Before I begin my usual rant-like advice, stop and consider for a moment:
What genre does your writing fall under?
If you wrote down all the ideas you had in a long list, would they all fall under the same genre or theme?
Go on, think about it.
Well?
So often we talk about writing, or we consider ourselves as authors, in the context of falling into one genre or category. We ask a person if they write YA OR Adult OR Childrens books. We wonder if the author of a Fantasy novel ONLY writes Fantasy. And when we talk about publishing, we suggest agents or publishers that work with authors of a particular genre, before asking them if they intend to write something different from their current book for their next one.
So, I ask you again: What genre does your writing fall under?
How about this question: Have you ever considered CHANGING your story idea, because it didn’t fit the genre you thought you SHOULD be writing?
There is a lot of pressure out there to find your niche and stick to it. To find what you’re good at and hone in on that one thing. If you like writing Romance, do that and only that. Feel like you “get” teens? Sit yourself in the YA camp and camp out there.
But there’s two problems with this mentality:
1. You run the risk of ruining a perfectly good story by trying to make it something that it’s not.
2. You run the risk of never writing an AMAZING story, because it doesn’t fit your theme.
Look at me.
I began my writing journey with poems. I branched out into song lyrics that weren’t very good. Then I tried my hand at writing some novels… But at no point did I ever consider my genre or my audience.
Some would call this a mistake. I call it honesty.
Sure, now when I start work on a project I consider where it falls in the giant pit of classifications. But I never change what it will be, based on what my last project was, or on how other people want to consider me as an author. There’s just no way to collate my ideas in away that will make sense or do the stories justice.
My current short list of book ideas/WIPs consist of a YA Contemporary, an Historical Love Story (which could end up YA or Adult depending on how the writing comes out), a YA Contemporary with Fantasy/Magical elements, a Poetry collection (which should probably be considered Adult, despite my first collection being a YA) and an Adult Contemporary trilogy.
Now tell me how I’m meant to “stick to a genre” or market myself to a “target audience”.
Go on, I’ll wait. Pitch it to me, I dare you.
There’s another danger to this way of thinking, and that’s how and author feels about themselves and their work.
For a while there last year I was starting to feel like a failure. Not as a writer, but as an author. As a marketable business that needed to narrow down my field in order to succeed and thrive.
Why?
Because my ideas where all over the place, and I needed to narrow it down.
Every time I spoke to people about my WIP they would ask me, “So you write YA?”
It shocked me. Like really, I had no idea this was a thing.
I started to believe that I needed a plan in motion to ensure that I could write good books that could be grouped together on the shelves. That unless I could target a set group of people through my social media platforms, I would surely fail.
Doesn’t sound right does it?
Sure, if you have a target audience it will be easier to reach them. And if your books all sit on the same shelves in the bookstore, it will be easier to find them.
But does that mean that you should limit your work by the expectations of others?
If you ask me, HELL NO.
Don’t get me wrong, there is merit to sticking to a genre- and not just because your collective works can be found on one shelf in a bookstore. If you’re writing all in one genre, or for one audience, you are bound to become very familiar with what is popular, what themes emerge most often, what current societal issues could be addressed in your stories (making them more current and relatable). You will likely get into a rhythm or flow with your writing, and become more confident in your abilities with each book. You will establish a reputation in a particular field more easily. Deciding on what content to share with your readers will be easier, as you’ve already narrowed down who your reader is and what they want to see from you.
But that doesn’t mean that we should put pressure on ourselves, or others, to fall into this mentality if we don’t want to. If you want to write across all genres, for a variety of readers, you should do so armed with the resources and support to do so, instead of being discouraged from that approach.
What are you working on? Do you stick to one genre, or is your writing more eclectic? Leave a comment or shoot me an email- I’d love to know.
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