What kind of book do you like to read? Fiction or non-fiction? And what about the genre?
A genre is a themed category of books – they could be books about love stories, detectives solving crimes, adventure stories, books about the afterlife, vampires and more. Just some of the genres (fiction) you’ll find in most of the larger bookstores include: Action and Adventure, Chick Lit, Children’s, Contemporary, Crime, Erotica, Fantasy, Gay and Lesbian, Historical Fiction, Multicultural, Mystery, Inspirational, Romance, Science Fiction, Suspense, Western, and Young Adult.
There are more genres and also “niche fiction” – Niche Fiction is a more specialized form of a genre. There was a time that a same sex romance o a tough as nails crime novel was a niche market. Genres also have a tendency to cross over or concentrate on sub-categories. Romance is a terrific example of a genre with many sub-categories like contemporary, historical, suspense, and paranormal. Basically if you think of the story, you can find a genre it will fit into.
This helps with marketing. Stand in the bookstore and observe the customers; they will look for the overhead signs announcing the genre on those shelves and the readers will tend to migrate to the themes that interest them. By concentrating on a genre as you write, if you are one of the lucky ones that finds your books on the shelf, then having a clear genre helps the book retailer to categorize your work and your fans to find it. Notice the fans that look for the genre you write in and focus your marketing efforts towards that group (magazine ads, blogs, etc)
Women’s literature, sometimes called chick lit, is similar to romance except it doesn’t have the required monogamy or happy ever after ending. Science fiction talks of an advanced world where science is based on reality – such as the planet Earth would be a part of our solar system or there would be a logical explanation why it “moved”. Fantasy can take place any time, including a technologically advanced future, but it can rely on magic, miracles and other seeming implausibilities.
Mysteries are generally based on the solving of a crime and various clues get dropped like a puzzle that has to be pieced together. Suspense keeps the audience waiting for “something” major to happen and keeps the reader in a heightened state of anxiety. Horror stories often uses deep fears, monsters, the supernatural or exaggerated medical interference and diabolical plots. Westerns take place in the mid to late 18th century in the U.S., Canada or Mexico and emphasize the rugged lifestyle. Historicals can be any earlier time period and generally written by someone who did not live in that time period; while fictional dramatizations are acceptable, major historical events must remain intact.
Writing exercise: Look up three or four zodiac signs. Using the attributes of each, create a fictional character. Be sure to give them a career, describe the kind of clothes they like to wear and describe a typical pastime.
Writing prompt: Label the last two or three books you’ve read (or movies you’ve seen) and classify them in their genre. Did they cross over into any other genres? Which ones?
