Comments on: The Business Rusch: The Writer You Want To Be

By: Nancy Beck

Nancy Beck — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 00:49:51 +0000

Thanks for this post, Kris. For many years, I only read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. That was it. Then I became “daring” (LOL!) and decided it was time to move on to other fantasy stories…which I’ve read in abundance of the years.

I’ve tried reading in other genres – just started up on science fiction (SF) again, recently, have read a few mysteries – some with a bit of fantasy thrown in – and have read some romance in the past. Wrong types of romance though, as the historicals don’t do it for me.

But then I thought about some of the old romantic comedies I love – Bringing Up Baby, for instance, about a nutty Katharine Hepburn being in love with straight laced Cary Grant (the Baby is a leopard!) – and I knew this was something I could try to write. And I’m having a blast! I have 2 novelettes out, under a pen name, and am working on a 3rd.

So glad I decided to stretch my horizons a bit. It’s so true that you never know what you like until you try…

By: Mark Neumayer

Mark Neumayer — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 16:37:44 +0000

Thanks. I’ll check it out.

By: Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Kristine Kathryn Rusch — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 19:13:14 +0000

Mark, that’s not something I can give a three-second answer to. That’s why Dean’s teaching an online workshop in genre structure–so that you know what you have written. The October workshop is full, but you can take it in February: http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?page_id=7474

By: Mark Neumayer

Mark Neumayer — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:41:24 +0000

Great post!
One of the changes I have seen with the growth of e-publishing is the merging of genres. When I write I don’t have any worries about what kind of story I’m supposed to write. I write the kind of story I want to write.
But it does become hard once I go to post it to a site like Amazon which requires you slotting your story into a specific space/genre. How do we figure the best spot? I know Dean has written “Writers are awful at knowing what they write.”
So while I’ve had no trouble defining myself, (I’m an indie publisher) I have a heck of a time narrowing down my book. It is based on Norse mythology, featuring a 15-year-old protagonist. So is it fantasy? Mythic fantasy? YA? Children’s fantasy? Any ideas on the best way to figure this out?

By: Jodi

Jodi — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 02:22:23 +0000

I’d hate it if it did. Because I’m pretty picky. I don’t like modern day setting stuff unless you throw in a few wizards or whatnot Even then, I prefer non-modern day settings. I want to be able to tell instantly when something is fantasy or historical fiction, so I can pick it up. And I really liked it when historical fiction used to label itself Regency when it was Regency. For some people, a genre or subgenre is an instant buy. Right now, for example, since I’m kinda new to it, if it the price is right, Regency is my instant buy.

Jodi

By: Camille LaGuire

Camille LaGuire — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 21:58:24 +0000

I think we’ll always have genre as a helpful modifier, but it’s going to be more like movies. Genre will no longer be the main definition of the flavor of the story.

With the movies, the main descriptors and divisions are the names of the creators (“Tarantino-esque”). Beyond that, it’s more about the audience (“Tent-pole” “Four quadrant” “family film”). Subject matter is often used in the place of genre too.

By: Camille LaGuire

Camille LaGuire — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 21:50:49 +0000

I like this. A lot.

I’ve felt this is true for some time — even before e-publishing became viable for self-publishers. People make up stories, and they share them in so many ways, but so often it was outside of the system and unrecognized.

Now, just as we have so many different paths, the people on those different paths have access to each other and to all of the paths.

It’s exciting.

By: Sam X

Sam X — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 20:37:03 +0000

I spent years being concerned with definitions of “indie” in terms of music scenes. Over it. As far as I’m concerned, there’s the megalith publishers and then there’s everyone else. Sure I’d rather get a 2,000 print run with a more prominent indie publisher, but I can handle running e-books off my own indie publishing line too. People who fight over their artistic turf are fighting about the wrong thing.

By: Joe Cron

Joe Cron — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:33:18 +0000

“Remain passionately undefined.” What a terrific phrase! Think I’ll try that.

By: Maggie Jaimeson

Maggie Jaimeson — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 18:15:34 +0000

As always, an interesting and insightful post. It seems that labels are all about marketing (or a perception of marketing). Indie was a way to market a “specialty” small press or what some may think are cross-genre small press. I think authors crave labels because they still believe a certain type of label carries a cachet that will sell more books.

I have begun to wonder if/when genre labels are going to morph or go away. As publishers (indie, self, or traditional) attempt to get as much of the pie as they can, I’m seeing genre labels no longer being well-defined. Kind of like “low fat” for the food world, it seems that the latest genre flavor of the day/week/year becomes impossibly wide. Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, and Fantasy are three that immediately come to mind. In Romance, the slide between contemporary and women’s fiction has also become more nebulous. When I look at metatags it’s easy to see more and more books tagged as SF, Fantasy, Romance, Suspense, Paranormal.

In the past it was scene as a “step up” in the romance world to move from romance to general fiction (i.e., Nora Roberts) even though the book was still clearly a romance. You also saw that in some of the mystery and thriller genres. Do you see a time when instead of genre markets, we will revert to broader categories such as “general fiction” vs “literary fiction” and “adult” vs “YA/Children” as the only labels? Or perhaps simply fiction vs non-fiction. Now that would give a marketer apoplexy.