Dear Writers: You 100% don’t understand your genre
Okay, maybe you do. But I sure as heck didn’t!
Here are some storytelling tips from me, a transgender editor for best-selling and award-winning books.
ROMANCE
The easiest one for me to comment on given that I edited so many of these for romance publishers. A few of the books even won awards and hit the USA Today list!
The payoff in a Romance is TRUE LOVE FULFILLED.
As long as you deliver on that, you can do whatever you want. At least within the conventions of your genre… Especially if you’re writing for an established Category Romance line. Romance isn’t quite the same as Category Romance, but it’s close enough to mention it.
And yeah, those conventions are important. Know your readers. Etc.
But how often do those genre conventions for Romance just turn out to be traditional cishet standards that don’t fit queer people?
Push the limits of your genre — you may change the world.
ROMANTIC COMEDY
A comedy isn’t about laughter. It’s about safely experiencing embarrassment. Laughter is how we process the embarrassment. And the prize for learning how?
It could be anything, but if it’s a romance? Yeah, the reward for all that cringe is True Love.
EROTIC ROMANCE
An EROTIC ROMANCE is described through sex, but it isn’t ABOUT sex. It’s about the emotional intimacy the characters crave but are only able to meet through sex. Yes, lots of hot sex, but what drives them? An absolute hunger for real human connection.
MYSTERY
A MYSTERY isn’t about the pleasure of solving a mystery. It’s about the pleasure of just barely being outsmarted by the author. The mystery is the author’s magic trick. Like the ingenieur says in The Prestige, the audience wants to be fooled.
CRIME FICTION
CRIME FICTION is the thrill of True Crime. Often based on or linked closely to a piece from true crime history, so readers expect a feeling of authenticity. Like it’s so close to true, it doesn’t matter which parts aren’t.
THRILLER VS HORROR (SUBTLE DIFFERENCE)
A THRILLER is about slowly losing strength and hope in the face of overwhelming darkness and then still finding a way to win.
A HORROR story is about finding strength and hope in the face of overwhelming darkness AND THEN LOSING ANYWAY.
ACTION
An ACTION story isn’t about a relentless drive for action. It’s about earning the privilege of boredom and never getting it. Every little source of violence/conflict has to be resolved so the main character can just relax.
SCI-FI
SCI-FI isn’t about fulfilling the limitations of our potential. It’s about the insatiable desire to fulfill that potential. Whether we fulfill it (and whether that’s a good thing) depends on whether this is a happy or sad story.
YOUNG ADULT…
YA? YA is every genre LOL.
If I *HAD* to narrow it down — like when you have a book that is very clearly Adult despite featuring teenage protagonist(s) — it’s about self discovery. Finding the courage just to take those first real steps.
New Adult however…
NEW ADULT
If YA+ is about finally seeing yourself for the first time, NEW ADULT is about deciding what to do with who you see.
It’s not about taking that first step — it’s about taking the next ten (and all the self-doubt that provokes).
GENERAL CONTEMPOTARY FICTION
The experience of adulthood in a story isn’t about self discovery. It’s not about those first steps into adulthood. It’s about confronting the long-term consequences of the choices we made yesterday, continue to make today, and will continue to haunt us without a character arc.
FINAL THOUGHTS
People don’t read your story for the story. If it was just about the plot beats, they’d read the Wikipedia. They read YOUR book because of the experience it offers. We only remember something like 10% of what we read. Some of us remember more — it’s a skill, or a talent if you’re snooty — so most of what you remember even about the books you love has nothing to do with the DETAILS of the story.
The next time you sit down to edit your story, don’t edit a damn thing.
Just read it.
Let it wash over you.
Connect with the experience of your story. What genre are you actually writing in?
The end (of the article)
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