tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post8013633544113433309..comments2024-03-29T07:43:01.003+00:00Comments on Help! I Need a Publisher!: Genre-crossingNicola Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12189894289540344094noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-80253262618511406542012-05-07T09:35:31.287+01:002012-05-07T09:35:31.287+01:00Hi Kirsty, no there isn't and never could be a...Hi Kirsty, no there isn't and never could be a definitive "list", because it is all much more fluid than that. This is an art, not a science. It's a human instinct of "that reminds me of" and "that makes me feel like", a subconscious need for pattern-recognising. And the way online bookshops categorise things isn't the same - they do it based on lots of Nicola Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12189894289540344094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-54618045848249703222012-05-07T00:56:33.039+01:002012-05-07T00:56:33.039+01:00Hi Nicola,
Thanks for this post ;o)
I've be...Hi Nicola, <br /><br />Thanks for this post ;o)<br /><br />I've been looking and it seems every online bookshop seems to set their own and sometimes categorise books quite differently and in more than one genre. <br />Just wondering though is there a 'definitive list' of genres anywhere - one that you might recommend? If it's mentioned somewhere in Write to be Published then I Kirstyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12528345454322696726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-69423878148189866762012-05-04T18:56:23.492+01:002012-05-04T18:56:23.492+01:00Excellent post, Crabbity One. On occasion, I run i...Excellent post, Crabbity One. On occasion, I run into authors who refuse to categorize their books, saying they refuse to be pigeon-holed. I admire their adherence to principal, but it could bite them on the bum because publishers have to fit their author's books into a genre/sub-genre for the simple reason that store buyers will shy away from order the book.<br /><br />When our sales guys goLynn Pricehttp://behlerblog.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-9126388107401072972012-05-02T11:11:55.709+01:002012-05-02T11:11:55.709+01:00I think Stroppy should write Dystopian Porn! She&#...I think Stroppy should write Dystopian Porn! She'd do it very well.<br /><br />But in general I agree. Occasionally someone like Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett comes along and invents what seems a new genre - Comedy + SF or Comedy + Fantasy.<br /><br />But in general you can always take a genre and try to push its limits a bit.Mary Hoffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-5311783040912042022012-05-02T11:02:56.948+01:002012-05-02T11:02:56.948+01:00I realise that I have not been reading in the genr...I realise that I have not been reading in the genres - speculative/sci-fi/psychic thriller in which I am writing, and have no titles that I could hold up as similar to my own work. <br />I've been reading "important" books, hoping to improve my writing skills and to discover the treasures within literary works. <br />I think you may have liberated me from a very, very long run of Evelynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11914343967773867221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-69822320437671061452012-05-02T10:29:21.878+01:002012-05-02T10:29:21.878+01:00Hi Graeme
I disagree, actually. Writing a book tha...Hi Graeme<br />I disagree, actually. Writing a book that happens to fit a genre doesn't mean not being able to experiment and be bold. I have broken rules in several of my books and regard myself as being bold and always wanting to be different. Occasionally, I have written a book that is deliberately not bold, but those have been least satisfying and least successful.<br /><br />Also, the Nicola Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12189894289540344094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-71244903623470840582012-05-02T10:22:42.891+01:002012-05-02T10:22:42.891+01:00The problem with settling for something that alrea...The problem with settling for something that already exists is that you lose the opportunity to (a) expand into new areas and (b) reap the benefits of being a pioneer. Sadly, the publishing world has become exceedingly conservative. Back in the days before the X-Files, I was trying to sell a novel in which a security service agent came across evidence of aliens. Couldn't sell it. I was told Graeme K Talboyshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00147746990011686351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-72228119763489188432012-05-02T09:51:49.453+01:002012-05-02T09:51:49.453+01:00This is a tough one - I don't like the limitat...This is a tough one - I don't like the limitations of working within genres, but accept it's something that we have to do if a publisher is likely to be tempted. <br /><br />But - at what stage in the writing should we be narrow down genre? At the earliest idea stage - as that frames the way we think about the first draft. When we face that first edit, and try to reshape the initial ugly JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-3765651383790565522012-05-02T09:37:23.645+01:002012-05-02T09:37:23.645+01:00Stroppy - I don't think there's a problem....Stroppy - I don't think there's a problem. "Historical" or "sci-fi" would seem to me to be the main genre label, but then you can have another word(s) to say what sort of historical/sci-fi it is = sub-genre. So historical thriller isn't a crossed genre, but a sub-genre, or a more closely described genre than merely historical. The problems occur when you genuinely Nicola Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12189894289540344094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-60082699907121240612012-05-02T09:33:39.394+01:002012-05-02T09:33:39.394+01:00When I was supposedly studying a subject they call...When I was supposedly studying a subject they called "School Librarianship A" - which was mostly about children's literature (and gave me the excuse to read a lot) we talked about "genres" and one of the students asked the lecturer, "Well what about Tin-Tin? Is Tin-Tin a comic or an adventure or funny or what?" <br />But I understand what you are getting at - thecatdownunderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06959328192182156574noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-64061222208075036202012-05-02T09:31:05.557+01:002012-05-02T09:31:05.557+01:00I've been wrestling with this, as my book is a...I've been wrestling with this, as my book is across two genres, but my agent has come up with a 'reading group' label that helped place my historical/contemporary but with a bit of 16th century sorcery thrown in novel. I asked more about this, and she recommended me to look at Emma Darwin's Mathematics of Love and Bernie McGill's The Butterfly Cabinet, books that are hard to Rebecca Alexanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00474010455394752000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2488887316391780144.post-8532207179912919592012-05-02T09:25:36.520+01:002012-05-02T09:25:36.520+01:00I have a problem with genre labels. For example, I...I have a problem with genre labels. For example, I've written a historical novel - that sounds straightforward, right? But that doesn't sound to me like a genre. The label 'historical' doesn't tell you what type of thing happens, it only tells you that whatever happens, it happens in the past. <br /><br />A romance - fine, people will fall in love and perhaps have sex. A Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.com