Being off beat (and loving it.)
So, How to Stop Wildfire was reviewed by T.R Briar, an author of a series called Realm Wraith that I liked a lot. The point that really stuck with me was how he said the book was off beat. Which is kind of obvious if you have read it. But it wasn't really that obvious to me. I mean, I knew it was out there, but sometimes I forget how...bizarre it is to the uninitiated. Off beat. I'm so used to it because I have been dreaming it up and imagining it for a decade, but others are not.
The stories really are a blend of well, everything. Comedy. Tragedy. Science-fiction. Fantasy. Thriller. Mythology. Little bit of everything in it. Magic, tech, gods, history, and so on. All tied together under my massive world-building. It's probably a lot to take in and acclimate to. Hard to pin down the tone to explain it to someone.
I mean, How to Stop Wildfire, is about the last of a race trying to get revenge essentially for his people, but it is told wryly and has Cyclone, a walking snark machine. There are so many different things happening in it, and it is hard to explain that.
But off beat is a good description. It isn't like any other genre. I should put it into 'unclassifiable.' It transcends genre expectations and definitions. I never thought about such things when I wrote it. This story and what happens is what happened in the world to me. It is told how I would tell. Not any other. There is humor and sadness in life, and so in my world. These ideas come to me. They are what they are, and if other people can't see the value in them that is their issue. I can, and that is all that matters.
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