FRESH EYES
Make sure you do your research and listen to a lot of what’s hot in that genre, too, if you can, and try to extrapolate to what the next “big thing” might be—your “fresh eyes” looking at this genre from the outside may be the new direction it may go in, since people in this field may not attempt the directions you are willing to try. The electrification of the blues helped create the genres of hard rock and heavy metal. The combination of traditional African, classical, Celtic and old standards helped create country, bluegrass and pop. Whatever your life and musical experiences are, you will bring that to the table and paint whatever you create with your personal stamp based on those experiences. Free yourself to try new things, and you may just create the next new genre on your own, or at least be at the forefront of a very salable new mousetrap. You won’t know unless you are willing to open yourself up to new art forms, and be willing to incorporate them into your treasure box of knowledge. Hey, I never thought I’d have a use for Physics class until I learned that waveform modification is what you use to create new sound files for your sequencer. So look at that new style with your personally tinted lenses—you may find that you not only like the new info, but it may make you a more salable commodity as a writer in the long run.
Have fun, and keep writing!
© 2001 Cindy Lee Haddock
