Do I Have to Know My Genre?

If you're new to the world of professional writing, you may have stumbled a few times over the "genre" question, and thinking that was the least of your concerns, you passed over it.

Well, back up! It's more important than you think.

"I write lots of different things. I have a Young Adult novel, a Chick Lit novella, and a detective series in mind. I'm just too diversified to be stuck in one genre!"

If you've ever said or even thought that, go ahead and deny it right now. By the end of this article, you'll be glad you refused to admit it. It's the flashing light that signals an amateur.

Genre is where creativity meets business. And despite your passion for creative expression, business is what drives this industry. Like it or not, you have to face the business side of writing if you expect anyone else to ever have the privilege of reading your thoughts.

You should try all kinds of writing at first. Let your creativity flow. Write book after book, but put them away and start on another. Those are called "starter books" and they help you learn the craft of fiction writing. But they most likely will never see print. That's okay. Every successful writer has them.

Chances are that during all that writing, your own voice was beginning to emerge and an underlying theme began to creep into your work. Maybe no matter how the book began, someone always gets murdered and your hero has to figure it out. You may have started out writing a light-hearted romance, but lo-and-behold, your comical sidekick gets shot and the whole thing flips on you! If so, your genre may be suspense or crime writing. If your characters just can't stop falling for each other no matter the circumstance, then maybe you're a romance writer.

The importance of choosing a single genre at first can't be overstated. The purpose of your first few books is to build a reading audience. If you pick up a Dean Koontz book, you want high suspense. If it turned into Alice In Wonderland, you'd be offended and probably never pick up another Dean Koontz. Publishers and bookstore owners know this and they don't want to take a chance on spending thousands of dollars producing and stocking your book only to have you change on them for the next one.

So sticking with a genre at first isn't limiting you. It's helping you build a fan base. Once you're wildly popular, you can take a chance on another kind of book, but often it is not nearly as successful as your first genre. Readers don't like surprises like that. They read your books because they know what to expect and like it.

So have you thought about genre? Don't be afraid to experiment with all kinds of writing. Your strong points will emerge the more you write and you won't mind limiting yourself to what you're best at until you've proven yourself a master at it. Your readers won't mind either.

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