Juiced On Writing

Currently I’m trying to work out the genre for an idea I have for a novel. I think I may have it, or at least a rudimentary category. But there appears so many genres and sub-genres nowadays, most of which I’ve never heard of – even if I read them. Unlike a previous novel, which was pure young adult fantasy, I’ve stepped into a contemporary woman’s story with a bit of time travel involved. Whether I’m now in the realms of Women’s contemporary, mummy-lit, or even Alternative Histories (one genre I saw used in a current course I’m taking) or any of the sub-genres to do with woman’s literature, romance, or science fiction is now beyond me. It won’t stop me writing the story, however, as these types of questions probably don’t matter anyway – or do they? At least to a possible publisher looking for books to fill a market demand – does genre matter?

From my mostly reading viewpoint, I don’t really care – but I do start off reading a book if I can at least recognise the genre from the jacket-cover or author. And if somebody like Stephen King suddenly wrote a chick-lit modern-day romance, then I would hope he published it under a different name, else I might find myself sadly disappointed on reading my expected horror.

So, does it matter? To me – yes, a little bit. But I don’t mind other genres and sub-genres mixing into a book, provided I can recognise enough of the book’s main genre to know what I’m buying. I would suggest the same goes for my writing in fiction – I would tend to write in the genres I am most comfortable reading in, and can therefore understand the elements which make up the genre. And as a creative, if you give me a defined set of rules, the muse in me is always going to want to test those drawn-lines and see which ones I can hop over. Genres are like that, aren’t they? But to our peril, if we consider how others may be looking at them.

Catergorisation via genre selection, and following the expected patterns probably does matter a lot. Publishers and book-sellers alike care about genre. Even libraries categorise, strangely enough. And our schools still dish out reading prescriptions and exercises based on genres. Teachers choose books by genre. So, if we want our books to be read – even published really – then we’ve got to, as authors, understand at least some of the rules of genre, and which ones we can hop over and break.

Here’s a video from a Neal Stephenson 40-minute talk that he gave to Gresham College in London last May. The lecture focuses on whether genres do matter anymore, specifically around the SF genre – “SF” for speculative fiction in an attempt to disassociate the science fiction genre and its links with fantasy in many people’s minds.

In this he describes Harry Potter as being SF or speculative fiction, however the HP books are filed under Childrens – Series now in best-selling lists in America. I would have personally always seen the Harry Potter series as fantasy, or a modern day fairy tale. Whether it’s young adult with a cross-over into adult best-seller status is above and beyond my own ability to understand what is science and what is fantasy in that particular equation of genres. I just read it because I like wizards and coming of age stories.

However, the Guardian UK newspaper published an essay in February 2000 which lists at least three genres which Harry Potter falls under (including a Freudian-inspired Family Romance genre), and those genres are suggested to be one secret to the Harry Potter overall success.

So do Genres matter? Feel free to give me your own take on this one via the comments here on Juiced on Writing.

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