Somewhere in your writing career, whether conscious or not, choices are made about the type of writer that you will be. This article talks about writing multiple genres/forms. (Cross-genres writing would also support some of the same reasons.)

Multiple Genres

There are many reasons to publish in multiple genres. These include the following:

1. You are the brand. Your marketing can focus on your capabilities as an author rather than selling being a “niche player.” These capabilities include trust in the quality, consistency, vision, and daring nature of the work.
2. There are more possibilities to write about. And in the process, the writing is likely to become less stale. You can explore a theme, technique, viewpoints in different way across genres. This can result in a more comprehensive look at a topic over time and building up your craft with more tools. You are less likely to run out of writing topics.
3. You are in good company. Some of the best writers that lived wrote in multiple genres. H.G. Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, Isaac Asimov among others. So you are not alone and you can learn from their experiences.
4. It refreshes you. Once the mind gets going on what to create, it can be quite thrilling to think about different mindsets, worldviews, characters, and timeframes. If you do not let yourself get overwhelmed, you are in for an enjoyable ride

Multiple Forms

Novels/Novellas, Short Stories, Poems, and Essays are just some of the writing formats. What are the benefits for writing in multiple genres.

1. It makes you a better writer. Novels/Novellas are good for developing character, themes, places over different times, locations, and situations. Short stories require a fast “ramp up/down” in the telling of your tale. And they also allow covering interesting topics not worthy of a full book. Poems are wonderful for watching the unfolding of feelings, description, rhymes, colors, and ambiguity.
2. Others have done this.Roald Dahl, Samuel Clemens, E.B. White, and William Shakespeare are just some of the names on a very long list that wrote in different format over their career.
3. It supports an experimental mindset. You can use the particular framework of a format to dabble and dabble again in your “writing laboratory.”

This can only be a starting place on this interesting area. For me, I have always been interesting in many different subject areas which bleeds over into my writing. This includes writing about history, art, science, writing itself, fashion, IT, business, sociology, computers, marketing, sports, spirituality, and a lot more. It can get daunting on how to classify these works. Is the Corporate Intent Series business fiction, dystopian sci-fi, a thriller, a mystery, computer-oriented or a feminist-oriented work? I have enjoyed writing the three short story collections because they permitted covering some topics that would never get covered. And in Musings, I released for the first time just a few of the poems that I created.

I am having a lot of fun in the process. I wish you the best on your writing journey and hope that you make some insightful self-discoveries.