Writing creatively, based on thinking creatively, can take a lot of different forms. When Wim and I tell stories together, we might have fiction, nonfiction, scripts, quotes from other sources, images, all bundled together as the story unfolds. The arrangement of those parts contributes a way of thinking about it all.

We’re delighted to have just such a story, “Humans,” published this month in Prime Number Magazine. We found our way to them by submitting to journals who say they’re interested in “hybrid” writing. Although the definitions vary, that’s generally defined as a mixture of genres, sometimes with images and materials from other sources.

When we started our newsletter that became our first published novel, we included everything that seemed to contribute to the story and to thinking about the story. Reviewers referred to The Jamais Vu Papers as a “playful romp” and it was eventually identified as “postmodern” and as “metafiction.”

Since then, our storytelling style has faced some difficulties. Competitions usually have a list of fixed genres to choose from and jurors often specify that they’re looking for a “consistent voice.” A few years back, one juror explained a rejection by commenting that authors really had to “get over” including sections in play script format. (Actually quite a lot of authors have mixed their genres for a long time. Perhaps those “authorities” never read Moby-Dick.)

It’s great to have an authentic style defined for that part of the work we’re doing now.
Pat