The Tyranny of Genre
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| Moments before the big discovery of "Not Food." |
Once upon a time, people lived in a world without a great deal of stuff to keep track of. At first there were only two categories for everything in the world. “Food” and “Not Food.”
Things have changed.
Things have changed.
Today, there are so many things to be aware of besides food/not-food that we have developed and mastered the art of categorizing everything for easy reference. The quicker you can define something the better.
In literature, the process looks kind of like this:
A 400 page novel becomes a 5-10 page Synopsis, then continues its spiral to a 1 page Reference Sheet, a 1 paragraph Description, a 25 word Logline, until it is finally reduced to a single word Genre.
I wrote a book called King’s X. Here’s the problem it has with genre descriptions. I could describe it with any of these words.
Mystery
Thriller
Suspense
Literary
Adventure
Romance
Paranormal
YA (2 words condensed even further!)
Historical Fiction
Historical Fantasy
Fantasy
Conspiracy
Epic
I could probably go on, but the point is... if all of those tags are accurate, then no single one could even come close to describing my story. And all of them together paint a pretty confusing picture. Not to mention the fact that genre is in the eye of the beholder anyway, so each one of those words means many different things to each individual person who sees them.
Needless to say, for all it’s fastidious organization and all around anal-retentiveness, there is something very messy about this system.
It’s also soulless and unsatisfying.
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| Who cares what he's reading? |
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| Who knows what she's reading? |
One of the first things any writer must do after completing a book is create an elevator pitch. Can you describe your book between floors in an elevator?
Yes. I can. And sometimes I even do. But I’ve also spent years researching, developing and finally writing King’s X. There is a lot going on here.
It’s a Sexy, Violent, Aspirational Playground, dammit!
NEXT TIME: Part 2 What the Elevator Pitch Can Never Tell You
NEXT TIME: Part 2 What the Elevator Pitch Can Never Tell You
That's all the stuff I am looking into now. It's a real mess to wade through. Not a lot of fun. They even have workshops on how to describe your book in 25 words. So much to absorb! It's no wonder I lose sleep.
ReplyDeleteSounds to me like your book would fit in the thriller genre... One thing I love about thrillers: it's a broad genre where sexiness, action and virtually anything goes, as long as it's thrilling. ;)
ReplyDeleteSo glad Debra led me to your blog. Terrific post.
Thanks Debra. I just put part 2 up also. It's about the what your talking about and why it's so odd that writers, of all people, often have such a hard time talking about their own books.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you too, August. Glad to meet you!