Diverse authors?

[markobeezy]

Can anyone recommend an author who writes successfully in several different genres?  It seems to be a sad truth that authors have their specialty and rarely venture out of their comfort genre.  If nobody can give me some good examples, I guess I'll have to be the first

[tamaraheiner]

There are plenty. Most of them use pen names for each different genre, though. For example: Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb/Jill March.

[Lursa (aka 9MMare)]

Can anyone recommend an author who writes successfully in several different genres?  It seems to be a sad truth that authors have their specialty and rarely venture out of their comfort genre.  If nobody can give me some good examples, I guess I'll have to be the first

Why is that sad?

[QuantumIguana]

I don't see anything sad about it either. Why shouldn't someone do what they do well?

[KateEllison]

A lot of authors do, but they use pen names, since crossing genres can be problematic when it comes to readers and what they expect from their favorite author (for instance, a young adult author who also writes erotica, or a literary author who also writes a potboiler detective series). Since your author name is your "brand," and brands are all about expectations, some authors just create multiple brands to avoid confusing things.

[Harry Shannon]

Dan Simmons writes terrific adventure novels, thrillers, mysteries with noir overtones and great horror as well.

Tom Piccirilli has written solid noir recently, before that he wrote horror and some western novels.

Ed Gorman writes crime fiction and horror and westerns.

John Connelly's Charlie Parker thrillers are crime stories but with horror overtones.

A lot of crime fiction authors dabble in horror and enjoy an occasional western, seems to come with the territory. We even trade book tips back and forth when something exceptional comes out under a pen name.

[markobeezy]

Why is that sad?

It's so...limiting. I mean, once you've mastered a genre, why not break out of the comfort zone and try something new? I'm not saying they have to permanently switch their styles, but who knows, maybe an author could discover that they love a diff. genre? I would be thrilled if some of my fav. authors tried something different, just for fun if nothing else. Consider professional athletes, do they not cross-train, at least to expand their thought processees and muscle memory?

[ciscokid]

Robert McCammon's older works are considered horror, but his newest work, is a series of mysteries set in the late 1700s-the early 1800s.  I enjoy both his earlier books and the new ones.

[Sean Patrick Fox]

In answer to your question.. tons of authors. As others have mentioned, they sometimes write under a pen name, but other times under their own name.

Stephen King writes in a variety of genres.
Orson Scott Card does fantasy and science fiction.

Those are the only two I can think of off the top my head, but that's just me having a senior moment. Check what other posters have said. It's not as common as an author sticking to one genre, but it's certainly not rare, either.

[Lursa (aka 9MMare)]

It's so...limiting. I mean, once you've mastered a genre, why not break out of the comfort zone and try something new? I'm not saying they have to permanently switch their styles, but who knows, maybe an author could discover that they love a diff. genre? I would be thrilled if some of my fav. authors tried something different, just for fun if nothing else. Consider professional athletes, do they not cross-train, at least to expand their thought processees and muscle memory?

They may cross-train but they almost never compete at the same level in another sport. Triathletes are by no means leaders in the individual sports.

I cant say what authors feel, as a generalization, but I'd say....they probably have stories to tell, and tell them. If they come up with different stories,  I bet they work on them and either we see them or we dont. Dont see it as sad for them tho.

I definitely wouldnt say that 'successful' writers dont try new things....look at Grisham. Look at Patterson. (Whether Patterson writes all his own or not, he's definitely crossing into at least 3 genre with crime, the Max series, and lit. fiction).

If it was me....my new thing would be something besides writing! Something really different, like a sport or painting or travel or cultivating some physical skill.  And I probably wouldnt end up as good at it, but it would be mentally good for me. A refresh. (Kinda like you referred to in your last sentence.)

[Rejean]

They may cross-train but they almost never compete at the same level in another sport. Triathletes are by no means leaders in the individual sports.

I cant say what authors feel, as a generalization, but I'd say....they probably have stories to tell, and tell them. If they come up with different stories,  I bet they work on them and either we see them or we dont. Dont see it as sad for them tho.

I definitely wouldnt say that 'successful' writers dont try new things....look at Grisham. Look at Patterson. (Whether Patterson writes all his own or not, he's definitely crossing into at least 3 genre with crime, the Max series, and lit. fiction).

If it was me....my new thing would be something besides writing! Something really different, like a sport or painting or travel or cultivating some physical skill.  And I probably wouldnt end up as good at it, but it would be mentally good for me. A refresh. (Kinda like you referred to in your last sentence.)

In addition to writing I draw, sculpt and create music. Creativity can be expressed in a lot of different ways. Some find switching genre is enough, others reach out an try totally unrelated outlets. Some do both.

Did you know both Sylvester Stallone and Tony Bennett are well know painters? Lots of actors write screenplays. It goes on and on.

[J.R.Mooneyham]

Well, superficially the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is considered science fiction, but across those ten books virtually every other major genre of plot and scenario is also tackled, and brilliantly.

[Tony Rabig]

Fredric Brown: science fiction and mystery/suspense
John D. MacDonald: mystery/suspense, science fiction, general
Harlan Ellison: sf/fantasy, general, essay, mystery/suspense
Theodore Sturgeon: sf/fantasy, horror, general, western
Joe Haldeman: sf, general
Bill Pronzini: Mystery/suspense, western, horror
Barry Malzberg: Sf, mystery/suspense
Max McCoy: Mystery/suspense, western
Joe Lansdale: Mystery/suspense, horror
Jack Finney: Sf/fantasy, suspense

And I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch more...

[jumbojohnny]

Philip Reeve writes for YA and for smaller kids, and it's not like a touch fuzzy, the ones for younguns are about their money as David Dickenson would say, and don't suit older readers like some kids stuff does. His YA stuff is at the very edge of beyond YA, but the books are better for it.

Here's one of his YA books :



Unfortunately, the Buster Bayliss series hasn't made it onto Kindle, but it is on Amazon etc in print. The series really is for juniors, but, they're still good.

[flipside]

Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in a lot of genres.

Elizabeth Hand's fiction is also quite broad. Same goes for Karen Joy Fowler and Jane Yolen.

Jeff VanderMeer and Brian Evenson's work is also "out there" and not immediately classifiable.

Personally though, I don't see "venturing out of their comfort genre" being an issue, as much as writing the same kind of books. You can produce vastly different stories while still staying within your "genre".

[Lursa (aka 9MMare)]

In addition to writing I draw, sculpt and create music. Creativity can be expressed in a lot of different ways. Some find switching genre is enough, others reach out an try totally unrelated outlets. Some do both.

Did you know both Sylvester Stallone and Tony Bennett are well know painters? Lots of actors write screenplays. It goes on and on.

Ah, Rejean...a Renaissance Man!

[Rebecca Burke]

Jane Smiley is a major writer who has set out to write in totally different genres in most all of her books. There's a cost when it comes to fans and reader expectations, but she apparently gets into the challenge. She's written historical  fiction (The Greenlanders), satire (Moo), a mystery, YAs, nonfiction, and contemporary novels about everything from the 1980s farm crisis to the horse "world."

I think there have been lots of British writers who write novels, history, biography, etc., as well as mysteries using a pseudonym. Julian Barnes comes to mind.

[Dara England]

One of my favorite authors writes mysteries as C.S. Harris and romances as Candice Proctor. They're all historical, so they've got that common thread, but I haven't read the romances so don't know whether they've got a similar feel. Also, Ashley Gardner writes under the names Jennifer Ashley and Allyson James for her mysteries, romances, and urban fantasies.

[Todd Trumpet]

I love Bill Bryson.

       

Primarily known as a Travel writer ("A Walk In The Woods"), he also writes about Language ("The Mother Tongue") and Science ("A Short History of Nearly Everything").  He's also dipped into Biography ("Shakespeare") and auto-biography ("The Thunderbolt Kid").

His hallmark is his sense of humor.

For me, he can make any topic entertaining.

Todd