30 Days of Writing Questions - Day 8

8. What's your favorite genre to write? To read?

My favorite genre to write is definately fantasy and supernatural. I've dabbled in other genres, but I always come back to those. I love fairies, magic, kindgoms, ghosts, murder, mayham, sorcerers...you get the idea.

However, when it comes to reading I'm open to pretty much anything. If it's a good story I'll give a try. I am particularly fond of reading paranomal mysteries like The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, and great fantasy epics like the Harry Potter books by J.K.Rowling. I also am very fond of reading young adult books because they're short, fun, and very imaginative, especially the Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence. Anything with a well developed world and a good story is all I require. I've even been known to read a romance or two, usually Regency, because I get bored at my mom's house and they're everywhere. Some are quite entertaining like Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer.

I also really love to read books on "true" ghost stories, world mythology, fairy tale collections, and historical fiction, and non-fiction history. Some of my favorites of the above categories are Haunted Illinois and Mysterious Illinois by Troy Taylor, The Epic of Gilgamesh, English Folktales by Dan Keding and Amy Douglas, The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory, and George Rogers Clark and the War in the West by Lowell H. Harrison. Also I love Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt, and I freaking adore Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. I just like books I guess.

However, there are some genres I don't read a lot. I'm not big on modern day murder mysteries without a paranomal twist, I'm not a big fan of sci-fi unless it's sci-fi/fantasy (one of my all time favorite books is a sci-fi book called A Wizard in Bedlam by Christopher Stasheff), and I try to stay away from "literary best-sellers" because I find alot of "great literary masterpieces of our time" to be pretty boring. I also stay away from Charles Dickens cause it's really hard to get through his books since he was paid by the word. I like Shakespeare though.

Like many authors I also read a lot of books for research and to improve my writing such as Castles by Philip Steele, The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler, and The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes by Jack M. Bickham.

And now BOOKS!

These are only my favorite books and non-library books that are waiting to be read. I have WAY more books than this, but the majority of them are in storage.