Exercise 1

Good day to all! How have you all been?

I was thinking of talking about this issue for quite awhile because it is rather current and it does concern the writing community.

I was reading an article titled Defying Definition by Sarah Jane Elliot the other day, which spoke of the inflexible borders expected to be acquired by something that writer’s don’t usually think about: genre.

Genres tend to limit at times. Try an exercise this weekend where you simply allow the flow of words to take you to a place never before seen. Don’t think of the consequences. Don’t think that if something goes up, it must come down. Just go with the flow.

Elliot brings in a good point when she says that Fantasy can be a part of Science Fiction as well. It somehow becomes a necessity for some to tag a story as either Fantasy or Science Fiction that it might be unfair to works that are nestled comfortably in between.

Genre isn’t always the greatest of concerns for a writer in the process of writing. However, a person might be limited by the properties of a written story. For instance, when you’re writing an ordinary tale set in Kuala Lumpur, the possibility of a man sprouting wings and flying in the story is very small because the story then becomes unbelievable and is suspect.

It becomes a concern that our skills in writing is for practicality’s sake, therefore since young we were given a template to fill in words. Therefore, genre becomes a fence where control can be exercised. Genre is something that in all desperation, we must control.

I wonder what happens if we simply let everything run free?

Will it be extremely dysfunctional that our stories are no longer held by bricks and towers but levitate on their own? Is it much too fearful that our Twin Towers is actually a stairway to a Castle high in the clouds and occasionally receives Unicorns and Penguins as guests?

It looks rather silly, written in black and white, however what if I can tell you that it is true? What if I can make you, for a single second, believe in the possibility?

I vote take a leap. And see where it goes.

Alin
~Freedom from Conformity