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At today's @SiWCtweets conference, I asked @MaryRobinette how to avoid predictability while essentially still dealing with similar tropes and settings in my different pieces of work. (A short thread)
Almost all my works have these elements.
Indian protagonists, secondary worlds, some mystery, and Hindu philosophy.
In themselves, all of them are incredibly broad. Yet, my concern was, "how do I ensure each work is different from another, while still retaining these?"
Indian protagonists, secondary worlds, some mystery, and Hindu philosophy.
In themselves, all of them are incredibly broad. Yet, my concern was, "how do I ensure each work is different from another, while still retaining these?"
A key thing I learned was the difference between the structural genre and the aesthetic genre.
Structural genre is (if I'm understanding correctly) the beats of a plot, understood as genre. For example, mystery plots have their own beats/ tropes (setup, red herrings, timed reveals etc). Romance plots have their beats (meet-cutes, denial, resistance, all the way to a HEA).
Aesthetic genres are (to be rough, and IMU) settings. Steampunk is an aesthetic genre. Magical academia is one too. Afrofuturism, desi-settings, Romanticism—all are broad and infinite but could work under the aesthetic genre.
They evoke a certain feeling. An expectation.
They evoke a certain feeling. An expectation.
What I learned was that combining and subverting different aspects of both the structural and the aesthetic genre can help with avoiding sameness and predictability.
It can induce and evoke a flavour, a taste-in-the-mouth, a sense of familiarity while still being fresh and new.
It can induce and evoke a flavour, a taste-in-the-mouth, a sense of familiarity while still being fresh and new.
IMO that is what literature is. It is the combination of the familiar and the new. It is dialogue and conversation with traditions, tropes, stories and history that have come before us (both seen and erased).
I found this thinking both comforting and exciting.
I found this thinking both comforting and exciting.
To be clear, this is my interpretation of what was said. Any mistakes are my own. Looking at the problem this way helped calm my concerns about my own writing and the brand of storytelling I am creating for myself.
Sometimes a subtle change of POV is all it takes!
#khrwriting
Sometimes a subtle change of POV is all it takes!
#khrwriting
This was @WritingExcuses' WXR at SiWC 
