Should you read your own genre?

Question

In terms of novel writing, I tend to avoid my own genre, at least for the most part. Some of the reasons why:Genre Blindness / Genre Trap:Too much reading of your own genre blinds you to the tropes and clichés used by the genre which then pervade your own work.Writing Style InfluencesHere your own writing style and language use subconsciously begins to take on elements often found in the genre making your work less unique.Losing your IdeasPerhaps paranoia, but seeing ideas you have or even half-formed ideas fully can kill them. A new idea is delicate thing and needs to be incubated from such things. Avoiding your own genre avoids this danger.However, not reading your own genre is also making a sacrifice in terms of exposure to what works and what doesn't. Particularly with historical fiction this also means missing out on the tacit research performed by others.What do others think? Am I doing the right thing here?

Answer 1

While I do think it's important to read broadly to expand your repertoire as you've described, I also think if you're intent on contributing to a certain area of literature, it's important for you to know what else is out there, what you like, what you don't like, and what might be missing that you can contribute. In short, read a little something in your genre every x-timeframe of your choice and continue read outside your genre as well.