Know Your Genre

Do you know what you are writing? Do you know what genre you are really writing? Far too often, writers have absolutely no idea what they are doing. They write a story because they had this great idea. And then they hit a brick wall. Suddenly editors and agents are being specific. They want to know that genre your story is?

Arrgggghhhhhh!!!!!!

This is something I talk about a lot here on this blog, with writing chapters and at writing conferences. You have to know what your genre is, before you start writing. You cannot wait for a critique partner or an agent, or an editor to tell you that your story really is (fill in the blank genre). 

Yes I know that there are a lot of writers out there who say they do not want to be "categorized" as something. These authors feel that they are fell trapped and confined. And yet, the real world says that we need to categorize things. This is not so much for the producer, but the consumer.

As readers, we will go to certain sections of a book store, or click on certain hyperlinks to take us to the book section we want to read. This means that the book buyers need to know how to classify your book. This also means that all of those books, in that section, have similar characteristics. 

Think of it this way. You may write a historical romance. That means that it has to meet certain requirements: a specific time period (Not just last year), and it must follow a relationship until a happily ever after. You might have some mystery in your story but that little bit of mystery does not make it a mystery. It is a historical romance. 

So, how do you know what you write? It is all about research. It is about reading over and over again the same genre to get the feel of it. To know the nuances. To know the parameters. And then, as an author, you write to fit those parameters.

And let me further stress that this, in now way, is going to hamper you writing. You get to do a lot in those broad parameters. 

So figure it out. You might find greater success.