Know Your Genre BEFORE You Write Your Book

I think every author out there has experienced the same thing. You are at a gathering of friends and somehow, there is a mention that you are an author. Suddenly, EVERYONE is an author. "You know, I have been working on a book..." At some point, these people have come up with "a great idea for a story, ran to their computers and started typing. Even experience authors have done this.

And here is where the experienced authors separate themselves from those other people.

They stop writing.

They take the time to really examine what they are writing and whether or not it will even work in the market. They take the time to examine what that genre is, and more importantly, if they know anything about that genre.

Over the weekend, I had a on of authors who were submitting projects to me who either marketed the book as something it wasn't, or worse yet, openly admitted they did not know what genre it really was. And this is a problem. Not just with the number of rejections that author was going to get, but the fact that they really did not know how to write. That last one might come across as a bit harsh, but let me explain.

I have screamed time and time again to know two things before starting a project. The first is to fully understand all of the nuances of your genre - those things that make it what it is. And secondly, to know where you really want to see your book published. In other words, what publisher you are interested in. These two things shape your story, the characters, the plot and what you put into it.

You have to know what you are writing and what those needs are BEFORE you invest time in it. Just because your story is set in the 1730's does not necessarily make it a historical. Yes, it is a historical setting but it could be general fiction, romance, paranormal, mystery or thriller. This is where you as an author need to study that genre.

I do believe these issues are once again coming as a result of the self-publishing movement. People are not educated any more when it comes to writing. They know how to type and that is it. They lack the skills many experienced writers have when they truly studied the "art of writing."

So, if you truly want to be a great author, take the time to learn to write. Study the art of writing." You may find greater success.