Day 2 of Armchair BEA is about blogger development and a genre discussion about fiction. I've already posted about blogger development.
What draws you to a specific genre? Do vampires, zombies, or witches float your boat? Or, do you prefer the heat of romance? Recommend your favorite genres and/or books and help build reader TBR shelves a bit more!
Truthfully, I like many genres. When it comes to fiction, the most important thing for me is that the book make me feel. If I can get wrapped up within the emotion behind a book, it doesn't matter what the genre is.
My love for reading got re-sparked after reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. At the time, I hadn't read anything like it. And I was surely surprised to find myself in love with a "vampire book." But this single vampire book not only re-sparked a love for reading for me, but it started a new love for paranormal fiction. I read every vampire book I could get my hands on after reading Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. But that soon branched out to werewolves, witches/wizards, faeries, zombies, angels, demons...any other supernatural or paranormal creature I could think of. I once tried to explain this to my husband by telling him that paranormal fiction just adds an extra layer of conflict to the story.
Zombies from my paranormal fiction reading led me into post-apocalyptic, and I quickly became fascinated by all of the ways that society as we know it could be brought to dust. And with that came thoughts and wondering about how humanity would cope and survive. While I used to shy away from scary movies, somehow I find myself in love with all things zombie related. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan was the first zombie book I ever read, and it changed my world. Of course, a zombie outbreak isn't the only way for the world to go to pot.
From post-apocalyptic, I moved into dystopian. What if the world didn't quite end, but it just wasn't really ideal either? Dystopian is the opposite of Utopian, which is an ideal world. I can't say for sure, but The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is the first dystopian that I remember reading, and yet again, the possibilities of writing and books and stories seemed to grow even more.
There isn't exactly a segue from dystopian to contemporary that makes sense, but I found myself reading a couple of books that just sucked me in emotionally and spit me right back out. Those books told me that I didn't need creatures that aren't real, the end of the world, societies falling apart, or anything "extra" to make a book into a great story. What I need is basic human emotion, that is real, and deep, and powerful. There are some contemporary novels that have turned me into a blubbering mess more than any other book or genre.
Of course, there are many other genres that I read occasionally, but not all of the time. I.E. sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, mythology, etc. But the common theme through all is the emotion behind the story. What's the use of an epic world created by the author if there's no emotion within the characters? What's the use of surviving the zombie apocalypse if there is no hope? What does is matter if vampires exist if there is no fear and no perfect love to cast out fear? What does it matter if society is in ruins if the characters who live there don't experience love? And that's what it all boils down to for me.
Paranormal: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare, The Wolves of Mercy Falls by Maggie Stiefvater, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater and Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
Post-apocalyptic: The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan, Deadlocked by AR Wise
Dystopian: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins; Divergent by Veronica Roth
Contemporary: Slammed by Colleen Hoover, Hopeless by Colleen Hoover, The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay, The Fault in our Stars by John Green, and Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry,
Fantasy: Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin
Sci-Fi: Obsidian by Jennifer L Armentrout, Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi, Partials by Dan Wells
Historical Fiction: Grave Mercy by RL LaFevers, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Persuasion by Jane Austen
What are your favorite genres? What draws you in to one specific one? Let me know!
