I often hear things like 'genre is
just a tool made up by marketing people.'
Yes, that's true. That does not make it bad, though. Imagine going into a store and wanting a new
fantasy novel, only you have to search through every single shelf of fiction to
find one. Or worse, searching through
places like Amazon.com, book-by-book. So let's start by saying that genre
distinctions are a great tool for readers.
But what about authors? Yes, they can help you define what you are
going to write and let you know what certain expectations might be.
However, that doesn't mean you have to
write to fit a genre. In fact, you
shouldn't. You should write whatever
suits you for the story you want to tell, and genre should be the last thing you
consider. And if that means you write something that crosses genre lines, all
the better. Genre designations are not
meant to be walls.
