Genre as Delight, Not Dictator: How Learning About Genres Helps You Write Better

According to Andromeda Romano-Lax, genre matters in inspiring and instructional ways. Romano-Lax shares how learning about genre helps writers improve their craft. As a multi-genre author, Romano-Lax notes that a willingness to “sit in the discomfort” of how genres and subgenres work can help writers navigate tropes and manage reader expectations. After writing literary historical fiction, the author switched to writing thrillers and sold more copies in the last two years than in the previous ten. The author notes that literary fiction taught them about voice, theme, and the evolution of the novel. Genre fiction taught the author about plot and character development.

• genres (and categories) are the concerns of people selling books, not the people writing them
• genre does matter in ways that can be inspiring and instructional rather than limiting or vexing
• What literary fiction didn’t teach me during the first half of my writing career, genre fiction finally has—especially when I’ve been willing to “sit in the discomfort” of how genres and subgenres work, searching for answers to how we navigate tropes or manage (and benefit from!) reader expectations.

Source: Jane Friedman Blog  | 
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