Most likely, you already understand the benefits and limitations of genre. You may even have heard me harping on my dislike of the whole notion. When you get down to the heart of things, genre is about marketing, not writing. It’s there to help readers find the books they’re most likely to read. It’s not there—or, at any rate, it shouldn’t be—to force stories into boxes. But with that said, today I want to take a moment to discuss the problems of changing genre mid-book.
Let’s say your story starts out with the classic trope of boy meets girl. They cute meet, they fall in love, they have a few squabbles, tensions rise. Assuming your readers like love stories, you’ve probably got them on a hook. They like your characters, they like the characters’ relationship, and they’re eager to read more about their blossoming love, so they can discover what happens to them and if they really get to live happily ever after. So far, so good. But then, your story takes a ninety-degree turn. Your hero decides to become a missionary and move to Botswana, while back on the home front your heroine drowns her sorrows over her true love’s departure and takes up social reform.
It’s possible this plot could work beautifully—but only if its abrupt flip-flopping of genre has been foreshadowed. Readers who begin a romance only to have the book turn into a personal quest or a political thriller are likely to be disappointed. They’re reading because they like the romantic relationship. If the book switches genre and leaves the romance behind, their reasons for reading are likely also to be left behind. Ultimately, this is an issue of consistency. Stories need to be properly framed to guide reader expectations. Crossing genres and even breaking genre molds is great, so long as we do it in a way that fulfills the reader’s expectations and desires.
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About K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland
It’s a fine question because of your post. I’m writing horror – but during workshopping of the first half, it wasn’t absolutely clear to my writing group where the story was headed – and so I need to work harder on the second draft to create greater menace and tension in the first half.
currently writing a contemporary YA Magic Realism novel (I hope that’s a category)and sticking within the confines. If I wasn’t, my CP would definitely tell me 🙂
@Robert: As the authors of our works, we often don’t comprehend the picture that objective readers (who don’t share our complete vision) will be seeing. We assume they see the same things we do, but, of course, they can only base their perceptions off the clues we’ve given them. That’s why objective readers are so invaluable.
@mshatch: Don’t know why that can’t be a genre. YA is an umbrella for all sorts of sub-genres. Sounds like a fun one!
Most would probably classify my WIP as YA. It’s General Fiction with some Christian content, but probably not heavy enough on the Christian part to be called Christian Fiction. Are you confused yet?
Not fitting into a genre (or, in a related vein, fitting into multiple genres) doesn’t mean you’re a flip-flopper. You only earn the double F title if you’ve thrown all your genres into a pot with no attempts at creating a consistent whole.
Middle grader Christian Supernatural! Not too many of those out there, but I’m giving it a try.
This is a great post:) I’ve been wondering about my current WIP whether it fits into a genre. It’s a historical romance with suspense that also includes appearances of angels etc. I definitely will need objective readers to tell me if I’ve confused them…or if they feel like everything flows naturally:) Thanks for the advice!
@Ruth: Sounds like fun! If you can fill an empty niche, you’ve got it made!
@Lorna: Historical, like YA, is almost more of a milieu than a genre itself. Within the historical world, we find all sorts of flavors – romance being one of the more popular. Adding angels (if, of course, they make sense within the overall flow of the story) could end up being just the twist to raise you above the pack.
Interesting post. Per my own tastes: It’s not vital that the author foreshadow the separation (in the given example), rather it’s important that the reader is waiting for the culmination/resolution of some compelling plot element. Not necessarily the relationship. If I’m reading the story beyond the first 50 pages, it’s usually because I’m invested in something recognizable to which I aspire or relate. Thank you again for such a great conversation piece!
Thanks for this! I’ve been told that it’s better to write your story first before trying to stuff it into a genre. But I do understand what you’re saying about structuring the novel so that readers are intrigued and not disappointed. It’s a good thing to think about when we’re writing!
Great advice!! Switching genres mid-book would be a bit much to handle.
@Ben: Yes, it all depends on how the author pulls it off. The bottom line about this problem is that it’s only a problem if the switcheroo pulls the reader away from what he’s interested in and forces him into a new series events in which he’s *not* interested.
@Vicki: Ultimately, this really isn’t a problem of genre. I agree with the statement about not worrying about genre until after the story is written (unless you’re specifically trying for a genre, but that’s a discussion that offers its own pros and cons). You don’t have to know your genre; you do have to know (or go back and edit accordingly) where the story is going, so you can frame it in such a way that readers won’t be disappointed that their expectations weren’t met.
@Traci: Writing is like cooking: you gotta mix all your ingredients together form the very beginning.
I’m definitely not a genre-hopper, but I’m not entirely sure my genre exists 🙂 I’m focusing on books with similar character more than genre at this point. Something like The Book Thief meets a blend of The Golden Compass and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
I loved Jonathan Strange. Dickensian storytelling with a fantasy twist. Hard not to like that.
You’re right on point about the foreshadowing. The last two books I wrote had a complete genre shake-up at the mid-point. They both seemed abrupt until I peppered the first half of the book with enough subtle hints so as to not throw off the readers.
Often those subtle hints are all it takes. If readers know something is coming (even if they may not know *what* it is), they’ll be prepared for just about anything you can throw at them.
My genre is a historical fantasy time travel novel (so with aspects of borderline science fiction). Thankfully, my husband is a sci-fi nut and he gives me all sorts of ideas and tips for making aspects of my novel fun, but believable. I don’t want my readers to be super confused or think “oh that’s too far-fetched” but I also don’t want the technical “stuff” to be something they get hung-up on either. My husband does a great job with letting me bounce ideas off of him.
Mash-ups are always fun, and so long as you’ve signaled the mashed-up nature to readers early on (and presumably they’ll have figured it out just from the book cover and description), you have no worries about flip-flopping.
I suppose you could say I’m a genre hopper, or label me a Women’s Fiction writer???? I don’t write with the genre in mind. I write with the hearts of women everywhere in mind. However…
My debut novel was released in April under “women’s fiction” and “time travel” on my publisher’s site, however, it is being marketed as “romance” and “time travel” on every other book site. In trying to explain to friend and reader-friend on a public site that my novel is NOT a romance, figuring romance lovers would be disappointed in reading it (because it colours outside the lines of traditional romance), and non-romance readers would avoid it, I’ve been silenced in this declaration and, at the same time, accused of thinking myself too good for the romance genre — which is so not true.
Now, in my silence, as I sit here expecting failure through poor marketing, do I simply let my debut novel slip into the shadows and count this one as a loss, change my name and write another, or should I change it where possible? For example, Amazon will allow me to change it apparently. Would it be wise to change it several weeks after its release, or just leave it?
I just can’t help feeling romance-lovers everywhere are gonna hate the name of Donna Keevers Driver and avoid me from here on in.
If the wheels are already in motion, I’d wait and see how the launch does. My medieval novel Behold the Dawn is *not* a romance, but it has a love story at its core and has been marketed largely to the romance crowd. I was a little queasy about that in the beginning, but it hasn’t been a bad thing–especially since that’s such a huge market to tap.