Like most people, my life experiences are varied, their only
common thread is, well, me. As an
author, that provides me with a significant amount of literary fodder
accumulated over six and a half decades of life. Like most authors, it is the telling of the
tales, the crafting of the words, the sinews of the plots that interest
me. Like most authors, I found that
publishers tend to want to pigeonhole your efforts. Write only one genre. Get known.
Exploit it. Define a
readership... a following and feed the beast that feeds you. In short, be creative, but not too
creative. A statement that makes my
blood boil came from an agent, “I liked the book, but you need to rework it to
read more like...” and named a best selling author. Essentially I was being told to use a writing
formula, and not just “a” writing formula, but one that has been used by a
successful author. I’m convinced that is
the reason so many genre books are so predictable in terms of plot, characters,
and language. Basically, most are the
same book, structurally speaking.
Pigeonholing can certainly focus an author’s efforts, but it
limits the author’s range. Why limit
oneself to a single genre unless you
choose to do so? Who’s to say a mystery
writer cannot be equally adept at adventure, thrillers, or even children’s
books? If you think about it, had some
of our greatest minds limited their efforts, the Renaissance would never have
happened. Imagine if the Medicis had
told Da Vinci, “You are an inventor.
Sorry, but we can’t support your painting. Architecture? Forget about it. Science?
Stick to inventing.” Imagine the
Pope telling Michelangelo, “You’re a painter, leave the sculpture to the stone
workers.” Using the single genre
approach, we would never have had anything but war stories from Hemingway. We would have missed Under Kilimanjaro, A Moveable Feast, The Garden
of Eden, The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway on Fishing, and countless
other works.
In a business sense, one can fully appreciate the one genre
approach to success, but as a creative artist, I abhor it. Were I dependent solely on writing for a
living, I would probably embrace it, but since I’ve had a long and successful
career doing something else, I am free to define my own path. Not all authors have that latitude. So, how does an emerging author choose which
path to take?
First, you must be passionate about the subject or subjects
on which you intend to write. Passion
drives great stories. The greater the
passion, the better the tale. Along with
passion, you must be knowledgeable about the subject of your story. Even in thrillers and science fiction,
suspension of disbelief only goes so far.
In historical fiction or adventure, factual inaccuracy or ignorance can
be a story killer, so at least be sure you do your research. Even passion and plausible scenarios and plot
lines, however, won’t win readers if the writing is poor. So, study your craft, polish your writing,
and make sure it is the best it can be before putting it out to the public. Good writing knows no genre boundaries.
Okay, we have established passion, good research, and good
fundamental writing skills are necessary to creating a book that will stand a
chance of success. So now you have a
decision to make. Do you choose a single
genre or a more varied approach? Part of
the answer lies in personal experience.
If your life experience is narrow, it might be better to stick to a
single genre and perfect your approach.
Those with broader life experience may find this a bit confining.
A second factor is your personal interests. Some have few, while others have many. Be realistic about using your interests as a
jumping off point, though. Interest
alone is not enough to launch a good short story, article, or book. Interest must be backed by some level of
personal experience and research.
Without it, what you write won’t ring true. Believability is critical to good story
telling. If it isn’t believable, it
won’t hold the reader’s attention. Good
writers get involved with what they write about. Please note here that there is a major
difference between a journalist/reporter and a creative writer. While it is true that both need good writing
skills, the journalist/reporter relies on factual sources for the meat of what
they write, while creative writers use facts as a path to believability. Creative writers weave facts into the fabric
of the story, but the facts are not the purpose of the story.
A third factor is more fundamental. Are you writing for the joy of creation, or
to make a living? That, more than
anything else, will have an impact on your direction. Nothing channels writing like success, and
nothing drives the direction of that channel more than the demand for more of
it. Demand is generated by the readers
and pursued by publishers. A solid
source of readers is essential to continued demand and building an audience for
your writing is critical to making a living as a writer. Just remember, readers can be fickle and if
you disappoint them, you court disaster.
If you are just starting out, experiment a bit. Try writing a few short stories and try them
out on friends and other writers (yes, there are some who will read your work,
but it is unlikely to be highly successful ones unless you happen to know
them). A writer’s blog is often a good
way to put your work out there as well, and feedback is often better in that
forum. Find what you are comfortable
with. Focus on that and hone your
skills. Good writing is rewriting. Most writers’ material goes through multiple
rewrites, multiple edits, and more rewrites.
It’s a process, and it won’t take long for you to determine what
direction you want to take. If your best
writing tends to focus in a single direction, a single genre approach might be
the best choice for you.
If you have been around the block a few times, like me, you
may find writing in a single genre will drive you right off the edge, and it
tends to have that affect on most seasoned writers over time as well. Single genre writing is a bit like an old
dirt road. It’s comfortable, but getting
out of the ruts can be a real bear.
Me? I’m not much for ruts. I write under different names. My fiction appears under S. Bradley Stoner,
fact under Steve McCarter, and poetry under Bridgewood. Yes, I know, it’s a bit schizophrenic, but it
is my personal way of compartmentalizing my work and a way of distinguishing
factual writing from all the rest. It’s
my quirk. Other writers handle it other
ways. Besides, it helps keep me from
getting pigeonholed.
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