Hello everyone! Welcome to another guest post on my blog, today we have a guest author, Sheri Chapman. Please give her a warm hello, and enjoy the read! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, Sheri!
-Audra
My Challenges of Writing Multi-genre Fiction
Hello, my name is Sheri Chapman, and I write multi-genre fiction. I love being a versatile writer, but it comes with its own set of challenges. The first challenge is that my historical romance readers want to see more of the same. I understand. When you find an author you like, you want similar experiences, so you look that person up. However, it may be disappointing to your reader to find a completely different set of genre choices. However, a benefit could be if they like you well enough, maybe they’ll expand their horizons.
I’ve also grown as a writer since my first book series (historical romance): Wild Passion, Passions of the Heart, and Chief Spirit Bear: Rise to Power. I have a young adult paranormal suspense (short work) about a psychic girl who is stalked by a murderer. My newest, upcoming release, however, is my most creative and is another genre, still. I was fortunate enough to find a superb editor (Eric Myers) who helped me grow as a writer. I am so excited and anticipating the release (June 22) of A Killer, Revisited, an adult sci fi suspense.
With writing, I mostly use third person, but I’m experimenting with that as well. Again, one must think about writing when switching points of view. In third person, you may say, “Her brows rumpled down over her eyes, creating shelves that cast shadows across her face,” but in first person, you’d have to say, “I felt my brows bunch with my increasing anger,” or something similar. It can be challenging to switch what someone’s actions look like to what you might feel if you switch from third to first person.
My current work is written in first person. I hope to release it this year: The Other Side of Privileged. It’s completely different from anything I’ve written to date. It’s about a girl who was abducted from Disney World on her eighth birthday.
After I finish with The Other Side of Privileged, I have three different YA shape shifter stories I am working on. I only have one series written in first person: my YA werewolf books. I have two stories written, but after growing as a writer (because of my excellent editor), these must be reworked. Next, I have a vampire story about the age-old vampire/werewolf war thrown in with a bit of zombies and dwarfs that needs to be completed. The next story to get my attention after The Other Side of Privileged, however, is Shifting Alliances. It’s a third-person shape shifter story about a group of teens who crash on the Bermuda Triangle to find themselves in the middle of a civil war between two different shape-shifting species, large cats and komodo dragons.
I have many more ideas that need to be developed into full novels, and I’m excited to get it all under way. The biggest challenge I find is the time it takes. Thank you for your time. Happy writing and reading!
Sheri Chapman
Audra's Book Blabbing 