Choose your genre

Now that you’ve thought about your setting – the world in which your story takes place – it’s time to think about the story you want to tell.  You might already know this, in which case no need to read on.  But if you don’t, my first question would be what is the genre?  When you submit your novel online to an agent for consideration, on most sites there’s a drop-down menu for you to choose your genre.  I’ve just checked picked a random agent and seen the following choices, listed in alphabetical order: Crime & Mystery, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Suspense & Thriller, Upmarket Fiction, Women’s Fiction.  Agents do this because it will make it a whole lot easier for them to pitch to publishers if they know what kind of book it is.  And publishers need to know, of course, because every bookseller will need to know what shelf to put it on their shop.  If you’re not sure what genre your story might be or think that it might be a mixture of genres, sadly this generally doesn’t play well with agents.  Think of them as very simple people who need things to be incredibly straightforward in order for them to understand.  Once they read what you’ve written, they may well be blown away but the submission bit is just trying to persuade them to read it in the first place. 

If you’re not sure what the best genre is to tell your story, my Captain Obvious suggestion is to think of the kinds of books you like to read and maybe the kinds of movies you like to watch.  If, for example, you love Rom-Coms then write a Rom-Com (presumably that might squeeze in under Romance in the drop-down menu).  The chances are that you will have absorbed the required story shape from what you’ve already seen and read.  I’m not talking here about clichés and stereotypes but just what has to happen for the story to work.  The very wise screenwriter William Goldman once said something like this: Give the audience what they want but not in the way they expect it.  A Rom-Com that didn’t end up with the guy and girl (other gender combinations are fine too!) in a relationship, despite all the obstacles that you’ve artfully put in their way, would not be satisfying for your readers.  It’s what they want – or it should be.  So make sure they get it but with some unexpected twists on the way.  The same applies to thrillers and murder mysteries.  Just think what you would want to happen if you were reading it or watching the movie.  So that’s genre and a bit of plot.  Next time, we’ll look at characters.