such stories but I am never going to write it. Even though it seems fun to do so.
Eldoria said:
Before deciding to write fiction... I have read a lot of isekai power fantasy, shounen, seinen, shoujo, josei, and only a little dark fantasy.

But I did not write those mainstream tropes... I chose to take my own path writing subversive motherhood ideological dark fantasy fiction. A dark fantasy subgenre that places FMC as the protagonist mother is not just a background but an ideology/idea of life that FMC fights for as an antithesis to the dark world filled with tyranny, war and endless revenge.

I know my fiction will not be popular like thousands of other mainstream fiction... but I am determined to complete this big project. I want to convey a moral message... that a mother's love is not a weakness but a protective force that protects her child and can even fight against a brutal world that tries to harm her family.
Click to expand...
I relate a lot to this
 
CinnaSloth

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pangmida said:
I love writing angst and tragedy. But my soft heart can't take reading it in others' works for some reason. Happy endings only (when reading). ?
Click to expand...

Headpats for pangmida :blob_nom:
HotConsensualSalt said:
This makes sense at least. You're in control when you write it. You and the characters are at the whims of the author otherwise. I will say though that I think I'm the opposite; I have a harder inflicting tragedy on my characters than I do reading it. Quietly, I think that's one of the issues I have with plot planning; I'm too nice, too soft on my characters.

But that's a post for a different thread.
Click to expand...

Headpats for HotConcensualSalt :blob_nom:
Wenlock said:
There really isn't much difference between the two but sometimes I like reading fluffy feel-good kind of stuff. Comedies with shenanigans. I like reading such stories but I am never going to write it. Even though it seems fun to do so.
Click to expand...

Headpats for Wenlock :blob_nom:
HotConsensualSalt said:
Do you have distinct differences in the kinds of works you read vs the kinds you write? It might be a difference of genre, or a difference of format, or anything else.

I believe there should be a delta between what you write and what you absorb, to leave room to pull ideas/tropes from outside the genre/medium and incorporate them.

I've been recently exploring the original Conan the Barbarian stories to see if they're not than the stereotypes (yes, mostly), and also reading some more recent fantasy (YA and not), but nothing like the steamy, erotic modern martial arts drama I'm currently writing. There's no overlap, rather, what I'm reading is intended to help inform the story i hope to write next after Beat, Prey, Love. (Stay turned for Wylde Blue Wander)

Even though I write it, i also recognize that i don't read much serialized fiction. I grew up with discrete novels, and that's still what i turn to when i wanna read something. I'm branching out, but that's my starting point.

So lets hear it. What are you writing and how different is it from what you reading?
Click to expand...

As much as I like witty banter, and comedy within writing, I don't think I have he capabilities to write comical characters, or even comedy in general, stale, or otherwise.
Action, or heavy fight scenes aren't my forte either, but when scenes like this happen in books, I get so excited, and root for the characters I enjoy, beit evil or good, and indulge myself into the writing.
I wouldn't know how to begin to simulate half the things I read. Horror. Grand adventures. Psychological. Mystery. Or anything in modern era. Cyberpunk, or scifi for instance.
I stick to dark fantasy because that's the way my brain is wired. I somehow always fall back on dark, tragic, emotional, anger- style fantasy; Which I think also translates to normal fantasy and LitRPG (fantasy with math? Easy).
 
Wenlock

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Writing dark concepts does take a toll on my mental well being as the writer has to pull that creativity from an insane place which is why I sometimes envy writers who write slice of life like wow that looks relaxing but I still can't do it :blob_joy:
 
Eldoria

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Wenlock said:
Writing dark concepts does take a toll on my mental well being as the writer has to pull that creativity from an insane place which is why I sometimes envy writers who write slice of life like wow that looks relaxing but I still can't do it :blob_joy:
Click to expand...
It's understandable, actually... many dark fantasy authors can't even touch a pen (or open a laptop) for days after writing a dark story. It's not the readers who's traumatized... it's the author. Lol.
 
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