Being a Genre Writer
Every time I meet someone, be it a person off the street or another writer, the question I get asked first is, “What do you write?”, or “What genre do you write?”
That's a troublesome question to answer.
That's a troublesome question to answer.
I’m not a genre writer. Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against people who write in a genre. That’s not me.
Being a genre writer means you write all mysteries, or all thrillers, or all horror, or all fill-in-the-blank. You and your genre are “an item”, so to speak. And if you write in multiple genres, you do so under a pseudonym specific to that genre.
Why do that? Well, most authors associate a name/pseudonym with a genre because the readers of that genre like to associate that, for instance, Stephen King writes horror. What this means is, if I buy a Stephen King book, sight unseen, I’ll get a horror book. And if I buy one of his books and it ends up being a light fantasy, I as a reader, will be perturbed and probably not buy more Stephen King books because I don’t want light-fantasy.
Who cares? Well, in my example, Stephen King does because he’s lost a reader. He’s lost a sale. He’s lost money. What’s worse is I, as his reader, may leave a critical review. That loses Mr. King more readers—more sales. Horror!
Conversely, if an author is pan-authorial, as author Wayland Smith calls it, when you buy a book you don’t know what you’ll get and hope it’s good.
Most readers are genre readers. That’s another point for being a genre writer. Genre readers read voraciously in their genre and authors of choice. More sales. More fame. More money.
Again, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not criticizing genre writers, or making money. I’m not criticizing anything. I’m just explaining why some authors like writing in a genre.
Oh, one other reason. The more you write in a genre, the better author you become in that genre.
So, how do I answer the questions I get?
I’m not a genre writer. I know I’m a decent writer. But I have no delusion that I’ll ever be as good as Stephen King, George R. R. Martin, et al. I’m lucky that I don’t have to write in order to pay the bills—I don’t write for the money. There is little enough of it as a writer.
I write because I enjoy the process (I hate editing and rewriting). Growing and becoming better is something I enjoy. I enjoy experimenting with words and story. That’s why I write in multiple genres.
As a result, I’m getting better as a writer. And because I write in over one genre, I’m learning what genre I enjoy writing and am better at than others. That’s valuable to know.
I want people to read what I write. Am I upset when they don’t? No. I write and I enjoy what I do. Everything else is frosting on the doughnut.
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NaNoWriMo starts this week. 4000 words a day. Wish me luck. I hope I don’t burn out.