“Real” writers (and critics) know a lot of things, but one thing they know is genre. And whatever genre you’re writing—for the record—it is probably stupid.
Last post, I made a joke about what makes us “real writers,” which is a notion that has cracked me up for at least fifteen years. Writing, for some weird reason, is one of the few professions that seems to always carry around this crushing existential crisis of whether or not we are REAL.
Like Schrodinger’s writers. If you put a writer in a box, are they simultaneously a freaking GENIUS and a talentless-hack-poseur?
I might think this “real writer” stuff is funny…but at the same time I also struggle with it.
Real writers always seem to be whatever I am not. They also DO whatever I don’t do and write whatever I don’t.
Today, we’ll pick on genre.
Your Genre is Stupid
Do you happen to write those silly little romance novels? Maybe those goofy cozy mysteries? Heck, I can read one of those in about three hours. Probably only took that long to write. Dragons, smut, and aliens. What DUMB genres.
Though NOT NEARLY as dumb as those LOOONG books.
Like Ken Follett and that Pillars of the Earth. Just how padded was that thing? Did he really feel the need to use every word in the English language, and then some? Apparently he did since there’s a WHOLE series.
Space books? Dumb. Sexy books. Dumb. Westerns? Obviously dumb. Self-help? Why would I waste time on just how dumb those are.
All right, now that I have probably either confused or ticked off everyone reading this, I DO have a point.
How many of us, deep down, BELIEVE THIS? This crushing doubt is what keeps us from starting, finishing, publishing, marketing, or even admitting we are a writer aloud and to other people. Deep down, we believe whatever genre we write is dumb, despite any or all evidence to the contrary.
Whatever genre we write is either useless fluff, boring pontification, derivative, whatever, *insult nonsense here*.
Genre Envy
Genre envy happens to me pretty much every time I read a good book, watch a great series, or go to a writing conference.
Say I am at a conference. I meet the romance authors who can write a book-a-month. They’re getting movie deals, and their books are translated into 27 languages and I think, “Now THAT is a real writer. I should write faster.”
Of course, then I meet the next author who writes deep, thoughtful, provocative novels so long that a print copy is heavy enough to take out a burglar. And I think, “Now THAT is a real writer.”
So, I go to the next session where there is a spitfire teaching me how to balance life, love, kids, cooking, working out, pets, and who tells me that mastering EXCEL is the secret to joy. And I think…Dear God please kill me. EXCEL? And THEN I think, “THAT is a real writer.”
I watch Netflix and there’s something light and fun. I should write more like THAT. Then I watch The Last Kingdom. No, I should write more like THAT. Those are REAL stories.
Want to know the funny part? I am actually right on ALL counts.
Maybe I’m the only one who does this so I am happy blogging to myself. But, I admit I struggle with genre envy. Too often, it seems the only REAL stories are whatever ones are not like mine.
Even down to writing all these blogs. I get so much enjoyment out of helping y’all laugh at a very intimidating world, and then making that world just a little less scary.
Word is, I’m even pretty good at teaching, encouraging and inspiring, but I’ve honestly held back on writing more TEACHING BOOKS because—SIGHS—then I wouldn’t be a REAL writer because we all know….
Those who can do, and those who can’t TEACH.
Which was a line from a George Bernard Shaw play that is still used to disparage educators despite being utterly flawed. Some of our greatest doers were also our greatest teachers. Ever heard of EINSTEIN? Apparently, my subconscious thinks he’s a “fluke” (along with Oppenheimer, Feynman, J.K. Rowling, and J.R.R. Tolkien).
***For the record, I’ve recently realized how dumb that is and just…yep.
Consider the Source
Maybe y’all are not like me and you are super confident that what you write is exactly what the world wants and needs (please send tips). I know when I was new, when I decided to quit working in Corporate America, I believed my writing WAS EXACTLY what the world had been waiting on.
This was before I found out the world around me had an opinion.
Everyone is a CRITIC.
If you haven’t seen this, take the three minutes for the good cry laugh.
As I mentioned, when I said I was going to become a writer, my grandparents thought I was joining a cult insane. Despite literally WALLS of books through their ENTIRE HOUSE, they believed I was doomed to poverty and foraging in dumpsters for food.
***Joke was on them, Taco Bell had a .99 menu…and I only foraged in dumpsters for furniture and the occasional outfit. I LOVED it when the guy next door fought with whatever girlfriend, because he always threw away any clothes left in his place on actual garbage day…and yes I am a bad person but I needed new tops more than the landfills did.
Anyway, my grandparents thought fiction was stupid. This came from a grandfather who literally bought and read every single Louis L’Amor book. If it was in space, SIGN HIM UP! My grandmother never met a Tony Hillerman or a Dick Francis she didn’t PREORDER.
Since I was reared by my grandparents who almost always had a book in hand, imagine my shock when they told me it wasn’t a REAL job, and that no matter what genre I wrote, it was stupid going to land me in the poor house.
One friend told me to write romance, another told me that mind candy was useless and I needed to put my intellect to good use with some solid NONFICTION.
I felt like that little bird in “Are You My Mother?” I’d hatched without one mommy genre I truly LOVED—because I’d read all of them—and so I flitted around asking “Are You My Genre?”
Still struggle with that.
Which Genre is WORTH Writing?
Let’s go back to all you guys I insulted earlier. I’m sure I didn’t say anything you haven’t heard. Romance authors? Y’all just AMAZE me. I cannot write romance. And we all hear the Hallmark jokes and laugh (while those writers who can write Hallmark stories are laughing all the way to the BANK).
And it isn’t just money for me. I genuinely wish I had the skill to weave a world where love wins and do that over and over and over.
That is not a gift, it is a SUPER POWER. The world NEEDS you. Maybe you will never win a Pulitzer, but who cares? Y’all make the world a brighter, prettier, sexier, livelier place. We need books that remind us about love, or being young, the thrill of a new relationship, or even the deep resonance of love that endures.
For the writers out there churning out space alien books or westerns, or alien westerns? Same thing. Not ALL writing needs to be heavy because LIFE is heavy and sometimes, we just need a break. We need to remember good guys win, love triumphs in the end, that broken people can heal.
We are SO overloaded, books help us remember what it’s like to be kids again. To believe in magic and dragons and spaceships or magical dragons with spaceships.
For the literary folk, y’all provide ways for us to question our world, look at life in a new way, from another point of view. What y’all do is critical as well.
What Genre Should YOU Write?
THAT is a question only you can answer. Did I mention an incredible book called Dear Writer, You Need to Quit?
I’ve been blogging HERE for almost 15 years, and I work really hard to give you guys a lot of options because writing is not One-Size-Fits-All. People are all different and we have different strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, we CHANGE. It is called GROWTH.
Why do I mention this? Because we are now Digital Age Authors which is hell awesome. It changes ALL the time. If you’re really good at one type of writing and you are happy and achieving YOUR goals? Keep at it. Maybe Amish Erotica hasn’t taken off, but the world might not yet be ready for Fifty Shades of Hay.
Conversely, the WONDERFUL (and maddening) part of our profession is we have to learn to reinvent and pivot. If you’ve been writing one genre and now you’d rather mainline cookie dough than write any more YA Urban Fantasy? Do something different! Maybe it will fail, but maybe it’ll work.
Or MAYBE it will just be the nudge you need to remember why you loved your genre of choice.
Which Books SELL the BEST?
We’ve spent all this time talking about genre and I hope you are feeling a bit better. Yes, the same world that spends every extra minute enjoying what creative people create is the same world that’ll tell you this isn’t a real job and that whatever you are doing is stupid.
The trick is not believing it. Because I am going to let y’all in on a secret. After all this, the books that sell the best are *dramatic drum roll*…
FINISHED ONES.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Western writer Louis L’Amor “wrote 100 novels, over 250 short stories, and (as of 2010) sold more than 320 million copies of his work.” Does this, however, make him any more or less of a REAL WRITER than Emily Bronte, J.D. Salinger, Oscar Wilde, and others who only had ONE BIG BOOK?
There are plenty of writers who’s works became classics, sold a bazillion copies, were made into award-winning movies, but they were essentially what the world calls one-hit-wonders, which I have feelings on that, too.
***Check out Self-Sabotage: I Don’t Deserve Success HERE.
Regardless of what you write, it doesn’t matter so long as you finish. There have been a ton of “crappy” internationally best-selling FINISHED novels, but I have yet to encounter the runaway success of a half-finished PERFECT novel.
So give yourselves permission to love what you write, because if you fall in love with it, we can feel that. And odds are much better we’ll fall in love with it too.
What are Your Thoughts?
So y’all know, I reward initiative. Are you someone who keeps changing genre? Do you have genre envy? I SO love George R.R. Martin complexity, but it would break my brain trying to write it. Is it hard to believe what you write matters? Come on! Spill! I can’t be the ONLY one.
To prove it and show my love, for the month of MAY, everyone who leaves a comment, I will put your name in a hat.
If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. What do you win?
The unvarnished truth from yours truly (and maybe even time with an agent).
I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel, or your query letter, or your synopsis (5 pages or less). People with superlative writing, I (with your permission) have been known to pass you onto an agent.
I actually have landed agents for people who’ve won this contest. Agents like me because I make their lives easier.
Anyway, I look forward to reading your comments and your writing!
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Finishing is key. Just what I needed to read to keep that fire going. Thanks!
I struggle with this all the time. Every time I’m reading a book that I’m enjoying, I can’t help comparing it to mine and nitpicking my own writing.
So unnecessarily insulting.
Author
Oh HON! I so didn’t mean it that way. The voices in my head are really insulting and the trick is learning they are SO FREQUENTLY WRONG. There is no bad genre or best genre, and we can only do what is right for us and for that time in our lives.
I have published in SEVEN genres and I feel like all I do is shoot myself in the feet and hands with every new story I write in yet another new genre.
Worst of all, none of these are in my dream genre.
I can think of 426 reasons why I SHOULD NOT write anything in yet another genre.
And I will admit I feel like every book I’ve written is less than amazing. Even when I read reviews that tell me one is “heartfelt” or “engaging” or a “must read.”
No, you aren’t alone. Being a writer is one mind game and emotional struggle after another. And that’s before anyone you know opens their mouth to say how redundant or frivolous books in your genre are.
Ugh. Write what you want to read. The thing that makes you smile or your soul sing. M
Thanks, Kristen, for another encouraging post.
So true. We FEAR the critic in your video more than anything!! But no one else can write what is in our hearts but us. We each have unique stories and messages that need to be told. Even if only a few people enjoy them, tangibly sharing our dreams with others is what true success is.
I write what I like to read and so far have written in three genres. It’s a contest of real writers vs. real writers. I enjoy a jolt of joyful writing no matter which genre i choose. Keeps my mind alert for new possibilities.
Excellent blog. I don’t expect there’s a writer out there who thinks they are a real writer.
Literary Fiction seems to be what the BBC counts as ‘real writing’. They never interview a genre writer, and I’ve never heard them discuss a genre book.
I can’t write literary fiction. So the BBC will ignore me! They don’t think I’m a real writer.
I wish I could write mystery, or a whodunit. I can’t. Neither can I write romance.
Incidentally, off topic, I know, but I received a review the other day saying that my historical novel was aimed at the wrong audience and should be YA (12 to 18) not adult. Why? It didn’t have much violence except for a description of the crucifixion of some men at the beginning, and some guerilla warfare tactics. Nor did it have any overt sex, except two girls were sent to brothels. Do we now have to have these things in order to be classed as adult?
Sorry about that, but I needed to get it off my chest.
Author
I don’t know. Young Adult usually caters to that age group and deals with the problems of young people. A lot of folks don’t necessarily understand the genre conventions. Also, you might change the genre if it isn’t selling well. Like something listed as a thriller might do better as dystopian thriller (depending). Often if you shift the genre it might do better.
I do have posts of the expectations for each genre, like if you have a MYSTERY, then you NEED A CRIME in the beginning and the resolution at the end. If you don’t have that, you have something but NOT a mystery. Additionally, you need to remember the readers. What are they going to EXPECT? If cozy romances run 50,000 words, then 120,000 word book is going to be a hard sell for that audience (unless maybe you break it into pieces). UNLIKE, say, people who LOVE epic high fantasy. If George R.R. Martin suddenly churned out 35,000 word novellas where he was being nice to everyone, we’d think he was sick or had been abducted and was sending signals for help.
So there are length conventions, a sort of THINGS TO DO, and then by and large you are good to go. I hope that helped.
Love this post, thank you! I want to write straight up crime fiction, but I’m also writing my dream historical romance right now. Romance has been my forte for years and there’s nothing wrong with writing it! I’ll never be a literary writer, but I think it’s because I don’t enjoy reading them. I want to read genre-benders as that’s my personal jam. Give me time travel & romance, historical romance, romantic suspense, all day long!
Author
Girl? SAME. I really only blog the voices in my head and when I put them out on “paper” it is when I realize how WRONG and how DUMB they are. I wish you all the best luck and it is OKAY to love writing everything, just we might need to work on FOCUS. Enjoy! Explore! I get so annoyed when people say that vampire books are done. WHY? We LOVE vampires. We just aren’t picking up everything with fangs on it. But maybe YOUR vampire book would be the breakout. You don’t know!
What a great blog. After a few years of trying to fit my books into trad publishers genre guidelines, I gave up and write what’s in me to write. I always feel I’d be more monetarily successful if I stuck to one genre or wrote connected series, but I can’t seem to do that. If others don’t recognize my brilliance, oh well. Too bad for them. 🙂
Love to write speculative fiction and magical realism. I’ve found trying to talk about and publish dystopian YA a struggle sometimes. People tell me it’s a dead genre and people don’t buy it. So that’s been discouraging!
Author
Those same people tell me the BLOG is DEAD…and yet MY DARLING, here you are! I don’t know if genres die or if they go through cycles. Like there was a time you could just write ANYTHING with a vampire or a zombie and BAMMO! SALES! Now? That’s been saturated so no you can’t just put out anything. You have to work harder to stand out and show WHY your writing is worth reading. Often, I just tell people to write the books and everything cycles. Your book will be there whenever whatever the newest shiny has passed and folks REDISCOVER dystopian YA (which I LOVE all dystopian so you have ONE). Just keep writing what you love, try some new things, reinvent, pivot and, most of all, learn to ignore inner voices that are dragging you down.
I genuinely have NO CLUE how awful my inner voices are until I spell them out for you guys! Then I read my post and think, “How HORRIBLE!” But I also want to be honest. I can’t be the ONLY person with inner voices out to get me, :P.
You just keep pressing.
Ooh yes, been told blogging is dead too and podcasts have taken over. Not at all true! Thank you, thank you. I most definitely need to ignore those outer voices and the inner critic voice that takes them on.
Here’s my book on Amazon if you ever do want to try abit of YA dystopian. And if anyone else has dystopian links to share, love to see them.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Girl-Oceania-Jana-Keir-ebook/dp/B0B4WCVX3K
Author
I have no idea when I will read it. I have to rely on audio, but I bought it because it sounds like a good read. See? Can’t hurt to ask for the sale. I don’t do this every time but I DO have a soft spot for your genre.
Thank you, I truly appreciate that!
The best way to think about genres is to divide writers into two groups. Regardless of what genre they write in, writers who take themselves too seriously to allow for wit and/or humor make up one group. The other involves storytellers that not only allow for but need to make use of wit and humor. In other words, wannabe writers should read and learn from books–in any genre–that are written by writers with a sense of humor. Unless they have no sense of humor to begin with, in which case they should write for readers like themselves. I could name the best genres for such people, but that would just lead to lots of scurrilous language.
Author
I so love this…and love you because “scurrilous”! I am a crow with vocabulary (collect the pretty /shiny words) and it’s always a joy to rediscover words that are not used nearly enough. Your comment is SPOT ON. It was actually a hurdle I had to overcome when I was new. I took myself WAY TOO seriously). But that was largely because I was so terrified and even more terrified to let other people KNOW.
As you can tell? I am way over that. So lovely to meet you. I hope to see you here again soon!
Loved the video. Thanks for the laugh. I’ve recently taken a break from my established genre with about 25 books published. I just needed to test myself a little. It’s a good change, going from histrom to contemporary rom. The words are flowing, and apart from a few moments of sheer terror, I’m having a good time.
Author
That is FABULOUS! I will have to look you up. I LOVE historical romance. I wish you the best in your new ventures and please stay in touch to let me know how it goes.
Thank you! I would be honored if you took a look. I am going to write three contemporary romances before I start to publish them. If I win your eyeballs on my pages, I’ll be more than chuffed. Best wishes, Sydney
Thank you for this post! I am a short story writer with a YA fantasy in the works and dreams of other books later on in a couple of different genres. I have just been working on my website trying to come up with a cohesive look to tie it all together.
I unashamedly write sci-fi and have never had any doubts about genre. I’m also fortunate to be surrounded by people at work who love to read sci-fi. Yay!
However … if you want to feel the cold winds of doubt scything your ego to shreds, your should try *painting* sci-fi themes and see how the art world views you as a “real” artist! At least writers are supportive and inclusive and help each other through the self doubt, like you do with posts like this 🙂
Author
I have never painted sci-fi, but I took a break to learn watercolor and yeah, artists are INTIMIDATING for sure! Writers have gotten really great at community. And y’all are always welcome here.
I also play guitar and paint watercolors. If you were nearby I’d show you how. Watercolor is not rocket surgery but it is fun and easy to learn. Try it anyway even if you don’t know how.
Author
I actually was really good at watercolor. HAven’t done it in so long being sick. Sold quite a few pieces on my own…but then got around REAL artists. Yeah, it was clear I was NOT a real artist. But, it is okay. My goal was never to be in a gallery but to have some fun. Friends and family bought my paintings and that funded my lessons while they lasted.
Ironically, I have three guitars here at the house. I’d always wanted to learn and was getting pretty decent but the tendonitis shut me down :(.
Besides, if you lived nearby I think we’d be trouble, LOL. Don’t know if we’d get anything done.
It took me years to decide to follow my dream to become a writer. Three years after that, I had my first novel published. I am now working on my third book, and I still feel inferior as a writer. I went to all three of your presentations at the writer’s conference a couple weeks ago (has it been that long already?), and I feel as though I have the tools now to become a better writer. You are entertaining as a presenter, and that makes all the difference in the world!
Author
How was it that long ago? I LOVE all of you so much I want to KEEP YOU ALL…but the FBI politely informed me that is technically kidnapping. So, yeah. You are stuck with me. (((HUGS))) and I hope to see you over on WANA TRIBE!
This was really encouraging. It’s so exhausting to consider all the ways that I’m not a good writer, and this helps focus on the ways that I am. Thanks!
I write a bit of everything in fiction. Freelance nonfiction pays the bills. I write what entertains me which I figure will entertain others. My stuff doesn’t fit neatly into any category but I do lean on satire. If Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams had a baby that would be me. How do we categorize them two? Kinda sci-fi, kinda not really. I don’t write what I know. I write what I want to know and what makes me laugh. I just publised my 7th book and the next one is in the can. I’m also doing a NF for a publisher. I don’t care if they make money. I will write anyway because I R a writer.
Love the insults. Keep up the good work. The best advice I can give you is the same that’s been given to me, which you wrote in here. Write the stories you love because the readers will feel it. Write the stories you want to read because you’re not the only one searching endlessly for those stories.
It seems lately when I pick up a best selling romance book… the characters are just above cardboard cutouts and the story is MacGruber’d together (the parody of the original MacGyver series in case someone hasn’t heard about it) in ways that don’t hold up when being picked apart by my dumb brain that can’t just relax and enjoy the story. And, while these things irk me, it also spurs me to write richer stories so that readers can’t help but want to know more.
Another really encouraging blog, even to an old hack like myself. I’ve been writing a vampire series for the last few years where my vampires aren’t like the traditional vampires, they’re more like guardian angels devoid of the fear of crosses and holy water and sunlight. I borrowed the stuff I thought I’d need and discarded the rest, they became guardians of humanity but there are times even I’ve doubted my ‘genre’ if that’s what you want to call it. But in the end these characters, all our characters only exist because we give them life, they’re as much a part of us as actual human beings. I think the worst mistake we writers can make is to write with dollar signs in our eyes and the fear of drawing down a critic’s ire. Critics are always gonna critique. Keep on writing and I’ll keep reading.
Author
AMEN!
My thoughts, you always make me chuckle. If only I could start writing again. I keep reading blogs and thinking about my story. But can’t seem to sit down and type. It’s June already and I want my story out in query land by August since it’s horror and a ghost story.
When I first told my family that I self-published, my brother screwed up his face and inquired “What do you write?” I told him that my genre is light, clean romance that likely none of the men in the family would read. Still perplexed, he pushed for a better explanation. I told him that all the stories end as ‘happily ever after’ or ‘happy for now.’ He thought that over for a moment, then asked this killer question: Why would anyone want to read more than one or two of that genre?
After some thought, I told him that my genre is similar to a bubble bath. If a person likes to take bubble baths, they don’t stop at one or two. They fit one in as often as they can.
Later I heard him explain to another that his sister writes bubble bath books!
Another great post, Kristen! I loved your little 3 minute critique video – hilarious! Yeah, sometimes it does feel like what we do doesn’t qualify as a ‘real job’ for most of the non-writing world. But when just one reader writes a fabulous review on one of my books, it verifies that I don’t totally suck at this writing thing after all. Gaining one reader at a time is progress, and I am thankful and grateful for each one of them. It’s what keeps be in the game.
Too relatable! I’ve looked enviously at other genres so many times, but I think in the end you have to write the book you love enough to draft, edit and polish, whatever genre that might be.
Great post! The self-sabotage link doesn’t work, if it’s meant to. I am procrastinating about writing with all the usual reasons of work draining me and so on, but really, I just need to knuckle down and build the habit. I finished a first draft of a middle grade urban fantasy, and have made a few tentative efforts to start doing the second draft, but it’s been languishing for years now. No way can I retire on my non-existent book writing earnings at this rate!
Author
Thanks for the heads up. NO IDEA why it is being a pain. I “fixed” it. Here is the LINK
I’ve never thought that any genre was stupid, I mean, unworthy. As you say, there’s an audience for every kind of book, and sometimes a reader will change preferred genres, just for variety. I’m an eclectic reader who loves finished books!
Author
I had to GROW to that point, and I am still not always there. It always seemed whatever I was doing wasn’t “worthy,” especially when I was new. This was really meant to be tongue-and-cheek about those negative voices in our heads. Some people are more evolved than others. I still have days I wonder why I didn’t go to law school instead even though I LOVE my job!
Loved this, Kristen! I remember when I was first starting out and took your blogging course *hmm… about 2011, I think*. My first novel had just been published, a contemporary YA multicultural novel that eventually turned into a trilogy, I win a lot of awards for those books, republished them last year with a new publisher, but in 2014, the historical fiction bug bit hard, and I succumbed. Just launched my fourth historical fiction novel and have another one gelling inside my gray matter. The transition from one genre to the next was painless because the new one excited me so much (like a new love interest might in the Hallmark movies?). Anyway, I want to ask you why you didn’t insult the historical fiction genre in your blog. I was craving it! Maybe next time?
Author
Actually I DID. “Pillars of the Earth” (which I LOVED, for the record). I am so PROUD of you. I know you were probably one of my fire actual fans and it has been such a joy to see you grow and evolve and just KEEP GOING all these years. It has been a wild ride, hasn’t it?
Love this post. Always do! 😉
I am so glad I found this post! I know and love your books, but never saw your blog! Where have you been all my writing life? LOL. It was a fun, if painfully truthful, article and I look forward to more. As I just finished my 8th or possibly 10th novel (who keeps track anyway, there is always another book waiting to be written) and am currently spending my duly earned time in the level of hell called a synopsis (if you actually have found a way to enjoy those, please let me know how) I am so relieved to have come across your lovely blog tonight. As soon as I have a blog of my own (or find that old one … I think I lost it a couple of computers ago) I shall certainly be linking yours. Thanks again. Pamela
Author
Search for it in the search bar. I know I have written posts on this. I will do another one coming up. How about that? I am so HAPPY to meet you TOO! I hope this blog blesses you.
I tend to think that the REAL writers are the ones who have written works that are considered classics. And that thinking may be right or wrong or both.
Author
Yes, but as the times change, your book could be removed. “Gone with the Wind” is a good example. And that leaves out quite a few authors who were never considered classics but were household names (Danielle Steele). Just saying that is a SERIOUSLY high bar. Anything less isn’t “real”?
Hi, I’m actually one of the authors you “insulted” but I’m not taking it personally. I don’t fit into the category of “published author” no I write fan fiction based on a western(gasp!) that aired on tv 60 years ago called Laramie. I invent scenarios and other characters and try and make the “established” make that brilliantly acted characters 3D. It’s hard work. It’s time consuming but it’s what I do. I won’t get paid for it, but that’s not why I write. I write because I must. Do people read my stuff? Yes. Do a lot of people comment, no. But they read it. I went to college to get a degree in education because my folks said there was no profit in writing! Imagine that! Anyhow, I’ve been reading your blog for years now and admire your honesty and tenacity. Keep up the good work. We all need it.