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Know your genre.
This is advice given often to new writers, in the interests of making them define their work and therefore be more likely to be able to identify an audience. As advice goes, it’s solid and logical, to the extent that it makes you roll your eyes and say, “well duh.”
Except, is it really that simple? I can’t be the only one who is having trouble pigeonholing my novel into a particular genre. And it’s not that I’m writing something that crosses genres – it’s not a romantic thriller with a paranormal twist and a homicide, for instance. (Not that I have anything against such novels; I’m just using that as a random example.) No, I’m stuck within the sub-genres of romance. I tend to call it romantic comedy, but as far as I’m aware that genre belongs to film rather than books. It may be clearer when the novel is finished, of course, but at the moment I’m torn between labelling my story as chick lit or contemporary romance. Or maybe one of the many other sub-genres out there that I’m just not familiar with yet. You get the idea?
I’m aware of course that genre mis-labeling is nothing new. I remember when Twilight first came out and it was filed in the bookshops under “Horror“, because that was where vampire books went. Of course, it wasn’t a horror story, and before long there were whole shelves labelled “Teen Paranormal Romance“. I think it’s great that Twilight was able to challenge traditional genre labelling like that, but maybe now things are getting a little too specific. Wouldn’t “Paranormal” or even “Paranormal Romance” do the job? Otherwise we’re alienating all those paranormal romances out there which don’t have teenaged protagonists.
I read an article recently about how specific some of the sub-genres out there are, and I have to agree that in some cases there is probably an argument for broadening things a little. Sure, some of the more specific sub-genres have very targeted readerships – gluten-free vegan food, for example – but maybe that should be reserved for non-fiction. I tend to think that fiction readers are rarely that specific in their tastes.
Then again, I’m just one person with very little practical experience in this industry, so what would I know? I’d love to hear what people think about this: are fiction sub-genres getting too specific, or should we be easily able to slot our work under a particular heading? And on that matter, what is the real difference between chick lit and contemporary romance? Any advice would be most welcome.
Related articles
- Genre switching (jdbeech.wordpress.com)
- Author Branding (nancyjcohen.wordpress.com)
- Genres for Dummies (or a quick list guide of the more confusing genres and sub-genres) (selfpubauthors.com)
- The genre dilemma (verityglasswing.wordpress.com)
- Evolution of genres- No Dubstep without Big Beat… (gearslutz.com)
I agree, especially regarding cross-genre (nearly typed cross-gender!) novels. When I put mine on-line, I had to pick from a range of unsatisfactory options, with the result that the story is mislabelled and potentially unsatisfying to readers expecting something different. That’s sad.
Not just me then? *wipes brow* It is sad, though. There are so many genres, you would think it would be easy to label your work under one of them, but what if you do choose the wrong one? A smaller number of broader headings would make life so much easier. I mean, I understand why you have the distinctions (teen paranormal romance is very different from Christian historical romance, for example, yet both fall under the broad heading of “romance”), but sometimes it feels like there’s a lack of clarity in where the line between them is drawn.
I’m of two minds about this. On one hand, I feel like I have trouble defining my own work into a particular genre. And I also think the genre YA is too wide–the range is anywhere from around middle school to college age, and those are vastly different groups of people! I may feel comfortable with a sixteen year old reading my work, but a thirteen year old?
On the other hand, I agree with you about some sub-genres getting too specific, definitely agree with you on the teen paranormal romance bit.
I wonder if having ratings, like video games, Teen, Mature, etc., and then broader genres would help? But I’m hardly in the publishing industry, so I’m not sure.
I think that at some point we need to let go of responsibility for who reads our work. I’d say that most 13 year olds probably aren’t ready for most of the books in the Young Adult market – not that it stops them from reading them, of course. Then again, if they’re too young for it then chances are they just won’t understand it rather than being scarred for life. YA is a catch-all for the mid to older teenaged market and I think that’s fine … but then again, like you I’m not in the publishing industry.
I think there have been pushes in the past for books (and even CDs and paintings) to be rated like films and video games are, but it’s never gained much momentum save the odd “this is not suitable for children” sticker on some album releases. Then again, there are different practices in different parts of the world. Even book genre labelling is localised, because it’s only been in the past year or two that I’ve seen YA in my local bookstores. Prior to that, stories aimed at the older teenaged market were filed under “Children’s books, older readers”. So I dare say there’s no answer that suits every market anyway.
Thanks for the comment!
Sometimes I think their are not enough genres as well. It makes it hard to pick a new book sometimes bc they may throw the book under 4 different subgenres bc none r a good fit our they just try to tie it to every subgenre the book may have elements of. So annoying!
While I see your point, how narrow do you want sub-genres to be? I suspect that many of the books you refer to could be listed under any number of broader genre labels, but the authors chose not to for whatever reason. “Teen Paranormal Romance”, for example, is still romance. “YA Dystopian Thriller” is still YA. I admit that some narrowing is useful – in romance, I love a good chick lit but will pass on Mills and Boon, for example – but I don’t like narrowing it too far. Then again, that’s me, and everyone’s opinion is different. That’s what makes life interesting, after all.
Thanks for the comment!
I understand if a book truly fits multiple genres but for someone who has been burned multiple times I wish a better system was in place. Maybe if a book fits a particular genre the best the publisher can list a primary genre then list all the others. It just seems someone clicks a button sometimes and says the book fit this, this and this. There is a way to do this. I just know if I am looking for a science fiction romance or paranormal romance that is what I want to read at that time. With familiar authors it is not that big of an issue because you know what to expect unless they are dipping into something new. With the teen example we know it is a romance so I would list the primary subcategory YA then list all the other subcategories.
I know I won’t be the one to solve this but either way Emily I enjoyed talking books with you!
I actually can’t see how ‘YA’ can be a genre. It’s an age bracket, like ‘children’ or ‘adult’; it gives no indication of the subject of the story. All genres that are applicable to adult stories can also apply to YA (with the possible exception of age-inappropriate content). Therefore, YA should, at best, be a qualifier; for example, there can be [adult] romances and [YA] romances.
I think the publishing industry seems to have this idea that people under the age of 18 don’t care what they read, so long as it’s age appropriate. After all, the Famous Five and Winnie the Pooh are both labelled “children’s books” when they have little in common besides their language. I think YA is considered in the same light – until you hit adulthood you don’t care about genre, apparently. At least, that’s how it seems to me. In that sense, YA is as much of a genre as children’s. I agree, it’s an age rather than a genre, but that’s how it seems to be for younger readers.
I think YA is more of an age group than a genre. As mentioned by Peter and bookswagger, there can be genres and sub-genres within the YA group. In In To me, romance being categorised as YA already tells the reader the ‘romance’ is age appropriate, more like for 16 year olds and above. You can’t stop under 16s from reading the YA group though.
I’d love to know what others think about the definitions mentioned too.
Going back to your question Emily…I had a problem categorising my book too. A rom-com (romantic comedy) or a chick-lit or a contemporary romance? And would it be a multicultural chick lit? There and then, multicultural is a bit off too. We have to make do with the labels and the genres out there. I decided on this order of genres: Literature & fiction, fiction, romance, contemporary romance, chick lit and women’s fiction. As for ‘romantic-comedy’, like you I tend to think of films, but ‘rom-com’ is being used by some authors already. And it seems to insinuate saucy, humourous plots. The term ‘chick-lit’ has a debatable definition of its own – see http://chicklitbooks.com/what-is-chick-lit/
Hope this helps
Thanks Alison! It’s a bit confusing, isn’t it? I’m glad someone else has had the same problems I have.
Emily, I did have a question regarding your blog–how did you get those related articles at the bottom? Are you just looking and finding them, or is there a widget that helps with that? I think it’s a really cool idea!
Actually it’s down the bottom of your add-post page in WordPress. There’s a bit on the right hand side where you can select from some they provide which are related, or if the subject matter doesn’t seem right you can do your own search. I try to do 3-4 related posts each time, assuming it’s relevant.
Thank you!