Two particular divisions of literature exist within creative writing: genre and literary.

Author Benjamin Percy described an example of literary writing where a character made a cup of tea and stared at an approaching storm. 

“Nothing happens, but the sentences are exquisite,” Percy said. 

Genre writing, on the other hand, can range from science fiction to westerns, from horror to fantasy. 

“The thing that’s great about genre fiction is this one question: what happens next?” Percy said. 

Benjamin Percy and David Anthony Durham described their journeys through creative writing within genre fiction during Thursday’s lecture “From Fantasy to Historical Fiction: Two Novelists on the Craft of Writing”. The lecture was part of the Pearl Hogrefe Visiting Writers Series. 

Both Durham and Percy grew up reading genre fiction, but were educated in literary writing during their college years. 

“I fell in love with literary writing, but I never fell out of love with genre fiction,” Percy said. 

Durham came back to genre fiction while visiting his wife’s parents’ house in Scotland, where he saw no division between literary and genre fiction books on their bookshelf.

“It was totally unsegregated, unlike mine,” Durham said. “All these books could be out on the same shelf at the same time.” 

Percy recalled taking three creative writing classes from a favorite professor in college. Though he enjoyed the classes, they didn’t allow for his writing to grow and be challenged. 

“That was comfortable, but a mistake,” Percy said. 

Percy said that developing your own “toolbox” requires ignoring parts of what professors may say while keeping other pieces of their advice to use in your own writing. 

“[My professors] are the ghosts on my shoulders, and they whisper in my ear when I’m writing,” Percy said. 

Percy now works at DC Comics, and writes for the Green Arrow and Teen Titans comics. He emphasized the difference between writing fiction and writing collaboratively with artists. 

“Working in comics is exactly what I needed. I got a workplace, and colleagues, and I became a better writer,” Percy said.  

Durham writes for Wild Cards, a superhero literature series written in prose which was created by George R.R. Martin. Working in a collaborative group has allowed Durham to adapt and chance. 

“Once I’m in the groove of being fine with [Martin] shooting down ideas, it allows me to dig deeper,” Durham said. “All these little challenges make you a better writer.”