One of my goals for this year is to put more effort and attention into reading outside of my comfort zone. While I’m not actively opposed to any particular genre, format, or authorial voice, I’ve come to realize that it’s all too easy for me to fall into certain patterns.

I read a lot of fantasy, and a lot of the fantasy I read is written by white American and English authors. Neil Gaiman, Robin McKinley, J.R.R. Tolkien, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Rice… you get the idea. This is the fictional fare I grew up on; theirs are the voices that, in many ways, are closest to my own. It only makes sense that I default to them; their worlds, and their words, are familiar to me, and what is familiar is comforting.

But while our comfort zones provide a necessary shelter from the many hardships and uncertainties of life, they can easily become traps if we don’t intentionally venture beyond their borders now and again. Reading books in genres you normally don’t frequent or by authors you’ve never heard of can teach you so many things—and the broader your horizons, the more room you have to grow, to dream, and to explore.

It’s a little daunting, of course, to leave behind the familiar and plunge into the unknown. But what’s the worst that can happen when you read outside your comfort zone? True, you might wind up reading something you don’t like, maybe feel like you wasted a few bucks in the process. But you might also discover a new favorite book or author. You might learn something new. Heck, you might even become someone new.

Not sure where to start? Here are a few ideas to hopefully spark some inspiration.

Preparing to Expand Your Reading Horizons

Ask yourself this: what is it you want to achieve? Or, if you’re not sure how to answer that, ask instead: what habit are you trying to change or break?

In my case, my priority this year is to ensure I’m reading books by authors whose voices, and backgrounds, are different than my own. I want to support these authors, and to support diversity in the literary world. But I’m also doing this because I want to keep growing as an author and a person. I want to know that I am not closing my eyes, or ears, to voices my white, middle-class privilege makes it all too easy to overlook.

Your reasons, and your goals, may be different. Maybe you’ve read all there is to read by your favorite author, or maybe you’ve grown weary of seeing the same genre tropes over and over again. Having a particular reason and goal in mind will help you choose wisely enough that you’ll never feel your time was wasted, even if your choices don’t ultimately end up on your favorites list.

It’s also important to consider what you like, and why you like it. You can then apply this knowledge to choose books outside of your comfort zone that might still appeal to your core sensibilities.

For instance, you might think of yourself as someone who only really enjoys fantasy. But what is it about fantasy that you enjoy? Maybe what you really like is reading about magic—in which case, nonfiction books about real-world witchcraft might prove compelling in ways your typical history textbooks never did. Or, if it’s being transported to another world that you enjoy, literary fiction or historical fiction novels set in distant lands might just as easily be the ticket.

Finally, consider what you’re curious about. Have you always wondered about the Celtic mythology behind some of your favorite titles? Or maybe you think you’d like to learn how to make your own interactive fiction novel. Or maybe you’re interested in exploring a foreign culture through fiction. Wherever your curiosity lies, chances are, there’s a book for that. (Probably many.) What better time than now to explore a few of those interests and see where they lead?

Approaches to Reading Outside Your Comfort Zone

Are you more spontaneous or methodical? Do you carefully research potential reads, or ponder your unread shelf at length before making a choice—or do you work more by instinct, grabbing whichever book on your to-be-read pile seems to be singing to your heart the loudest?

There are no wrong answers here; rather, the point is that you can choose books outside of your comfort zone to read in exactly the same way. The first mistake too many people make is forcing themselves to go against their own nature, with impulsive readers trying to do research they know deep down they’ll never finish, or systematic bibliophiles bravely making blind selections only to second-guess themselves over and over again. Nothing gets read, and both walk away feeling like they’ve wasted their time.

Of course, these are excellent challenges for anyone already used to reading outside their comfort zone. But unless you’re actively looking for a little extra challenge, it may be best to keep the choosing easy, and keep the focus of your challenge where it really belongs—on your choice of reading material.

If you’re a spontaneous reader…

Your door is already cracked open to allow at least some measure of the unexpected, but maybe not widely enough yet. You choose at random, or by instinct, but only from a certain selection of books.

Reading outside your comfort zone is simple. Get thee to a library or bookstore, and try any one of the following:

• Let yourself wander into a section you normally don’t frequent. Pick the first book that appeals to you, no matter the reason. A pretty cover, a catchy title, a fun coincidence (maybe you share first, or last, names with the author)—all reasons are valid.
• Pick a letter from A to Z at random. Conduct a scavenger hunt to find one, or several, authors whose last names begin with your chosen letter, and bring home whichever of their books speak to your sensibilities.
• Challenge yourself to only choose new releases or recent bestsellers. Or, if these are what you typically read, head to an indie bookstore and try something a little more obscure.
• Make a game of it. Ask friends, family, or coworkers with tastes different to your own to recommend a few good books. Write them down, toss them into a hat, and choose a few at random to check out.
• Are you a mood reader, prone to disliking a book just because it doesn’t match the mood you’re in (or the one you’re looking for)? Use an app or site like Storygraph or Goodreads to quickly filter your choices by mood, rather than genre or subject.

If you’re a methodical reader…

You invest a lot of time, and perhaps effort or emotion, into your reading. As such, you do your due diligence ahead of time to try and ensure that time and effort is never wasted on works that will not satisfy your particular cravings. You know what you like, and it’s hard to imagine finding anything outside of that selection that will satisfy your literary cravings to quite the same extent.

Reading outside your comfort zone might feel, well, uncomfortable. That’s okay. Bask in the discomfort. Before you know it, you’ll get used to it—and then it’ll be time to expand your horizons once again. But for now, try the following:

• Research your favorite authors’ literary inspirations. In particular, keep an eye out for anything that strikes you as unexpected. If you find yourself thinking, “I never imagined they liked/read something like that,” that’s your green light to go and discover that source of inspiration for yourself.
• Use bestseller lists to guide you. Looking to switch up genres or subject matter? Look for lists of bestselling or “classic” books in genres or fields outside of your norm. If millions of other people like these books, maybe you’ll find something to like about them, too.
• Ask fellow bookworms for recommendations outside of your comfort zone, paying particular attention to anything they really seem passionate about or any titles or authors that get brought up more than once.
• Make up a theme for your challenge, as I did. I’ve been joking that my theme for the year is “365 Days Around the World,” because I’m spending the year reading books by authors from a variety of places and cultural backgrounds. You might, instead, want to do a deep dive into a particular genre, subject, etc., or you might want to go broader, maybe trying a little bit of everything to see what piques your interest.

A Few Final Tips for Reading Books Outside Your Comfort Zone

Above all, the most important thing to do when deciding to read outside your comfort zone is to have fun with it. Whether you’re expanding your horizons purely for pleasure or to grow on a personal or professional level, reading should, as often as possible, be enjoyable in some way.

If you’re short on cash, or just not interested in spending money on this particular venture, check your local library—or borrow from someone who is willing to trust you with tomes from their personal collection. Even if you can’t visit a library in person, there are free online library resources like Open Library or Project Gutenberg—and of course, anything in the public domain is bound to be easily findable on regular old Google.

Remember, if you don’t like a book, you can always return it, or give it away to someone who might love it better. And just because you don’t love a book doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth reading. You can learn a lot even from a book that doesn’t earn a special place in your heart—even if the lesson is as simple as “I don’t like this kind of book after all.”

Looking for something new to read? The Harbinger’s Head is a fantasy/horror interactive fiction novel set in a mythical 19th-century Ireland—click here to read the first chapter for free! Or, check out the demo for The Dragon’s Last Flight, available for download now on itch.io.