Somewhere between writing a tense scene of traveling through a graveyard and a fun scene of a villain gloating while getting mocked, I came up with an idea. Well, not an idea, but a thought that might be an idea if I can accept it. It’s one of those thoughts that lingers and creates a sense of nervousness because it can grow into either a great idea or a disastrous idea.
Recently, I finished writing a gory horror novella. A simple plot with basic characters that grew as I was writing them. Kind of like sea monkeys, but they are terrorized and some are brutally killed. Then again, I never owned sea monkeys, so I might entirely wrong about the analogy. Still, I liked stepping out of my comfortable, dearly beloved fantasy genre. I use a few horror elements at times and will have a later series that depends on gore, so this was like a fun experiment. So far, the people who have read it have liked it.
This brought me to the idea of occasionally stepping out of Windemere to play around in other genres. I have a few small book ideas that never got out of the ‘interesting thought’ idea. So, I’ve been considering turning them into novellas to test out other genres and flex my mental muscles. Fantasy will always be my favored genre, but it really doesn’t hurt to try something new. So far the ideas have been the following genres:
- Simple Drama
- Ghost Story
- Diary-style Story
- Survival Horror from First Person Perspective
This is where things get a little confusing for me. I have a long cast of characters from the horror novella that will never be used again. So, I came up with the idea to use them for my other novellas. Same name and appearance with a change of personality. Almost like these characters will become my novella acting troupe. I’m just not sure if this is a great idea or a stupid idea. My wife seemed to like the idea of a series where you never know who the previous characters will appear as in the next book. Though, she tends to be positive about anything I do except a few grammatical quirks that I use.
So, this is the confusion for the weekend. Do I make new casts for the novellas or do I reuse the same characters in different roles to make a very odd series of otherwise unconnected stories? It’s going to be a long weekend.
Legends of Windemere 
Have you ever read “The Berserker Wars?” This was a series of slightly-connected short stories that my husband got me to read when we were first married. Same theme, different casts for each…maybe something to look at for ideas. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
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That book sounds familiar. If the author is Fred Saberhagen then I read his Books of Lost Swords. That’s the series that made me want to be a fantasy author. If not then I’ll check the local library system for the book and give it a look.
I keep thinking of a traveling acting troupe whenever I think about this. The main characters of the horror might be the villains or secondary characters in the drama. The sole character of the survival horror might be nothing more than a cameo in the other series. It really does make me feel like I have a group of blank slate characters that I can use in these experimental stories. It’s comfortable, but I’m just nervous that readers might see it as me being lazy. Guess that’s the risk.
I should really start posting sections of that gory horror novella like I promised. Maybe I’ll start on Tuesday, but I’ll probably only go as far as chapter 2. Unless I think posting it all on here and putting it up as a .99 cent novella on Kindle won’t cause problems. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
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I think it was Fred Saberhagen. At least, I remember reading some of his work when I was a newlywed. That was a long, long time ago though.
I think you’re going to have a lot of fun with this.
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Thanks. It’ll be fun as long as I can wrap my head around it. I already have one book series that is becoming the albatross around my neck, so I hope I don’t have another join it.
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Hi again! I promised to let you know when I opened my contest. I just barely posted it.
I can’t believe how nervous I am! But it will be a good experiment for all of us, I think, and I should have some good information to share in a week or two.
Wish me luck!
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Good luck. I’ll be sending a comment your way. 🙂
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The idea of reusing characters in different stories and roles sounds like a lot of fun to write. Would there be some sort of over-arching general connection, or would it be more like exploring these characters in different situations?
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Honestly, the genres are all over the map, so I don’t think there would be any connection. Right now, I don’t see how to connect a story about the lone human on an island of demons, vampires, and other man-eaters to a story about an unsuccessful writer’s crazy plan to gain fame. Though, something could always appear throughout the books that connect them somehow.
The closest connection is the male lead of the gory horror and the male lead of the serious drama are unsuccessful writers. That’s basically it. I think this would be similar to watching/reading an actor who is playing a different role in a bunch of movies. Knowing me, certain characters will constantly fill similar roles in the stories.
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Actually, now I’m getting the idea to do a novella where all of the characters are their actor/actress personas on the set of a new ‘movie’. Not 100% certain how that would work, but it’s sounding like a comedy in my head and placing me as the ‘evil’ director.
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That sounds pretty cool. I think it would work.
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Head’s up. I think your blog is pretty awesome. I’ve nominated your for The Versatile Blogger award. Check it out. Here’s my link: http://dlfwriting.com/2013/01/12/the-versatile-blogger-award/
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Thanks. I’ll take a look. Might take me a while to figure out how to put links and everything in the post. Do I just copy and post the award post from your blog?
Yeah, I’m really this techno-stupid when it comes to blogging.
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Save the image to your computer, then you can use it in your post. The links is a lot of copy and pasting addresses. Good luck!
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