tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post2727086923837522311..comments2024-03-14T18:09:09.667-05:00Comments on Do Some Damage: Writing on the edge of genresUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-38723230074229369142010-06-11T21:48:27.889-05:002010-06-11T21:48:27.889-05:00I know I definitely fit into inspirational romance...I know I definitely fit into inspirational romance. But it's not just inspirational as in God, but also in going for your passions and dreams. And...there is more to it than just trying to win the guy over. I guess I have a main genre with a few subcategories thrown in! :o)WriterMariehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17280436020496988815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-28187665828535701872010-06-11T17:30:53.125-05:002010-06-11T17:30:53.125-05:00I'm having a hard time classifying the novel I...I'm having a hard time classifying the novel I've written. I've settled on contemporary fantasy...but I'm not sure that says enough. I've tried calling it low fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal, etc. <br /><br />As you can see I wasn't clear going in...but that's ok. I just write the story that's floating around in my head.<br /><br />Thanks for the post about this. It's helpful to know I'm not the only one.Joanne Young Elliotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14431836725661024756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-28447965908645788642010-06-11T16:21:24.136-05:002010-06-11T16:21:24.136-05:00Very provocative, Joelle. I once sat down to write...Very provocative, Joelle. I once sat down to write a cozy-serial-killer-techno-political-horror-swamp-western-romance novel, but I don't know, it just didn't gel. I think it was a POV problem.<br /><br />In the end, I settled into noir. I'm very comfortable there. It's really all about the human condition, and the tendency of certain ordinary people to cross the line when beset by the consequences of their own poor choices.Mike Dennishttp://mikedennisnoir.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-62058520574806911362010-06-11T16:01:27.303-05:002010-06-11T16:01:27.303-05:00My first book was an "academic mystery."...My first book was an "academic mystery." Little did I know then that "academic mysteries don't sell." Ooops. Thus I couldn't find an agent/publisher. <br /><br />My second manuscript, the one that got me an agent was technically a cozy, I suppose, because the hook was craft-based (beadmaking). However, the characters weren't cozy at all. <br /><br />My current WIP is Romantic Suspense, which I suppose straddles categories in and of itself!Laura K. Curtishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08444534759113332744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-20595819447704609662010-06-11T08:52:36.305-05:002010-06-11T08:52:36.305-05:00My first few efforts were straight ahead PI fictio...My first few efforts were straight ahead PI fiction. Lately I've moved toward what I think of as sui generis "crime fiction:" good guys and bad guys, multiple POVs with crime at the core, not unlike what John McFetridge writes. (Just not as good.)<br /><br />Writers often get two key, yet contradictory pieces of advice: write the best book you can, and be definite about the sub-genre, so the bookseller knows where to shelve it. The two don't have to be mutually exclusive, but they don't go hand-in-hand, either, especially when couple with Deadly Advice Number 3: Be original.Dana Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01350344882342624735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-73430365738228390592010-06-11T08:33:48.757-05:002010-06-11T08:33:48.757-05:00Grah. "Out", not "our".Grah. "Out", not "our".Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06286520897538327919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-27384182848352468852010-06-11T08:33:01.027-05:002010-06-11T08:33:01.027-05:00Ugh. Your "edge of genre" definition res...Ugh. Your "edge of genre" definition resonates with me, because I, too, just wrote my two that are our on submission without a thought as to where they'd be slotted -- and I worry sometimes that I should've taken the other route. THE ANGELS' SHARE is a small-town mystery, not quite gritty enough to call rural noir, and not nearly well-mannered enough to call a cozy. Oh, and either my protag's a little imbalanced, or there's a paranormal element as well (I won't say which).<br /><br />Then there's DEAD HARVEST. The struggle between heaven and hell recast as a Golden Era crime pulp. Angels in Crown Vics, demons running drugs and whores, the whole nine. It's fantasy, sure, but crime-fantasy. And I worry editors haven't the faintest idea what to do with it.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06286520897538327919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-3063951680391448542010-06-11T01:24:23.141-05:002010-06-11T01:24:23.141-05:00I never writing anything that doesn't straddle...I never writing anything that doesn't straddle arbitrary categories, but I barely write fiction, and sell even less. But, then, doing likewise with "genre" hasn't stopped Kate Wilhelm, among my culture-heroes...even if she isn't as widely-known as the rather similar, in many ways, Joyce Carol Oates.Todd Masonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01815516018079824802noreply@blogger.com