Welcome to the Blogging A to Z Challenge, where, this month, I'll be focusing on all things writing. This may be a random jumping around of topics within my theme, but hopefully something somewhere will be useful to someone. (V is for vague - see that last sentence.) Check out all the participants here . Lets get on with today's letter.G is for Genre
Genre is what kind of book you're writing. The category you would go to in order to search for it. Where would you find it in a bookstore? There are a lot of genres. Knowing what your story falls under is important because genre plays into a lot of things both at the writing and trying to publish stages.
While you're writing, you need to know what genre you're attempting to fit within. Yes, you can combine genres, but do keep in mind that odd combinations make your book more difficult to sell because the audience for that is likely smaller. Meaning you might want to think twice about that Western Steampunk Mystery Romance.
Different genres have different expectations from readers. It's a good idea to read the genre you're writing to know what those elements are. You'll want to writer your story with the majority of the readers of that genre in mind with regards to word usage, characters, heat and violence levels and other types of content.
Genre plays into word count as well. Middle grade is shorter than young adult. Science fiction and fantasy have much higher word count thresholds than many other genres. It's a good idea to do a little research and know the general range to shoot for.
When you're ready to try to sell or publish your story, you'll need to know what genre it is in order to search for the correct market. You don't want to sent out your western romance to a publisher who specializes in literary fiction. That would be a waste of everyone's time. If you're looking for a publisher, you may want to know other comparable titles within your genre with which to compare your work.
What genre's do you write?
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I always thing of figuring out your book's genre as the equivalent of learning where not to waste your time. From word count to word choice to knowing where to market, it streamlines the entire process. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI'm now wondering if my diary novel set in the 1980s should be classified as YA or MG. Those two are hard to distinguish sometimes.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I write Dark Fantasy :-)
ReplyDeleteSpeculative fiction but I feel that it is a hard genre to peg. Especially since a lot of reader have never heard of it. Or at least the readers I've spoken to. LOL!
ReplyDeleteStella! Yay!
DeleteI have the same problem in talking to readers. It seems like spec fic is something most people aren't aware of as an umbrella term for sci-fi/fantasy and all their derivatives. Yet, it totally fits what I do.
Some new sub-genres emerged recently that seem to be taking over larger ones. For example, it is hard to find historical fiction in a book shop that is not historical romance or historical crime... I wonder if it is a popularity thing, or if they are just easier to market...?
ReplyDeleteThe Multicolored Diary: Weird Things in Hungarian Folktales