I describe my writing style as “balancing gritty realism with a sharp, industrial edge.”, both here on my website and my social media profile.
Today someone asked me what I meant by that, and this was my reply…
My stories focus on queer teen boys and young adult gay men written for the YA and NA demographic. I'm a gay man. I've tried writing straight stories, but I just can't do. I have to be able to relate to my characters. I enjoy writing in different genres. Currently in my WIP, I have a fantasy (dragons and a parallel Earth), two Sci-Fi/dystopian stories (one accidental time traveler and one near future prince and pauper) a suspense thriller (car chases, drug cartel, snipers etc.), and straight-up love stories. Well, all my stories are love stories really. But they're not delicate and fluffy. The love is hard won, hard to keep or hard lost.
The gritty realism means I don't sugarcoat my characters feelings or their ability to find (or keep) love. My Snow White is not a princess who has a flat tire on the highway and get rescued by Prince Charming working for AAA road-side assistance. My Snow White is broadsided by a semi-truck and has to endure memory loss (or loss of a limb) and motor skills. She may or may not return to her former self. She may have to start from scratch. Her Prince Charming could be the EMT first responder, her PT, or (more likely) the Custodian who bumps his mop bucket into her wheelchair on the way to PT. And instead of Snow White and Prince Charming, it's more like Hercules and Milo. I make my characters go through hell, but they always become better people than they were.
The industrial edge basically means my stories aren't highly polished gold coins in a glass case. And that means they'll probably never see a printing press much less a Barnes and Noble book shelf. Okay, that was a bit negative. Or is it realistic? Judging by some of the authors’ comments I've seen online, it's very realistic. In either case, I'm not losing sleep over it. I love what I'm writing, and if I find my audience, all the better.
As someone who has no formal creative writing education beyond the high school level, being a writer is both a joy and a challenge of the utmost difficulty. As is obvious from my description above, I tend to ramble and take the long way around to get to what I’m really trying to say.
But that’s the beauty of writing. You can spend hours crafting a “simple” paragraph. You can’t do that on the fly in regular conversation or texting and most social media interactions. At least I can’t. That’s okay with me though. I’ve never been terribly good at social media anyway.
With my writing, no one cares how much time you spent writing this paragraph or that chapter. Or how many hours you toiled over giving a character blonde hair or brown hair because a point in the story my come along where one would be better than the other.
🍻 Cheers,
Penn