Have you heard this one? A witch and a vampire walk into a bar and have a drink. They fall in love, but are forbidden to have a relationship. A conflict ensues and they spend the next three books trying to overcome prejudice, political malice, and murderous behavior.
How would you describe that book to a friend? Is it a paranormal romance? An urban fantasy? Vampire romance? Or would you call it plain old fiction or literature? The answer, it turns out, is it depends . . .
As writers, genres matter. They’re meant to serve as guideposts to help readers find us. For books that are traditionally published, genres often determine which shelf your book will show up on in a bookstore, what the cover looks like, and even how the book is marketed and perceived. For a self-published writer like myself, I have much more control over things like my cover design and the key words for an online search, but even I have to choose some genre label to help Amazon/Kobo/Smashwords determine how to categorize my book and market it to readers. The problem is that genres can be a double-edged sword--at times acting as a misplaced marker that can turn readers away rather than pull them in.
The good news is that genre audiences are voracious--and loyal--readers, staying with the writers and themes they adore: historical romance, fantasy, noir, paranormal, science fiction, etc. I include myself among those who have anxiously awaited the next book from J.K. Rowling, Charlaine Harris, or J.R. Ward. Being a genre writer can be like being a part of a secret club, one where the language and customs are known and enjoyed by a self-selected group. The problem arises when, as a writer, you encounter a reader who doesn’t normally read those kinds of books. Even though your book might be right up their alley, they may never discover it, and therein lies the rub.
Some writers and books manage to transcend genres. Like The Spy Who Came in From The Cold, they catapult over the Berlin Wall of labels and categories and become mainstream successes, recognized as much for their literary merit as their genre appeal. Two recent examples also come to mind. The first is Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy, which features a vampire, a spellbound witch, and a magical manuscript that may or may not be The Origin of the Species for supernatural creatures. The second is Edan Lepucki’s California--an apocalyptic novel written by someone who doesn’t normally write in that genre, giving the book far greater appeal to readers across a wide spectrum. Another perennial example is Margaret Atwood, who no one ever talks about as a genre author, even though she writes science fiction.
For the record, I adore most of the books and authors I’ve mentioned here. I’ve enjoyed their stories and improved my own writing by reading theirs. But I do ponder how well these labels work for books. In an industry that is rapidly changing, are genre categories even necessary? How important are genre labels in writing today?
I had a chance to raise this topic at Litquake’s summer session at the Jewish Community Center this past August in Palo Alto with fellow genre writers Nick Taylor and Keith Raffel. We had a spirited discussion about whether it’s a blessing or a curse to be a so-called genre writer. These are two writers whose recent works take readers from a baseball-playing private eye who stumbles into a deadly conspiracy, to President Kennedy on the eve of the Cuban missile crisis, so I knew I was in for a treat moderating our talk.
I wasn’t disappointed. Keith began with a tally of the annual earnings of some of the better-known suspense and mystery writers, confirming that readers do indeed love their genres. While we did share our frustration at being pigeonholed, ultimately our conversation circled back to one conclusion: as writers, we have to write the story in our hearts, genres be damned. If the voice in your head turns out to be a relief pitcher that solves mysteries in between innings, then that’s where you have to go.
The books of my Dark Horse trilogy mix politics and current events in with paranormal situations and characters. My main character, Olivia, is a political consultant who gets tapped to join a secret organization that intervenes in political races to maintain a civil society. Her adventure begins when an ancient time walker appears in her kitchen one day, changing her life in ways that she could never have imagined.
I didn’t set out to write a paranormal romance, but that’s where I ended up. Why? I’m drawn to the bigger questions in life. Why do humans repeat their mistakes? Can we draw lessons from past history? I like the flexibility that the science fiction/fantasy/paranormal genres give me as a writer. I can examine these timeless human issues from the perspective of a 1000-year old vampire, or a time walker from the thirteenth century. These are creatures that have lived through the life/death cycles of the world and have a lot to say about war, famine and, of course, human nature.
My questions for my fellow writers are, do genres matter in today’s publishing world? And did you choose your genre, or did it choose you?
Thanks for your post. I agree - horror is something more scary - vampires are almost their own genre :)
Well-thought out post, Evette, and consistently on point. For my first novel, The Sandoval Sisters' Secret of Old Blood, I struggled between Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance and Women's Fiction. Can't tell you how many times I changed my mind. The publisher choose Historical Fiction and the book won an award in that category. My current work concerns a modern day vampire and I'm in the same quandary as you, is it an Urban Fantasy? While vampires are involved and there is bloodsucking, I wouldn't classify it as Horror. While there's romance, the plot doesn't turn on that factor. This decision is not easy.
Excellent post! And 'it depends' is spot on. It seems that genres do still matter in today's world, if only to categorize. I choose to write children's stories however, I hadn't given a thought to my grown up stories being of any particular genre (the freedom you spoke of!) until an editor remarked on my penchant for paranormal!
I love the Woman King cover Evette! And Eden Lepucki -- we share an agent and it has been such a thrill to see her book get so much attention, even if it is in the shadow of the Hachette battle. This genre question is a vexed one, it can be such a boost and also can be limiting. Thanks for this post.
Excellent post, Evette! The mixing of genres, to me, is similar to the "mashups" that are more popular than ever -- in music, on the Web, all around us. I've been a long-time reader of the annual "Best American Short Stories" series. This year I bought the "Best American Mystery Stories" collection because I'm working in that genre rather than literary fiction. But you know what I found in those pages? Lots and lots of literary magazines as the source for many of the "mysteries." Robert Crais edited the collection, and remarked in his intro about how one can define "mystery" in a lot of ways... hence, mystery stories from a lot of -- maybe unexpected -- sources. It is, always, about the story, isn't it? And yes, the labels are important -- they're necessary evils, if you wish. Trail markers in the woods. You're tempted to follow that unmarked path, but aren't sure where it might take you....
I'm so glad to connect with all of you about genre writing! I'll be looking out for your next blog posts.
Have a nice weekend. - Evette
Goodness! Did I do it again!?! Going by many of the replies it looks like I answered this one a little 'incomplete'. Let me just say I came out in '09 writing across genres, which going by the many articles I read, this was not an industry acceptable way of writing... for the reasons Evette mentions. Therefore, it's refreshing to see others seeing, and now writing about this topic from these perspectives.
Thanks for this. The idea that the writing chooses us is so profoundly true, yet sometimes difficult to accept.
I think it's very common to be stumped unless it's clearly in a certain camp. I suppose Women King is a paranormal romance, but it's also politically charged science fiction - being that kind of hybrid has been difficult. Some readers expect one thing and get another ...
Thank you Evette, for the words "as writers we have to write the story in our hearts, genre be damned". I struggle with assigning a genre to my work in progress. It documents a romance that blossomed at the beginning of WWII and the fallout out to both families when it failed at the end of the war. I think I'll go with historical novel. How common is it to be stumped as to what genre to tag to your book?
Thanks. I feel the same way, although I have several ideas for writing projects that are outside of the fantasy genre.
Hmmm. I'm quite certain my genre chose me. I write fantasy, and while I have a live long adoration of elves and dragons, my reading strayed to thrillers. But all that was before I even thought of putting words on paper. One day I was challenged to write a short story about a troll. He was my photography project, and my editor said I needed a story to support his appearance in her paper.
Once the terror faded, I returned to those days of wrapping myself in magical realms. So while I chose to photograph a troll (a long story), my writing genre chose me, and I couldn't be happier. I find fantasy a comfortable fit for my imagination. I'll be starting my third book soon, and I wouldn't consider changing.
Interesting topic indeed. I like the idea of continuing with genre labeling, moreso for the readers benefit, but am also moved by Monday's cover that keeps it simple --- A Novel. The synopsis, and or byline, should be a suffice place for further details; as in a paranormal romance, suspense, thriller, mystery, etc...
As you say, a double edged sword.
So true. I will pick up any book and start reading with the exception of maybe some dark fantasy stories that have a lot of names/clans/ rules that I have to remember. I'm naturally curious... I received a very tepid review of my book the other day - and the writer stated at the onset that she doesn't like political stories of any kind. Well then my book is SO NOT FOR YOU. In that case I can see how genres help people, but usually I find it to be a barrier.
Well, since I tend to read a lot of science fiction and fantasy I suppose it's not surprising that most of what I write is in that realm as well. But, I never choose to write a story in ____ genre. I write the characters and story that are in my head and need to come out, and that usually winds up being some kind of genre. I'm not a fan of those types of categories in general, and I agree that it's no fun to miss out on readers because they "don't read that genre." I have a number of friends and family even, who don't read most of my stuff because it's outside of their normal reading categories. I tend to read anything and everything, though as I said I read more fantasy and sci-fi than anything else, but I try not to avoid something just because it has a certain label. I'm a huge fan of reading the first ten pages of a book (preferably without reading the back cover blurb) to decide if I want to read a book. I was over the moon when amazon added the "look inside" feature to most of its book (long ago though that was) because it took my favorite thing to do in bookstores and put it on the internet. :-)