What to read? (Patreon)

I had an interesting (to me) realization the other day. Since I started writing LF, what I read has actually changed. I used to have more...threshold for misery? Like, as long as there wasn't too much angst and torment, I could enjoy a good book even if it lacked light-hearted moments, but now...no. I think I have a bit of a tendency to head into serious and sad places in my own writing, and what I read affects what I write.

I mean, I'm not out there plagiarizing anything (other than that one joke about how much polyester you could pack into a room, but that was a short story in seventh grade, so I'm going to let it slide) but when I read about miserable people, I'm more inclined to make my own characters miserable. (Also, I have a bad tendency to use grammatically correct but difficult to parse run-on sentences, but that's a different conversation.)

Anyway, do you remember when Aspen and Rouge found the cultist's lab where they rescued the first of the refugees? I had to write that three times. Not just edits, but actually delete it and try again. I knew I needed those people alive, but I just kept killing them off. That poor baby dragon was also Sacrificed to the Darkness Within.

Yep, that happened because I stayed up late the night before reading something I probably shouldn't have. Then I was tired and bummed, and keeping all those characters alive was harder than just killing them all.

The result of my realization is a further understanding of what my brother calls the 'Fluffiness Factor'. If I want to be able to keep having joyful scenes in my own writing (which is sometimes hard anyway because everyone is struggling in the third book) then I need to read Serious Fluff of my own. Like, if I read a Fluff+6 book, I can probably write a Fluff+3 scene. Frankly, I love the happy and funny moments in LF, so for now, Fluff is the order of the day. I can't write it, but I can enjoy it!

What do you guys read (besides LF)? Anything with some Fluff Factor? Some of my favorite authors are Lois McMaster Bujold, Wen Spencer, Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs (though lately she's not fluffy enough), Gail Carriger, Rachel Aaron, and Larry Correia. I've also been reading a lot of manhwa lately, and I'm enjoying 'A Symbiotic Relationship Between a Rabbit and a Black Panther' entirely too much.

Well, I hope to hear about some of your favorite authors/books, and have a great week!

Elizabeth/SilverSidhe