The Insecure Writer’s Support Group meets online on the first Wednesday of every month for the purpose of sharing expertise, discussing struggles and triumphs, and most especially propping supports underneath other struggling writers. Come, come join us and offer your own insecurities to the fresh air and sunshine. Fresh air kills insecurities, they’re exactly like viruses. Just trust me on this. To sign up for the group yourself, click here. You can also find the group on social media by finding @TheIWSG or #IWSG.

Our moderators for the April 7 posting of the IWSG are PK Hrezo, Pat Garcia, Lisa Buie Collard, Diane Burton, and, holy ink-spattered Blood of Dickens, me. It’s my first time hosting anything on the Wild Wild Interweb and the fact that I’m contributing to a group which has supported me for over two years now only makes it better. I’m so excited!
Let’s jump right in. The question for April 7th is: Are you a risk-taker when writing? Do you try something radically different in style/POV/etc. or add controversial topics to your work?
The answer to this question is:

This is a confusing answer, I know. But it’s also the closest I can get to the raw truth so it will have to do. Am I risk-taking writer? Yes. Do I try different things? I SURE HOPE SO. I’m trying my damndest to be anything but boring. And yet at the same time I’m not taking big risks when it comes to my writing style, choosing my POVs, or the writing mechanics. I don’t—for example—write in a stream-of-consciousness extremely speculative fiction style. I use the same building blocks as any other author. Where I take my risks are in the structures I build with those blocks.
Romance contains endless probabilities and, gentle readers, many of them have already been proven. Pick a trope, pick a sexuality, pick a setting or particular time period and I can almost guarantee you there is already a romance book out there which has tried that combination. Our motto: If you can dream it, you can do it.
Feeling the urge to read a sweet second-chance romance set in a small town (specifically a forested yet farming community, and hold the cowboys, please.) You got it. You want a super filthy book built around a specific BDSM kink and set in modern Paris? No problem. Want a class-differences love story between a gentleman soldier and a thief lord set in historical London? Not to fear, Cat Sebastian is here! In the mood for a character who works in a particular profession? Wow are you in luck, we’ve got them all. From the Stone Age to Medieval, Georgian, Reconstruction/Civil War, Victorian, either of the World Wars, or Modern, we gotchu. Oh, you’d rather up the escapism with a paranormal romance about were-shifters with a side of Fated Mates trope? You may choose between your classic werewolves and bears, wildcats, badgers, or even bunnies and hedgehogs (no, I am not joking). We’ve got aliens, ice planets, desert planets, spaceships, space stations and prison planets. We’ve got heterosexual couples, same sex couples, bisexual couples supporting their ace-aro friends, menage, and reverse harem. Romance is also a genre with ownvoices authors writing diverse races, cultures, and life experiences. Infinite combinations are already out there, just waiting to be discovered.
So . . . yeah. When it comes to writing a romance, I’m not really doing anything new. I already know this. Instead, I am free to write exactly, specifically, what I would love to read. No matter how niche or obscure the tropes, they’re mine to play with. I can risk falling flat on my face by creating characters who are dealing with controversial topics as they navigate their relationship. I can take a chance and throw some pretty stiff obstacles in their way which readers might not have seen in another book before. I’m not doing any new things, I’m simply trying to do them in a new way.
Thanks for co-hosting last month! I looked up Xeni for asexual romance, and it looks like it’s actually not, just a heads up.
Kind of you to let me know, thanks!
Stories since the origin of bards, have taken risks in storytelling and as you’ve mentioned, there is nothing new in the themes, just a fresh take on them.
I would love to consider myself a bard, or at least bard-adjacent, haha. I guess I really don’t see myself doing anything revolutionary or trying to re-invent the idea of ‘story’. I only want to tell an entertaining tale and keep my readers enthralled for a little while.
Good for you, SE, for trying many topics in genres to diversify your writing. Bravo! You are truly brave. I’m not nearly so brave. Thanks for co-hosting IWSG’s question for April. All best to you!
All the best to you too. Happy IWSG day!
With fiction, there seems to be certain formats to stick to and, when following those guidelines (and being a good writer), you can’t go wrong. I’m not one to stick to rules and I don’t write fiction, so I feel I’m pretty free to develop my own voice and style and to do what I want.
Except for the content. When writing memoir, you share what really happened. That can be exciting enough, and there are not two books that are ever the same. 🙂 Thank you for co-hosting this month.
Thanks for stopping by! I like how a unique story is a basic tenet of a memoir. You really can’t go wrong, because no one has lived the life you have. It’s pretty neat!
Thanks for co-hosting, SE! All the basic stories have been told over and over, but we each get to add our unique twists based on our unique lives. Happy writing in April!
Thanks Louise! Happy writing to you too. May you find the perfect unique twist for you story 🙂
Quite right! There are no new stories. Readers want the old ones with new clothes, new locations, and a new arrangement of old twists. It’s good to be able to enjoy our own preferences, without insisting that no other version can be available for others.
Thanks for co-hosting today!
Thank you, Lee! That’s very encouraging. I do like to pretend to give the readers what they want, while also refusing to give them what they want because I have to throw obstacles and new arrangements at them and keep everyone interested. It’s a fun balance.
Sounds outstanding to me. Where else would a writer want to be? 🙂
<a href=”http://emaginette.wordpress.com”> Anna from elements of emaginette</a>
I know I’d rather be nowhere else. Well, alright, perhaps at a writing retreat in New Zealand pretending to write while really geeking out severely. I might rather be there. LOL
Yes, everything has been done before, but not from your own unique perspective. That is new.
I hope so! And may I say I love your profile avatar. Awesome choice.
There’s no new story…just the way it is told. Thanks for hosting this month!
I was honored to do it. Happy IWSG day 🙂
Yes – it’s extremely difficult to do something new… so many people are doing such weird things. Maybe the risk is being ordinary?
Thanks for co-hosting today 🙂
<a href=”http://jemimapett.com”>Jemima</a>
Thanks for stopping by! Happy IWSG day 🙂
Well said. And thanks for co-hosting. I know the work that’s involved in that!
Happy IWSG day. I’m glad to have an excellent co-host stopping by, and with some empathy for me, too! That’s very kind 🙂
Well said SE! And thanks for co-hosting with me today. And ironically, writing a boring story is a risk in and of itself, so i think maybe writing revolves around risks in every direction, on every level.
Truly! It’s all hazardous, just in different ways.
I believe in one form or another we’re all taking risks. And for some it’s not just a financial one. Le sigh. Happy IWSG. Thank you for co-hosting!
We might look to the untrained eye like a risk-averse kind of cohort, but in reality we’re always walking some sort of tightrope. Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for co-hosting this month. I adore your assessment of romance as a genre, so many possibilities. Keep writing your way, it’s the best way.
I do love all of the inherent possibilities, it’s one of my favorite things about the genre. Thanks for stopping by today, Toi!
Excellent enumeration of all the possibilities the romance genre holds! Happy April writing from a fellow citizen of Romancelandia.
Thank you! And happy April writing to you as well 🙂
You’ve hit on something here. Everything’s been written and from every angle. It takes a lot to pull off something original, doesn’t it? Fortunately, we each have unique ways of setting a story onto the page, so we have that going for us.
Indeed! We’re all storytellers and all stories have been told before, but no one else will ever be able to tell the story we will in the same way. Remembering that comforts me a lot 🙂
I love trying different POVs or subgenres–my stories all contain an adventure and a romance–but there are so many ways to to do. Thanks for cohosting this month.
So many different ways! I love the mental image of you wandering down new adventurous trails with every book. Happy IWSG day!
Wow! That was fun to read. You’re right. It’s all been said before, but how, is what keeps us going!
It is the ‘how’ of it which keeps me entertained, for sure. Happy IWSG day!
You’ve touched on one of my big insecurities when it comes to romance – at times it feels like I’m just rehashing the same old, tried and true tropes. Can I really bring anything fresh to it? You’re on the money with your point about not doing anything new, just doing it a new way – that’s what makes writing romance creative.
Thanks so much for co-hosting!
I feel insecure about it often as well. Then I take a lot of deep breaths and tell myself I’m going to go at it in a new way and that’s what will keep my readers interested. So far it helps me get through! All the best to you as you go through it too 🙂
I think being a writer who’s true to oneself is a form of taking a risk. Thanks for co-hosting, SE. Hope you have a fabulous day. You did a wonderful first-time hosting job!
Thank you Joylene! Happy IWSG day 🙂
Hi,
I like how you describe the Romance Genre. I am a romance writer also. Like you, I write what I would like to read.
Wishing you all the best.
Shalom aleichem
Pat Garcia
And I bet a surprising amount of people want to read exactly what you would want to write for them. It all works out! Thanks for stopping by, Pat.
I think it’s great to write what you like to read. And there are certain expectations in every genre that we have to meet. Thanks for co-hosting.
In a way, I do like to meet my genre expectations. I feel like I need to have a good grasp of the rules, before I can attempt to break them. Happy IWSG day!
Hail the romance genre and it’s wide open range of things to explore. We’ve come a long way, baby! Thanks for hosting this month and starting off with that good answer – Maybe.
All hail! I really do love working in this genre. I’ve never wanted to wander anywhere else 🙂 Happy IWSG day!
Good Post! Thank you for co-hosting.
Many thanks! And a happy IWSG day.
Knowing there are books out there with all those combinations kinda takes the worry out of it for you.
Thanks for co-hosting today!
Haha, it really does. It’s a bit like a safety net under my trapeze in a way. At the very least there are other romance authors out there ready to commiserate with me if a risky plot spectacularly bombs.
Thanks for letting me co-host today, Alex.
That’s another way of looking at it. Don’t do different things. Just do the same things differently. Happy IWSG Day. Thank you for co-hosting.
I try my best! Thanks for stopping by, and happy IWSG day 🙂