The Genre Straitjacket...

Barbarique said:

Which is their prerogative. Everyone ought to be free to choose what works best for them, don't you think?

I agree with you. On the other hand, we should be allowed to feel thankful to a writer for providing us with enjoyable reading, no?

Truer words were never spoken.

Alas, it's been thirty-six years since I was a teenager, so I can't speak to that. But I don't recall whether we had YA or not... unless it was the Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew? Geeez... tempus fugit.

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Of course you can feel grateful! I, for one, feel grateful to writers such as J.K Rowling (ha...I know, what a standard answer) for giving us a magnificent plot, characters, and world that I, along with millions of others, have become engrossed in. Think of all the conversations, arguments, websites, fan fiction, and just the massive fandom she's inspired!

I just wanted to point out that not everybody may feel that way, and us, as writers, may view things a bit differently. After all, we know how much hard work it is to write a novel and to get published!

I'm also a bit curious about what your agent has to say about genre-hopping and if you guys have discussed career planning or anything like that.

Barbarique:
I'm afraid I don't know how much 8 quid is in $US, but I only buy used hardcovers for five dollars or less.

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On the current exchange rate, it's roughly 15 US dollars - 7.99 is what you'd expect to pay in the UK for a large paperback book (upwards of 400 pages) - 'normal' paperbacks are between 5.99 and 6.99 (12 or 14 US dollars). However most of the larger bookstores do 3 for 2 offers or buy 1, get 1 half price, or they offer 25% discount vouchers, which is why the independent stores are getting choked to death.

I buy used books from charity shops if I see something that I wouldn't ordinarily buy but want to take a chance on. In some cases, it's led to me buying new copies of other work by that author. In other cases it's resulted in my not wanting to touch anything by that author with rubber gloves and a bucket of bleach.

MM

I recently listened to an interview with an author who published fantasy, but also wrote in different genres under pseudonyms. It's quite possible to switch between genres if your books sell.

I don't restrict myself to a specific genre. While I'm likely to write mysteries, my WIP novel is what I would consider horror or thriller, my first hopefully soon to be published short story is more literary and I also comedy and had an idea for a fantasy. I write the story first and worry about the genre later.

I find genre is helpful more than a straightjacket. It not only provides structure for the work, but also a shared idiom. The genre tropes give as many opportunities as they do limitations. They can work to set up something minor in a way the reader will instantly understand it, without having to worry too much about explaining it. Or if you put a new spin on a familiar trope you can generate an "Ah Ha!" moment.

Genre's like anything else in writing, you can use it or let it use you.