Write In One Genre or Two?

Writers question whether to stick to one genre or if it’s OK to write in more than one. There seems to be two schools of thought. One says it’s easier to get published if you  write in only one, that you’ll have an easier time getting an agent. The other says write where your heart is. I’m still trying to figure it out for myself. You can only spread yourself so thin.  I’m scattered right now trying to do justice to my children’s books and also write memoir. One week I joined SCBWI or Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the next I joined NAMW or the National Association of Memoir Writer’s.  www.namw.org.

I feel the definite need to set goals and manage my time so I can meet them. I’ve scheduled time for both genres on my calendar, setting time aside for writing and also setting time aside to do the business part of writing.

Part of the business of writing is that I’m working with an illustrator or should I say an artist, for my children’s book, Annie’s Special Day, by going to his studio once a week and talking about my character. I’m also previewing sketches. He hasn’t signed a contract yet but it looks promising. The draw back is that he’s never illustrated a children’s book before and needs a lot of info. I’ve been educating him about copyright and contracts, etc. He does have some knowledge about how his art will change once in the PDF format. And he’s printed some of his work for magazines so he surprises me sometimes with what he does know.

However right now, I’m of the opinion that if you are only writing in one genre stick to that. It’s a lot easier to focus and do your work justice. You can’t possibly learn all there is to know about or all you need to know about more than one genre.

I’ve registered for an online writer’s conference called www.writeoncon.com starting Tuesday August 16^th through Thursday August 18^th.  Mostly what I’ve seen in the forums are people who write YA and MG. There are a couple of good contests and there’s going to be agents and editors. Apparently one can find Beta readers and find critique partners. Just ask in the forums. And it’s free. It’s all free.

And except for the feeling that you need to be somewhere else doing something else in writing while your there, it should be a blast.

Have you had experience writing in more than one genre? Have you found it harder to get published when you write in two genres? Tell me what you think.

You might be interested in these related posts:https://clarbojahn.wordpress.com/?s=memoir ; https://clarbojahn.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/how-to-clear-up-our-soul/ ; https://clarbojahn.wordpress.com/?s=contract

Related articles

• I went to SCBWI Los Angeles, and all I brought back was just about everything. (margorowder.com)
• Showing Pages to a Literary Agent at the SCBWI Summer Conference (melleamade.wordpress.com)
• Showing Pages to a Literary Agent at the SCBWI Summer Conference (birthandanovel.wordpress.com)