If the Genre Fits
Show of hands. Who’s having trouble deciding the genre of your book? What if your work, for example, falls into women’s fiction, but is also a romance with a dash of suspense and the paranormal? What if it’s Young Adult, but also a Western with a touch of sci-fi and magical realism? (OK. That’s a bit of stretch, but you get the idea.)
The truth is, the number of book genres and sub-genres out there can make your head spin. Literary agents and editors probably have a hard time keeping them straight as well. But when it comes to you, the author, how do you classify your book if it’s a mix of genres? Here are some thoughts from various sources.
If you’re going the traditional publishing route, in search of an agent, then knowing your genre is critical, according to John C. Ford, author of “The Morgue and Me” (Viking). “If you don’t know what shelf your book should be on, then agents, editors and booksellers probably won’t either, and that will make them reluctant to invest in your manuscript,” he recently wrote on Folio Literary Management’s site. http://foliolit.com/resources/knowing-your-genre/
Literary agent Rachelle Gardner agrees. “Genre sets the stage, sets up an expectation, and gets the listener in the right frame of mind to understand your story,” she wrote some months ago on her blog http://www.rachellegardner.com/ ”Just like Netflix or at the Redbox, where you can choose to search movies by category (thriller, action, romance, comedy, family), the genre is usually the first thing someone wants to know about your book.”
Gardner goes on to say that genre exists to help readers find the books they like. So, she advises finding 10 books whose readers will probably also like your book. Think to yourself, “My readers are people who love books such as ______, ____, and _____. What are those books? Now, what genre are those books?”
Sometimes, it’s OK to use two or three words to describe your 
genre, she writes, such as historical romance, or paranormal thriller. Others have suggested simply leaving the specific genre off your query letter and leaving the decision to the agent, or to mention that the book could be positioned within more than one genre.
In fact, some say it’s permissible to break the genre rules. Today, that seems to be happening more with e-books. In the e-publishing world, you as the author are in control of your marketing destiny, so you can decide what genre fits and what readers you want to attract.
Ultimately, genre is a marketing label that helps publishers and bookstores, but has very little to do what interests the reader, say Margaret Yang and Harry R. Campion writing together as M.H. Mead http://www.yangandcampion.com/. Readers want to know if it’s a book they’ll enjoy reading.
“Readers don’t care [about blended genres],” they write. “They want a good story, well told. We don’t know anyone who exclusively reads a single genre and we bet you don’t either. And when genres blend, we like it even more.”
Still, Gardner and other agents advise there is no getting away from genre. “You need to be able to tell someone what genre your novel is,” she writes, “for a variety of reasons that all relate to the fact that you’re trying to make your art into a business.”
So there it is. If the genre fits, slap a label or two on it. Or not. As Yang and Campion say, just make sure it’s a good story, well-told.
A FINE LINE
There’s a lot of discussion about the value of a critique group. Those who don’t favor the idea ask: “Do you really want your work critiqued by a bunch of amateurs?” Other familiar questions are: “Are you willing to submit unfinished work for someone to pick holes in?” “Won’t that nip in the bud any spontaneity it might have?” “Is there a risk of turning out something that reads like a book by committee – a book that has nothing wrong with it, but which is completely lacking freshness or originality?” All are valid observations, but . . .
On the other side of the fence are those who insist they need all the help they can get before they subject their manuscript to the scrutiny of an agent or an editor. A fresh set of eyes can spot weaknesses you, as the writer, are too close to see. They can point out gaps that are not apparent because you, as the creator, know the back-story. And they can tell you when you’ve added too much back-story and need to let the reader have the fun of using his imagination.
Both arguments have merit. In the end, it depends on the individual writer – and the group.
I had the good fortune to meet a wonderful group of writers when I was writing my first book. In addition to the writing advice I received from these people was the unexpected bonus that came with having to meet a deadline. We met every two weeks and knowing that I needed something to submit imposed a discipline I had been lacking. And discipline is a huge part of writing. But the real value of the group came from the feeling of being part of a fellowship of kindred spirits. In that group, I was first and foremost a writer. Writing was not something I did in addition to my real life. I believe this is vitally important, especially to someone just starting out. You have to learn to think of yourself as a writer, to make time to write, not merely find time.
When I said I was lucky in my first experience with a critique group, what I meant most of all is that I was fortunate to fall in with the right people. Though we were a diverse group and were each writing a different type of book, we were all at about the same level of competence. We analyzed and advised, but not too much. Often there was agreement that something wasn’t working, but disagreement about how it could be made to work. I found that a good thing. It told me that I needed a new direction, but left me free to find my own path. Perhaps most important, we treated one another with respect. Enough respect that we did not give false praise. We were honest in our criticism, but not so critical that we were crippling. There’s a fine line there–but an important one.
How about you? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.
Writers — who are we?
We are writers. That’s what we call ourselves. But what does that mean? It means that each day we wake up, get to our computers and we throw words onto the screen, spinning them into stories. We tell ourselves we’ll stay at the writing, but life tends to interrupt. Laundry. Grocery shopping. Kids. Aging parents.
Then we go back to writing. Sometimes that day. Sometimes not for weeks. We blame ourselves. After all, we’re committed to writing our novels, getting them finished. We tell ourselves we’ll do better tomorrow.
We plug away, and push and pull at words, fret and fume, revise what we’ve written, tell ourselves what we’ve written is horrific, then the next day, tell ourselves it isn’t so bad. Will anyone read this? Buy this? Like it? We are our own proverbial worst critics and enemies.
No matter. We keep writing, hoping to make sense of the novel we’ve plotted. The story line and characters shift beneath us like literary Jell-o © as we try to gain stability and footing. We want a paragraph, a page, a chapter to gel, to be solid. We also want the story to flow, a paradox, a structured tale that propels the reader forward.
When we are away from our computers and desks, we appear not to be writing. But we are. Usually the quiet ones, we observe life as we go about our day. We listen. We are sponges soaking up experiences so we can get back to the computer and stitch them into the fabrics of our stories.
As we press on toward those wonderful two words
– The End – we realize it’s not. It’s only the beginning. After we write our first draft, we rewrite, we edit, we revise even more. Then we pitch to agents, hoping to find representation, praying to be published.
In the end, our writing is a labor of love and more. It is the ultimate giving of ourselves. In our deepest hearts, we offer up our words so that so that we may be read. In truth, we yearn to be read. We want readers to root for our characters, baffle readers with a mystery, creep into their hearts, move them to tears. We want to offer them an experience they will remember and have no other place except in the pages we’ve written.
Everyone says they want to write a book. But few do. Fewer still can write a really good book. We strive to do that. It may take years to create a story that will be sold, read and savored. Or to write a story that may never see print. Some ask why? Why go through all this for so little?
Ah. But it is not so little. It is everything. Writing is our gift. It is our blessing to others and our intimate connection with them. We would have it no other way.
Once again I was on the Amazon waiting list for Jacqueline Winspear’s latest Maisie Dobbs novel, and, no, I opted not to get the Kindle edition. For this series, I wanted to own the hard cover book. The illustration on the cover of Winspear’s latest is one more reason to prefer the actual book for it so cleverly showcases just what the novel is about. A horse pulls a carriage smack in the middle of the lower edge of the cover, as an automobile edges its way into view. Note the lit-up Parliament and Big Ben in the background and the sun is going down. Is the sun setting on England? Well, it’s April of 1933 and the future of the green island might well be in the balance. But this novel has a dual focus: not only large-scale political manipulation on the political scene as in last year’s A Lesson In Secrets, but the fate of the little people who get caught in the ruckus. And I personally like that theme of the working class. It’s satisfying that Maisie never forgets her humble roots.
Jacqueline Winspear, of course, is the author of the riveting Maisie Dobbs novels, historical mysteries set in post-World War I England. This novel is the ninth in the series and was just released in late March. It may be one of my favorites in the series for in it psychologist and private investigator Maisie Dobbs returns to the costermonger circle of her childhood when she investigates the mysterious death of Eddie Pettit , a gentle, possibly autistic – before such a term existed – man who has a special gift for working with horses. This seems a particularly current theme, especially in the way Winspear incorporates plotlines on inclusion and bullying into the narrative.
If we are truly to “read like writers” we learn from every aspect of a writer’s work and there are certainly lessons to be learned here. The first might be to let your plot – even if the narrative is set in the past or future – speak to the times in which it is written. A character like Eddie Pettit – different, even odd, but with very particular gifts – is depicted with a protective, loving community that watches out for him and appreciates his talents. In short, it is a model for how such folks should be treated today. It’s inspiring to see how Winspear depicts the working class of London knowing the need for inclusion instinctively — and what’s more — acting on it.
The books also reflect Winspear’s long fascination with the English women who came of age during the Great War. Her new blog provides glimpses into the rich research she has done which so obviously informs her novels. She writes, “For many years, long before I became a writer of fiction, I had collected books written for, by and about that generation, and was fascinated by the way so many navigated waters that were unfamiliar to them, and who realized that at war’s end the landscape of opportunity had changed dramatically for women.” It’s obvious that Winspear’s fascination propelled the books and not the other way around. That’s a second lesson: write about what you love, not to sell books. The sales will follow if your work reflects your passion.
And one final lesson: a writer can acquire knowledge through research, as Winspear clearly does, but some knowledge is innate or just part of who that author is. For example, that horse on the cover? Illustrator Andrew Davidson used Winspear’s own Friesian, Oliver, as inspiration for the silhouetted horse. So Winspear lives with horses. No wonder she got the horse descriptions so right!
http://www.maisiedobbs.com/2011/09/introduction-to-blog.html
http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com/about.php
The Cart Before the Horse: Screenplay vs. Novel
One of the pleasures of writing for Avalon is getting to know other writers, especially those who write in different genres than I do. JOHN M. SHARPE writes Avalon Westerns. I know that he has also written a number of screenplays, so I asked him about the differences between writing for the screen and the page. Here’s his answer. I think you’ll find it interesting. Maybe it will even inspire you to try something different.
First, just a few words about our guest: John M. Sharpe was born in Canada, moved to Boston as a teenager, and after college and the US Army, found his niche as an advertising copywriter. He left advertising for a career in freelance writing and fiction. He now lives in Virginia, where he continues working as a novelist and a freelance writer. OK, time to let John speak for himself.
The way things tend to work, we are apt to see a piece of long fiction written as a novel first and then later, usually when and if the money gods conspire, adapted as a screenplay. Having a long and illustrious career of doing things backwards, it would come as no surprise to learn that my two novels published so far by Avalon were first written as screenplays.
My personal relationship with the money gods has always been a bit standoffish at best. As a result, I decided a few years ago to turn a couple of the scripts I had written into novels, on the theory that I couldn’t do any worse than I was doing, i.e., 12 scripts written, zero scripts sold.
With nothing to lose I chose One Step From Hell and Hobbs and the Kid, a couple of Westerns. A genre that was pretty much impossible to sell to Hollywood at that time –– and still is, if the number you see on these screen these days is any indication. (Although I did option Hobbs and the Kid once and some money changed hands, the producer was never able to raise the financing.
So, I convinced myself, the hardest part of the job was done. The stories were all plotted, the characters were in place, and most if not all of the dialogue was written. As it happened for once, my
expectations turned out pretty much as I –– well, had expected. Having always been either too lazy or impatient to do outlines, I found that having the script to work from did indeed make the writing easier –– not better, unfortunately, just easier.
I was reminded at that point of some words of wisdom I had read from a man named Syd Field years before. Syd was one of the pioneer instructors in what exploded into the “how to write a screenplay” business. He said, among other gems, that the hardest part about writing was knowing what to write about. In all the years I’ve been scribbling away, I’ve never found reason to disagree with him. Having a completed screenplay to work from when I started my novels sure solved that problem.
I also found a certain sense of rejuvenation in going from one literary form to another; sort of “a change is as good as a rest” if you will. Though the spoken dialogue was, for the most part, directly transferable, other elements were not. Screenplays have no interior dialogue, no thoughts, unless you resort to voiceover or titles, both of which are virtually taboo for the modern script. So what your character is “thinking” has to be expressed in some form of visual action or reaction.
And there is a freedom of sorts going from script to novel when you find you can write a few lines or even paragraphs that describe what you character is saying to himself or thinking or ruminating about. Of course the flip side of that is the time (and words) in a novel required for description –– of all kinds; unlike in a script for a visual medium, where the fewer words the better when it comes to describing how your characters look, act, and/or where the action takes place.
Part of this has come about, I think, because producers are notoriously poor readers. They tend to just skim the dialogue and if the story doesn’t grab them in a couple of pages it’s all over. Those who can afford it rely on “readers” to give spec scripts a more thorough reading. (It was always very encouraging to think that your life’s blood on the page would live or die on the whim of a 19-year-old intern working for the summer evaluating scripts written by writers who had been at their trade for maybe 10 or 20 years.)
All that aside, I heartily endorse the idea of a novelist trying out a screenplay, or a script writer trying out a novel –– just to let a little fresh air into his or her writing once in a while.
For me, putting the cart before the horse was a fun ride.
Thanks, John. Reading your take on the screen/page question was a fun ride too.
To find John’s books on amazon: Hobbs and the Kid – http://amzn.to/JgyVyw One Step From Hell -http://amzn.to/KfbDy7YA Comes of Age
I admit it. I stayed up late into the night turning the pages of The Hunger Games. It was deep, dark and addictive. I couldn’t put it down. And yes, I was a little behind the times in reading this gripping story, a post-apocalyptic tale about a teenage girl who fights to survive lethal games televised for sport. It’s been on the New York Times best-seller list for three years and the movie adaptation came out in March.
What makes this unusual for me – it’s a Young Adult (YA) novel and I rarely read YA. Nor do I write it. I admit that YA is not my genre or my forte (women’s/adult fiction), like my co-blogger Gretchen Haertsch, who writes so beautifully for this age group.
I bow to Gretchen and all those writing YA because, like any other genre, it takes some skill. A bit of research shows that a YA writer has to make sure the protagonist does not have an adult perspective, or does not “look back” and reflect on the emotion or the situation. The character needs to learn, grow and change during the course of the novel from the events she is experiencing in the book.
YA writers especially need to avoid getting preachy. Nobody wants to be taught lessons when they are reading fiction. Never is this truer than in writing for young adults. Teenagers have radar for this, and the voice will feel inauthentic.
YA writers also need to give their readers hopeful endings, despite whatever grim actions may take place, as in “The Hunger Games.” Adult novels often have sad or uncertain endings. YA readers want a sense they have a choice, and at least a possibility, for hope.
As I said, I am no expert in this genre. However, any writer worth his or her literary salt needs to be reading every type of novel out there to learn more about the craft. And for most of my life I’ve focused on adult fiction, failing to see how riveting and compelling YA books can be. Yes, yes — I did read some of the Potter books and struggled through Twilight, but beyond that, I had relegated YA to a stack of books to be read at another time.
It seems that time is now — and I’m not alone. More and more adults, especially boomers, are peeking between the pages of this genre once relegated to teachers, librarians or parents who wanted to keep an eye on the tastes of young readers.
YA has been so sizzling hot, in fact, that established authors are delving into the genre. Best-selling novelists like James Patterson, John Grisham, Harlan Coben and Candace Bushnell recently released their own young-adult titles. Of course, some, if not a majority of this thrust toward YA is revenue-driven. In a bleak publishing industry, YA books remain the one bright spot. From 2008-2010, sales of books for children, teens and young adults rose by 12 percent, while sales of adult fiction rose only 3.5 percent.
Obviously, something is driving those sales. So what’s attracting adult readers? Experts say it’s a variety of reasons, from pure escapism to entertainment. YA novels offer budding romances, elaborate settings and well-planned plots. In fact, poll most adults who have read YA and they’ll tell you they prefer young-adult books to adult ones.
As a reader, I am coming late to these wonderful books and don’t want to miss out on future good reads, such as Partial by Dan Wells, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Fracture by Megan Miranda. It’s odd, but in some ways, I feel like I’ve come full circle, growing up devouring Nancy Drew books. Now, as a boomer, I can’t wait to read the next up-and-coming YA novel.
And I’m not ashamed to admit it, even at my age. After all, a good book is a good book.
2012 Empty Nest Article by Gretchen and Emilie Haertsch
2012 Empty Nest Article by Gretchen and Emilie Haertsch
Read our recent travel article on Quincy, Mass., for the online magazine Empty Nest.
