Those Things That Are Different

It's Monday!

I know - no need for a reminder, right? :) Mondays are usually the worst writing day for me - after coming off the weekend craziness, it takes a lot for me to sit down and focus on my writing long enough to make any kind of progress. I usually have to do it in spurts amidst all the other things I need to get done (for example, I just wrote about half my goal for today then went and vacuumed my house. We're having shedding husky issues here).

Last week, a fabulous reader named Ginny asked if we could post some differences between the genres. Love to! I know there are a lot of genres existing now that seem like they all belong in the same category.

Like, women's fiction for instance. "Women's Fiction" is a HUGE, over-arcing category under which falls romance, contemporary, chick-lit, historical, etc.

Here's a very, very, very basic guide to what each genre means. Which one do you write? Or which combination?

Chick-Lit - Of course I have to start with this! :) If you are writing for the 16-28ish age range (it can be younger and older), aiming for specifically single girls, writing in first person (and usually present tense!), and you've got romance and comedy, you are probably writing chick-lit. If your book was made into a movie, would it be marketed as a chick-flick? If so, welcome to the fun world of zero calorie desserts and lots of fun dialoguing. :)

Historical Romance - Usually set more than 50 years ago and involving lots of drama about relationships. Also, this category can often be combined with a little bit of suspense. Also, it's almost always aimed for women (particularly women in their late twenties to late forties). It's almost never written for men.

Historical Suspense - A great example of this would be Brock and Bodie Thoene's work. They write primarily historical suspenses (check out their Chronicles of Zion series). This can be written for men as well, but again, the primary audience is going to be women 28-48ish. Remember how Historical Romance had splashes of suspense? Historical Suspense will usually have a secondary romantic angle.

Suspense - There are lots of sub-genres for this category, including thriller, young adult suspense, horror, action/adventure, paranormal, etc. Basically, if your goal in writing is to scare the eyebrows off your reader, you probably fall into this category. Ted Dekker? That's you.

Romantic Suspense - Half of you is wondering about where the treasure is and who will get to it first - the good guys or the bad guys, and the other half of you can't wait to find out if the hero and heroine finally end up together? You've got a romantic suspense in your hands. The basic idea behind this genre is to fill the "down time" between the suspenseful scenes with tiny glimpses of romance. Dee Henderson is probably the master of this in the Christian market.

Young Adult - This is another one of those huge over-arcing categories. Any genre found in the adult category can be found in the young adult category. Most young adult books are written for the 12-16 age range. That doesn't mean you won't get younger or older readers too.

Contemporary Men's or Women's Fiction - The genre for the books that just don't fit into any of the other genres. Maybe you have a little bit of suspense, a little bit of romance and mostly just a good story? Welcome to the "Contemporary" label. The best way to represent this genre to a publisher is to show that you really know your intended age range. Are they younger or older? Married or single? Moms and Dads? Christians or non-Christians?

Crossover - Oh, the buzz word in Christian media these days! Thanks to Jerry Jenkins with Left Behind and the band Switchfoot, we now have this lovely dream of crossing over into the national media instead of just the Christian world. The best way to write a crossover book? Write a great book. Don't wash your faith out of your manuscript. Karen Kingsbury is one of those authors who consistently lands on the New York Times bestseller list and her books have never apologized for being Christian. My advice? Don't aim for a "crossover" book. Just write and write well.

I know I didn't include every possible genre out there - chime in with what genre you are writing in!

Ginny, I hope this answers your questions! Remember the proposal we talked about a little while ago? Finding out what genre you write is a very important part to include on your proposal. Have fun with it!