I got a crash-course education in urban fantasy. I suddenly had to look up all these other writers I was supposed to be in a genre with. I instantly had to become an expert in this genre I knew almost nothing about.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I grew up reading a lot of fantasy/sci-fi.
I had always wanted to be a writer who confused genre boundaries and who was read in multiple contexts.
I instantly chucked my academic ambitions and began writing fiction full-time.
I've written six novels and four pieces of nonfiction, so I don't really have a genre these days.
Writing a first novel was an arduous crash course. I learned so much in the six years it took me to write it, mostly technical things pertaining to craft.
I never studied writing, but I'd always been a reader and had a secret fantasy about being a writer.
I love all kinds of stories and movies, and I did work hard to get through to the creative community and studio executives that I could work in a number of different genres and tones.
Like most writers, I read deeply into the genre in which I write.
I'm not constrained by being a genre writer. Any story I can imagine, I can cast as a fantasy novel and probably get it published.
I was a Social Science major in college, with an emphasis in secondary education. I took as many courses on the American colonial era and westward expansion as I could. This turned out to be wonderful preparation for writing fantasy novels.