About
My pub during university was named for Oscar Peterson, and they played non-stop jazz and nothing else. It sounded like one long song to me at the time. Nowadays, jazz probably accounts for around eighty percent of my listening. But I love all types of music. My soundtrack for a single day is just as likely to include CĂ©cile McLorin Salvant, Curtis Fuller, and Coltrane as it is to be filled with SNFU, Agnes Obel, or Lil Peep. (And as of Plastic Hearts even Miley.)
What’s any of that got to do with writing?
Genres.
Just as with music, when it comes to literary genres, I like them all most of them. It’s why I read them. It’s why I write them. Most of the advice I’ve heard or received has been to write different genres using pen names, but I think readers are smart enough to look at book covers, read blurbs, and discern the difference between horror, sci-fi, and crime. Nobody out there is mistaking Fifty Shades of Grey for Young Adult fiction.
Fuck the segues—what about commas, em-dashes, and profanity?
Hate ’em, love ’em, and believe it has its place. (Yes, even in YA.)