It took me a bit to figure out exactly what genre my book would land in. At first, I thought it’d be sci-fi, it had elements of science fiction so that’s it, right? Then I leaned into the sub-genre of technothriller. Heavy on the tech details and encapsulates sci-fi enough that I’d be covered. But as I worked through draft after draft I realized I had more of an espionage thriller on my hands. I’d also pulled back on the “heavy details” and the sci-fi aspect is small and more setup for future stories. The point is, as I bounced between these genres I had to consider the reader expectations based on the genre I claimed it to be in. Which would impact story pacing, beats, and what’s involved. If I said it was a straight-up technothriller, I better make sure the details are there for those readers. If I said sci-fi, I couldn’t spend two-thirds of the book grounded in reality as a thriller then drop a splash of sci-fi on you. That’s not nice. Long story short, these are just a few things I considered when deciding a genre, and not even touching on the cover art aspect or back cover blurb. For this Writer Syndrome episode Tim and I chat about the different types of expectations and all aspects to consider when picking a genre. Check it out below.
Categories: Podcast
