To Sci-Fi or Not to Sci-Fi

Saturday was spent productively at the Writing Industries Conference in Loughborough. It's all a little bit intimidating thinking about marketing my book and the long slog I will have once I've finished the damn thing to actually get a book deal (if that ever happens), but I'll worry about all that once the writing's finished.

The agent was a lovely bloke who said he liked my writing, and recommended some Sci-Fi authors for me to read. Yes, dear readers, unbeknownst to me, my story is of the sci-fi genre. "But surely you knew what you were writing?" you may ask. Well, not really. I just wrote the story that came into my head, without really thinking of genres as such. I mean, there are lots of authors I admire, most of which are of the sci-fi/fantasy persuasion, but I'm a bit wary about launching myself into this genre. Why? Well, firstly, because it seems a little bit constrictive to be 'labelled' as one thing. What if Inter Vivos is my only sci-fi book, and everything else I write hereafter is erotica, or western romance, or something? What if sci-fi doesn't sell? Second on my list of doubts is that I don't really know of any female sci-fi writers (or any who would care to admit it). So perhaps the market is ripe for a great female sci-fi writer, or perhaps the market isn't ready at all. Thirdly, I don't really know anything about science, let alone science fiction. As I mentioned, the agent was really nice and recommended some sci-fi for me to read, with the promise to send me names of more authors, so at least this last point is something I can do something about.

I think now that playwriting is not so restrictive as book publishing. I mean, you can write plays about anything, without people expecting your next one to be exactly the same (but different) as your last (think Dan Brown as an example). But if Inter Vivos does get published, then it probably means I will have to write Munitionettes as a play or TV drama instead (not necessarily a bad idea).

So yes, the conference gave me lots of food for thought. Was nice to meet people and hobnob and all of that, and learn more about the 'writing for a living' side of writing and how to go about making that happen. Good, but daunting. Will get the book finished first though, and try to push all of this to the back of my mind until then. (I feel like Scarlett O'Hara with her 'I'll think about that tomorrow' attitude).