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.
