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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/2156
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In terms of novel writing, I tend to avoid my own genre, at least for the most part. Some of the reasons why:

Genre Blindness / Genre Trap: Too much reading of your own genre blinds you to the tropes and clichés used by the genre which then pervade your own work.

Writing Style Influences Here your own writing style and language use subconsciously begins to take on elements often found in the genre making your work less unique.

Losing your Ideas Perhaps paranoia, but seeing ideas you have or even half-formed ideas fully can kill them. A new idea is delicate thing and needs to be incubated from such things. Avoiding your own genre avoids this danger.

However, not reading your own genre is also making a sacrifice in terms of exposure to what works and what doesn't. Particularly with historical fiction this also means missing out on the tacit research performed by others.

What do others think? Am I doing the right thing here?

Original score: 13