Avoid the Rules

 

I’ve found that my surroundings directly affect my writing.  Sitting on the desert floor, leaning against a hot boulder will produce something more slithery and gritty than anything I write surrounded by my favorite things.

The thing is, my favorite things tend to change, depending on other stuff taking place in my life.  It is that flexibility that produces diversity of topics.  Writing one day about Jell-o skin and then about the possibility of creating an echo in outer-space. 

I've often searched for that diversity in other writers.   So far I've not found anyone willing to stray out of their specific lane.   They either become stuck to a formula because that's what sells, or they settle into something comfortable and are not motivated to try anything else.  There are few scared of challenging established rules.  I find that just a little sad. 

ZC