Writing a book - tips from an author #9
Writing specific Genres
What is a 'genre'? It's a fancy French word for 'type' or
'kind'. A 'Thriller' is a 'type' of story. Thrillers therefore
make up a 'genre'. Some genres have become so 'reduced to
practice' that they are actually cliches of themselves. The
detective story, for example, or the bodice ripper. This is not
necessarily a bad thing - a solid framework in which to set your
story saves YOU lots of time when writing, and your READER lots
of time when reading. After all, if you have both agreed the
groundrules upfront by settling on a genre, you don't need to do
it in the plot! The solidity of these conventions can lead some
critics to claim certain genres are predictable, and therefore
less worthwhile - at www.GetPlotted.com we don't
necessarily agree. For example, a soap opera is entirely
predictable, yet runs year in year out, giving pleasure to
millions, and making a fortune for it's creators! The 'Harry
Potter' series might almost have been written by a machine, it
is so predictable. Doesn't stop it making JK Rowling
multimillions every year!
Key to succeeding in a particular genre is to understand the
conventions of that genre. In the same way that a well prepared
steak dinner consists primarily of steak, not fish, a plot set
in a specific genre has a 'menu' of sorts to follow. Fantasy
stories have their wicked wizards, cuddly hobbits and stern
elves, detective novels have their hard bitten private eyes,
mysterious motives, and unreasonable station captains. If you
stray outside these conventions (unwritten agreements between
writer and reader), you may find it hard to sustain your
audience's interest, because... you are making them work. They
are having to think. And remember, you want them to devote their
thinking power to imagination, filling in the blanks in your
narrative, and picturing the scene, NOT trying to guess why on
earth your hobbit is lesbian, has a degree in business
management, and a hand held laser.
Because you will write much faster and more confidently if you
truly understand the conventions of the genre you are tackling,
it may help if you 'spell it out' explicity. In other words,
write down the features that YOU believe make up a good example
of the genre. You can use the 'ScratchPad' feature at www.GetPlotted.com for
this, or even create a plotcard layout, with one card for each
salient point. What kind of characters populate these novels -
what their typical motivations are, and all the other facts
about the genre that make it part of the set. Or you can just
jot it down with a pen and paper - the choice is yours. Spelling
it out like this will also help you if you intend to 'upset the
genre' or 'turn it on its head'. This can be VERY rewarding, but
also VERY difficult to pull off. As an example, think 'Artemis
Fowl' novels - a set of detective stories featuring an Elf, and
riding roughshod over most of the conventions accepted for both
the fantasy and detective genres. Most new writers would be well
advised to master the genre before trying to subvert it!
Let's take a look at the most popular genre, the 'thriller'.
This is a catch-all genre that has many sub-genres. Typically
(and therefore a convention!) the protagonists, as in all
stories, have a problem, BUT, they can't solve it using
conventional measures - they need to step outside the box in
order to fix the problem. Also typically, the problem is BIG, it
threatens the town, society or even world our characters
inhabit. There's a LOT at stake, and this needs to be introduced
early in order to 'thrill' the reader. The solution to the
problem, being 'out of bounds', is usually illegal (or close to
legality, although undoubtedly justified!), may be violent, may
require technical brilliance and high drama, but shouldn't
require our heros to behave in a 'superhuman' fashion - i.e. it
should be believable. If you make your established characters
behave 'uncharacteristically', you will lose your audience fast.
The sub genres include political thrillers, disaster thrillers,
crime thrillers etc. Disaster thrillers tend to fall into 2
camps - natural and man made. In natural disasters, ('giant
meteor threatens earth') either the hero or society tends to
risk death if the disaster is not averted. Sometimes both! The
basic plotline usually centers around who will survive and how.
In a man made disaster ('evil corporation poisons lake'), on the
other hand, the main theme is usually how to prevent the
disaster manifesting itself. The job of the protagonist is to
save whatever is at stake (the world, the town); as in all good
plots, at some point the hero must go from simply reacting to
taking charge in order to save the day. Protagonists, even if
loners, almost always have sidekicks. Throughout the story, the
challenges faced by the hero get more intense, and the solutions
become more extreme, leading to a climax where (typically) the
job is done. Other genres of course have other rules.