Is a specific genre necessary?

[Stacey Sweeney]

I'm working on a novel and it is still in the first rough draft stage. Before I get too far into my storyline, I wanted to know how necessary it is to have a specific genre in mind.

My main character grew up in an abusive home. She meets this guy and falls for him. He doesn't return the feelings. A friend sets her up on a blind date to cheer her up, it ends in date rape. Several months later, she runs into the guy she'd fallen for. He falls for her, but she isn't interested in any kind of relationship. Blah, Blah, Blah. Then she falls in love with him and decides to become a rape counsleor. (The ending sounds lame and cheezy right now, but I'm still in the 'very rough' draft stage.)

The Blah, Blah, Blah is: I don't know if she's going to get help from counsleing, the guy, or God. That's where the genre thing comes in. The book probably can't be listed as Christian unless it can be rated R and Christian. It probably can't be romance because of all the rape and abuse, so what's left? I want to try to figure it out so I can figure out which way my story is going to go before I write myself into a corner.

I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks!
Stacey

[Sage]

I have no publishing experience. But my personal opinion is that you should write the novel & not think about what genre you expect it to be in. Lots of novels cross genres, & it will probably be the publisher or bookstore that put it in a certain category.

The Blah, Blah, Blah will probably come to you as you're writing.

I have no experience w/ Christian fiction at all, but knowing my friends who read romance novels, I don't think they would consider rape & abuse to have to be outside of that genre. The actual romance doesn't seem to be have that from your description, so it's really there to build on the character. But then again, I don't read books from the romance section either (but romances happen in non-romance fiction all the time).

So, yeah, I guess what I'm saying is that you shouldn't worry about the genre, just write the story.

[katiemac]

It's possible you have a romance on your hands, but I wouldn't worry about genre. In this case, since you're still in it's rough stages if you pick a genre, you can risk pigeon holing the story before it has a chance to change on its own. Unless you set out to write in a specific genre, it's better just to let the story tell itself.

[maestrowork]

Write your story first and worry about genres later.

[Susan Gable]

Knowing genre is important (CRITICAL) for the marketing of the novel. I'm going to toss some contradictory advice out here. <G> If your goal is to sell this novel to one of the "bigwig" publishers, then I think deciding what genre you want this to be is a great idea before you actually write the thing - because, folks, the writer really IS in charge of the execution of this thing. And how you write really does determine the genre.

It's all in the execution. We could all take the same basic plot premise, and turn into any genre novel.

So I think you're being wise in looking for a map to guide you. Obviously if you wanted to write this as a Christian book, you could still deal with all the issues you discuss here (rape in particular) but you would have to write it in a way that the violence happens "off-stage." You would have to choose your words carefully, because cursing isn't allowed in a Christian book.

If you want to write it as a romance, then you need to make sure that as you write, you focus in on the budding relationship between the heroine and the hero. (This choice would probably make a big difference in where you choose to open your story. Much of stuff you first mention may very well be backstory if you choose to write it as a romance.)

So, as with anything else in writing, how you approach this is up to you. You can decide in advance what basic genre you want it to be, and control the execution of the story with that in mind, or you can slap it down, and when you're done, go back and look at it and see where it might fit - understanding that you may have to do some substantial rewriting to make it work for a certain genre. (On the other hand, it may just be a "mainstream" novel when you're done.)

Good luck with it, however you decide to handle it. :)

Susan G.

[scarletpeaches]

I had never heard of Christian books before joining this forum - I don't think you get them in this country, but I'll have a look on Amazon - I'm always interested in trying out and reading new genres. :D

[Linda Adams]

I also think that knowing the genre is critical in the early stages of the book. Each genre has its own core focus and elements the readers want to see. Those are all elements that come into play as the story itself is developed. In my current project, we never had a handle on a core genre element until fairly recently--and we've rewritten the book three times trying to shake out the problems that caused. It's much easier to have those core genre elements up front before you start writing then trying to fix it after the fact.

You might want to start by identifying the kinds of books you like to read because it's likely that your book is probably in that zone. If you're having a hard time pinning that done, check out the titles online. There's been a lot of new genres coming out, and unfortunately, the bookstores haven't caught up with in. Just because a book is in the mystery or romance section doesn't mean it's that genre. Some possible genres to look at include Women's Fiction, Chicklit, Romantic Suspense/Romantic Thriller, and Young Adult.

[JANE007]

Sounds like it could fit in quite nicely with YA, however i'd get it finished and then starting thinking about where it fits in. I was asking myself this same question not long ago, but just abondoned the question all together and i'm just not thinking about it anymore. I'm half-way through and still don't know the answer.

Good Luck!
:)

[JAlpha]

Write your story first and worry about genres later.

What maestrowork is saying here is soooooo true. However, the contrary advice regarding aiming for a specific genre market is also sound. Here's the catch . . . even when YOU think you've zeroed in on the right genre, the agent and/or publisher that takes an interest in your work may have something completely different in mind.

Case in point, there was a woman (Ronder Thomas Young) in one of my critique groups who wrote a wonderful mainstream novel, but the only publisher that took an interest in her book wanted her to revise it into a "coming of age" YA novel. She thought long and hard about what to do, then went with the YA revision, and her book (Moving Mama To Town) won a Newberry Award! Which just goes to show you, all you really need to be worrying about right now in your first draft is writing your story. If you mind your craft and write the best story you can, it will find its way to the proper shelf in the libraries and bookstores :)