October Reads

[alexisjane]

One of the recurring pieces of advice I got when I was talking to m/m authors at the UK Meet conference in September was that if you want to write in the genre, you have to read in the genre. Like, a lot.

Which made sense, and so that's what I've been doing. Also, in an effort to not ghosttown my writer's blog, I thought I could do a post every month to just list what I'd read and what I liked.

So this is it – My October Reads

There's shifter fic, panty fic, men with guns, gothic romance, Festive fic, dragons \0/ and sci-fi.

The post also clearly demonstrates why I don't ever get anything done : )



ION - The sore throat is back. Kill me now.

Love your faces xxx

Comments

[wendy.livejournal.com]

I am very excited for your recs! I've found that when I just choose a m/m at random it's never good, even when the summary sounds amazing. But when someone else recommends it? I love it! YAY!

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

I've mostly been following a bunch of auhors on fb and they tend to rec each others stuff, just like on LJ I guess. They're also really good at giving a heads up if a publisher is doing a giveaway or having a discount weekend or something, or reccing free downloads.
I know what I like might not be what other people like, but I guess it's a starting point : ) I hope you find some nice stuff! xx

[siennavie.livejournal.com]

My husband keeps telling me I need to read more too if I want to improve my writing. Problem is I really only love fanfic nowadays, because I get so attached to *characters*!

Anyways, good for you on that front! And I don't know if I commented before - but I totally meant to - to congratulate you on the original stories you've been working on. I admire (and envy) your focus and commitment :D

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

I totally know where you're coming from as I felt the same.

So, far I'm seeing quite a few series out there, which is good. I really want to start Charlie Cochrane's Cambridge Fellows series - http://charliecochrane.co.uk/page8.php - as that sounds awesome, but then there's stuff like the RJ Scott series which have the same story but with different character pairings.

Also I'm finding that I read an author I like and then when reading more of their stuff, like Bonnie Dee, the characters and the stories change but the feel is the same, which I find similar to a fanfic type experience.

There are a tonne of free stories out there or stuff for 99¢ so you can give stuff a try without feeling guilty about breaking the bank on books you dont connect to.

Also, tell your husband that fanfic counts as reading!! The quality is definitely as good as the published stuff I'm reading...just without the professional editing : ) xx

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

Oh, and don't be too envious...I am neither focused or committed...just bumbling around blindly, typing on occasion, and generally feeling terrified about the whole thing. It's sorta fun though, which I'm kinda hoping is the point in the end : ) *squishes you tight* xxx

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

It would make MORE sense of way MORE people actually read in genre before writing in it O_O

Feel better bb! xx

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

I know we tend to give the whole "fanfic is free and just as good as anything you pay for" arguement...which is kinda true, but actually the stuff out there that's good...omg it's really good! Plus, lots of stuff has surprised me, like how many short stories there are...like 12k stories...it's turning out to be quite an education : )

I'm having chicken satay and egg fried rice for breakfast...I'll be better in no time : ) xx

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a plan as far as breakfast is concerned! :D

I think a lot of people get put off of reading in genre because actually there are some truly awful Mills&Boon-esque M/M works out there in the original fiction categories. I say this with a pinch of salt simply because we do get hella spoiled in fandoms, all of them, for the good quality and well written M/M stories, but seriously, when you've been through six different books/stories of this genre and found all but one of them is drek! It's hard going keeping an open mind for the rest!

xx

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

I think it's a little the same as in fanfic though. If you just randomly click on something on AO3, nine times out of ten you're going to come up with something that pants or just not your thing. Then in genre, you don't even get tags or warnings to help you choose so, yeah, minefield.

I'm mostly sticking close to the authors I've friended on fb, and their recommendations, (then if I like it, friending those authors to get their recs) and then taking advantage of any free reads to try out unknown authors and I think I've been pretty lucky so far. Some stuff is legit...whoa! Really? good god...but when it's good, it's like finding a new fic writer on here..heavenly!

Also from a writing perspective...when I read something awful, at least it makes me feel better about my own stuff, so it's still a win! : ) xxx

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

LOL! There is that! And you're right; trying to throw a stone and hit a great author in *any* genre is very hard, and can be soul destroying, but having said that who the hell am *I* to even say 'good author' it's all about perspective! Mine's not A-Game grade and I don't really have any right to sit here and say "Well a lot of it is shite!" lol.

xx

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

No, no you have every right! Coz yes, there is good and bad writing, but also its about finding the right fit. There are some fics that I know in my heart aren't great but I loooove them! And like from this post, Borrowing Trouble and The Tutor were both exceptional stories, brilliantly written, but it was The Tuor that absolutely made my heart sing. No reflection on Kade's book, it was just a better fit for me.

So you rant away, Darling : )xx

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

lol! Cheers hun. It;s just such a shame that we have some truly awesome authors here *hands around fandom* but they don't get to throw their cap in with the original fiction crowd and when they *do* brave doing it, some of them get their asses handed to them for trying to rework fic, which I think is a perfectly acceptable way of doing it. You still wrote it, you still worked hard for it. Why not publish it with characters and names changed about a bit! xx

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

Steven King says that in his book on writing too. He wrote that he listens to a lot of audio books because he doesn't have much time to sit down and read. So, podfics are probably an excellent idea if you are busy :D

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

I think I always thought that reading is reading. It never occured to me to read exclusively in one genre...but I'm an idiot sometimes :) To me a book is enjoyable or not, it feels weird to segregate them into romance, or literary fiction. But yeah, I think when you're having to think like a writer who has to market work, rather than just a reader who wants to be entertained, it makes sense.

I find that I have to like the voice...I tried to listen to The Gunslinger on audiobook but the guy's voice is just wrong...I couldn't get into it at all. But then I think I've listened to every bit of exmanhater's podfic because her voice is just perfect! If she could just record everything for me, I would be so happy : ) xx