Subscribe by email:I’m a contemporary romance reader. I don’t care if the story is sweet, spicy, short or gigantic as long as it’s a romance and it’s based in today’s world. The problem is, when you have a steady diet of one genre, you become firmly entrenched in your comfort zone.
There are a few authors I turn to when I want a comfort read, but the familiar isn’t going to spark or strengthen my creativity. So this week I decided to spend my Artist’s Date reading a book I normally wouldn’t. I went for young adult dystopia.
That’s right. I read The Hunger Games.
I enjoyed the book but I have to admit it wasn’t a comfortable read. Not because of the violence or the action. It was because my reader expectations had to be put aside for a different genre. For example, I liked Peeta, but I wasn’t sure if I should become emotionally invested in the character in case he died.
Has reading the book helped my creativity? I don’t know yet. There were moments when I was caught up in the story and there were times when I was aware in how the author handled flashbacks and world-building. (Occupational hazard, I guess.) I haven’t had an “Aha!” moment or felt inspired to write something, but inspiration comes in all forms and in different timetables.
If you plan to reading outside your comfort zone for your next Artist’s Date, I recommend that you get a book everyone is talking about. That way you know you’re a reading a good example of its genre even if you don’t know the genre’s rules. Read a phenomenal bestseller like Harry Potter, The Da Vinci Code, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Help, The Hunger Games, The Kite Runner, The Lovely Bones, The Time Traveler’s Wife or Twilight.
Related posts:
- Artist’s Date #4: Assembling a jigsaw puzzle
- Artist’s date #6: Read an unfamiliar magazine
- Artist’s Date #9: Adding flowers in your environment
- What are you reading?
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I’ve read so many good reviews about The Hunger Games but I’m so reluctant to read it. I hate to read something that will make me feel bad and that’s the impression I got about this book.
I’ll probably get to it eventually. I’m not a fan of the dystopian genre in general.
So many people told me I should read it. It was a good story but I don’t feel the need to read the rest of the trilogy.
I’ll probably see the movie when it comes out, but I admit I have no interest in reading any more in the dystopian genre.