As a reader, do you pay attention to genre? Same question to you if you’re an author. “Genre fiction” is often a snooty put-down, but bookstores invented genres long ago as a means to order their bookshelves, and they’ve hung on, even though cross-genre books abound and one can now argue against the need for them. As a reader, I don’t pay much attention to genre—maybe more so than Amazon’s star ranking, though—I’ll read almost anything if it piques my interest. I determine that from the book blurb and the “Peek Inside” feature for the most part if I’m buying it at Amazon. And I’ll make a confession: if I’m browsing for books in a bookstore (I do more browsing on internet sites these days), I’ll leaf through the book and then go home and buy the ebook version (it had better not be comparable in price to the paper version, though—that kills any motivation for buying).

As an author, I NEVER pay attention to genre while I’m writing the novel. Following Clancy’s advice, I’m just telling the damn story! I’m a storyteller, not a mystery writer or sci-fi writer or…you get the idea. When I release a book, I have to think about genres sometimes—retail sites ask for them—but I just consider them keywords. Sometimes it’s easier to describe one of my books by saying what it’s not. My YA novel The Secret Lab is NOT a magical fantasy story, and my new novel Rogue Planet isn’t either, but hard sci-fi, space opera, and fantasy are good keywords for the latter because it contains elements of all those genres—adventure and saga would be some other key words.

A recent review of the second edition of The Midas Bomb commented on my disrespect for genre in a positive fashion: “I particularly enjoyed the many different genres the author includes: thriller, mystery, psychological, political and a little romance to top it off.”—Legalmagic’s Amazon review. (Note that the second edition only has three reviews. The first has more. I guess it’s legit that Amazon doesn’t combine them?) The reviewer could have added crime, police procedural, and counterterrorism—the first two are often considered genres or subgenres; the last maybe should be.  This is a good review comment. It lets the reader know s/he shouldn’t be expecting a pure mystery or purely political novel. S/he should only be expecting a rockin’ good story because that’s what I always strive to deliver.

I often fear that genres are used as much as a book’s success by authors as indicators of how to write to market. Romance and erotica are hot (double meaning, I suppose)—should I write books in those genres? Dystopia and post-apocalyptic are hot too in the sci-fi world—should I write exclusively in those genres (I have some books like that—I cut my reading teeth on the classic dystopian novels)? Does the astounding success of Weir’s The Martian mean I should write about potato farming on Mars? (I wrote about a Martian colony in the second half of More than Human: The Mensa Contagion—don’t remember any potatoes.) I have many story ideas. When I turn them into books, I don’t think about genres—that’s too restrictive. Story ideas lead to stories, pure and simple.

Of course, readers can restrict themselves to certain genres. Many do. Again, I do it ass backward, though—as a reader, I won’t read romance or erotic novels. That’s using genre negatively, I suppose. I won’t read steampunk either—seems stupid, just like the bodice rippers, but those are just personal tastes. Every reader has a right to develop her or his own. I would still prefer that readers fall into an internet mindset and think of genres just as keywords that describe a book succinctly. That makes Legalmagic’s review above full of useful information for readers, for example.  Who knows? That “little romance” might just cause a reader of books in the romance genre to try the book and be pleasantly surprised. Romance is a part of most characters’ lives, after all. In fiction, the story has to seem real, and to deny characters some romance now and then doesn’t reflect reality!

***

Last week! The “Clones and Mutants Trilogy” is on sale.  Some authors bundle a series or part of a series.  All three books in the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy” are on sale AT SMASHWORDS, $0.99 for each ebook, reduced from $2.99.  The clones make their appearance in Full Medical (coupon code VJ44L) as part of a complex government conspiracy, they combine forces with the mutant in Evil Agenda (coupon code LE48D) to thwart another plot, and they all save the world in No Amber Waves of Grain (coupon code PZ86X).  These aren’t comic book characters like X-Men—they’re real people who work to halt an apocalyptic future.  Use the links and go directly to Smashwords to enter the coupon codes and get hours of summer reading for only $3.  (Amazon addicts, did you know Smashwords also sells .mobi files for your Kindle? They handle all popular ebook formats.) Pass the word about this sale to your relatives and friends ASAP—tomorrow the prices will return to $2.99, still reasonable but not such a steal.

In libris libertas…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 29th, 2016 at 4:00 am and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.