Jolly Genre Jubilee Tag

Hello people! How are you all doing? Today I’m doing yet another tag, this one stolen from Kenzie. It’s the Jolly Genre Jubilee Tag, and it is so much fun to do, basically because genres are fun and rambling about my favourite genres and just maybe giving you a little taste of one of my latest plot bunnies and my NaNoWriMo 2021 prospect.

Ok, let’s get into it!

What is your favorite genre of fiction to write?

Hands down, historical fantasy. But I also really love writing dark fantasy, and by that I mean fantasy that is aesthetically dark, not necessarily thematically or content dark. Fantasy that takes place in winter, at night, with the wild fae out roaming the hills, and relying heavily on old Celtic/British mythology and folklore. I eat that stuff up.

What genre would you NEVER get caught writing? . . .EVER.

A proper, true blue romance novel, Harlequin books style. You will never catch me writing that, or Christian historical romance. I would rather do almost anything than write those. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, per se, I just can’t stand anything vaguely romance-y as a genre. Bring on the romance in other genres (or don’t, that’s also perfectly fine) but I could never write proper genre romances.

What fictional genre feels most like home to you?

Fantasy. It’s always my go to, my comfort read and my comfort “write”. It’s the genre I grew up reading and, naturally, what I began my writing life writing. I love fantasy with all my heart and I think that I always will love it.

If you could transform your real life into any genre of your choosing, which would it be?

A fantasy novel, but one of the soft and kindhearted sort. Like Howl’s Moving Castle or something, not like a deadly, perilous fantasy quest. Just something soft and cottagecore, preferably.

What genre does your real life most resemble at the moment?

Honestly, it resembles an “inspirational” sick lit novel by John Green. No, I don’t have cancer (sorry if I alarmed you with that John Green reference), but my life is veering dangerously close to some of those weepy, horrible sick lit novels. Urgh, *shudders*

What’s a genre you’re interested in writing, even though you’ve never written it before?

Oh, I’ve got a significant list. Shall we peruse it?

• Steampunk Victoriana: It would just be so fun to write, simply for the aesthetics. I’m not really a fan of the Victorian period in general (I have a saying which is common in my house “the Victorians ruined everything”, which is a reference to everything they ruined, ie, funerals, weddings, dogs, horses, being any human that wasn’t white, etc) but I do like steampunk so it’d be fun.
• A King Arthur retelling: Not a genre per se, but I’ve always wanted to write a retelling of one of the King Arthur stories (Lohengrin, the Swan Knight, is my favourite, so maybe that one). I did draft a novella retelling of the Little Mermaid, blended with King Arthur, and while I really liked it, it was hugely complex for a 10,000 word story, so maybe one day I’ll revamp it into a proper novel.
• A Mystery: I’ve wanted to write a historical mystery for ages, but the level of planning that needs to go into a good mystery is huge and I’m a pantser at heart. Will I ever write one? Who knows.
• A family saga: This is actually not the sort of story I go for, but I’ve had a family saga on my heart for years that I’ve attempted to draft a few times. Essentially, its the story of a station (Merricroft Station) and the people who live there, including the family who owns it, their adopted/guardian children, and the servants who run the place, as they journey through World War One. It’s going to be an enormous book when its done, and the sheer terror of writing such a story is probably what nips it in the bud every time I try to write it.
• A sci fi story: I dunno, I just think it would be fun.

What genre is your most recent plot bunny, and where did it come from?

Hmm… I think my most recent plot bunny is a retelling of the Bone Wars set in my main fantasy universe. And I can see the eyebrows going up and the audience wondering what the heck the Bone Wars were. Some of you didn’t grow up obsessed with dinosaurs and it really shows.

In essence, the Bone Wars were a period of time when a lot of fossilised extinct creatures were discovered (both dinosaurs and other creatures), mainly by two old white guys–Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, who started out as besties and turned into extreme rivals. Basically, they were discovering fossils just to outdo each other, naming extinct animals left, right and centre, all to beat their rival. Like Gimli and Legolas in LOTR.

Just look at this excerpt from the Academy of Natural Sciences…

“The rivalry between Cope and Marsh went from bad to worse. Although their race to discover and name new species yielded many fossil discoveries, it drove both men to extremes. Cope’s rushed work was plagued by careless errors. Marsh often resorted to bribery and bullying in the pursuit of specimens. Their exchanges in print were filled with poisonous charges and countercharges of errors, distortions, and fraud. At first these exchanges were limited to scientific journals, but later they made their way to the newspapers.”

Like, there’s so much to work with there. Basically, my story is about two women (based on the real life women who discovered the first dinosaur and extinct marine reptile fossils) who are great friends, but gradually become bitter enemies. All set in a fantasy world with dragons. Something in the vein of A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan. I’m so excited about it, and plan on writing the first draft in NaNoWriMo this year.

How many genres have you written thus far in your writing journey?

Let’s see. I’ve written high fantasy, historical, contemporary/adventure, historical fantasy, dystopian, sci-fi/superhero, and anthropomorphic animal fiction, if that’s a “genre”.

Yeah, I’ve got a lot weird writing experience under my belt.

What about you, dear reader? How are things going for you? What genres have you written, and if time was no object, how many genres would you like to write? Do you prefer authors that publish books in one genre, or in multiple genres?