So what is the deal with genres? I mean I got the idea. Why can’t I just write? The truth is, that between all the hurdles you need to go to write, selecting your genre is one more. Things to wrap your head around. Depending on the genre you choose there are some rules or trends you need to follow. Much like movie genres, there are somethings people or audiences expect from them.
Nonfiction versus Fiction Books
Nonfictional books contain facts, real information that is easy to verify. Biographies, history books can be in this category. How-to books, cooking books, and do it yourself.
Fictional books are stories that the author made up. Of course these days fictional stories are wrapped in plausible information so that audiences can connect. There is research that must be done in order to make that fabricated manuscript feel real.
After you choose if you are going to go through nonfiction versus a fictional book, what is the story about.
Nonfiction:
- Food
- Memoir
- Politics
- Self-Help
- History
With Fiction you have a lot to choose from.
- Sci-Fi
- Thriller
- Fantasy
- Romance
- Horror
- Graphic Novel
- Supernatural
- Western
You can also choose a sub-genre. That is like another category your book can be. After you chose all the genres or sub-genres you need, you have to choose an audience.
- Young Adult
- Adult
- Children’s
- Teen
Why is this relevant? Let’s say you choose a children’s book, you know that mature language is off-limits. Young-adult can manage may be some foul language but not explicit sexualization. These are the things to consider when choosing the genre. You will need to appeal to the audience that is meant to and they will be expecting some sort of trend accordingly to the genre.
Because of the genre trends, you could have some sort of blueprint or have an outline guide more or less done. This doesn’t mean you can lean back and cut corners and do a sloppy story. It just means that you can see what is expected of the genre and be creative from that point.
I implore you to explore all the genre possibilities for your book. See what adapts more to your manuscript. If not later on I could do another genre post to explore more about the genres and what is expected more or less for each one.
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