The difficulties of writing in a new subgenre

As an editor in the solarpunk genre, I've also been making attempts at writing solarpunk fiction, my latest being a planned submission to Sunvault Anthology.

I think writing in the genre you edit is as important as reading published works in the genre you edit because it gives you a deeper understanding of what is involved in engaging through writing.

However, when it comes to new subgenres, it can become difficult, because there's not really a lot of source material, and what you're writing is becoming the foundation of this new genre (through world-building).

All writing comes with a deep responsibility to have a social consciousness and an understanding of the power of your words, but world-building a new subgenre can make your words even more fundamental and powerful.

This is equally as important for an editor to recognize, because Watson and I are the ones who are sending these words out there, so this can make picking stories and arduous and sometimes nerve-wracking process.

Another difficulty in writing in a new subgenre is being careful not to rely to carefully on early formulated tropes. This is because it can limit the scope of the subgenre, the scope of your writing, and it can make everything look the same.

Now I'm not saying that means you should avoid the tropes, because some of them I rather like, and others in the community rather like. And some of them are just plain important for the genre, but it's something to be aware of, and forming a story entirely out of the early tropes is going to make it seem more like a parody than a serious submission.

Writing is hard even without working in a new genre, but these are some of the things I've come to learn as I've been cultivating my solarpunk writing.

What are some things you've noticed have been difficult in writing in new subgenres, including or not including solarpunk?

Faith