Genre Bending or Breaking?

Walk into any bookstore and you'll find all of the latest books sorted into these perfect little categories. Fiction, Non-Fiction, Biography, Fantasy, Romance are all nicely printed in bold letters on placards scattered about the store. More and more frequently I have been seeing books that merge genres or in some cases encompass elements of so many that I can't quite place where they actually belong.

Read more on my blog...

Bending Genre Elements

 When I started writing in 2009 my aim was romance. Not that I didn’t enjoy reading other genres. I simply enjoyed romance more. Read more on The Literary Hub

Crossing Lines

The topic of September is crossing genres on our Merry Go Round Blog Tour from Forward Motion. Such a good topic for me as I plan my next novel. A lot of the stories I write follow along the lines of the Young Adult, Realistic Fiction line. With this in mind, I started to think about books I read and have loved and one thing keeps repeating in my mind. Every author crosses the borders of genres.
Continue reading here...http://tiptoeingthroughmetaphors.blogspot.com/2011/09/crossing-lines.html

Twist It, Bend It, Tie It In A Bow...

Genre bending is an interesting thing. Ever notice how some of the most popular movies all contain elements of action, drama, romance, comedy, and sometimes even fantasy or science fiction? Look at Harry Potter, for example.  Continue reading at The Quadrant.

Fantasy or Science Fiction? Does it Really Matter?

When I was growing up, one of my favorite authors was Andre Norton. During her 93 years of life, Ms. Norton wrote more than 130 books. I have read most of them and own copies of 30 or more, tucked away in boxes. I didn’t know until I was grown that Andre Norton was a women and that she took that pen name because when she started writing, science fiction readers were perceived as all males. Continue reading on my blog...

Break the Marketing Pocket until you’re selling – Genres

Each of these has a specific connotation when attached to a book. When you tell others that you’re a writer, their first question is almost always “What do you write?” Our answer usually fills in with a label similar to those above. However, modern writing has started to defy the old classification model.

Read the rest at my blog: http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/2011/09/break-marketing-pocket-until-youre.html

The unknown substance

As it is not popular, more and more writers go without boundaries. Here at least. I’ve come across fellow craftsmen, who find it insulting if someone brings up that they would do better if they would add similar ingredients to their pot of plot which would give some familiarities to search them by. It “castrates” their creativity, they say, and write on genre-less books, not realizing that the editors will still try to fit it in some shelf next to genre books. One even compared it with paint-by-number picture.

Indeed, when writing inside genre, you are creating work by certain standards so the reader can get exactly what they wanted from the book. I would be very happy if it was indeed like painting by numbers, but I fear it’s more like Jan van Eyck oil painting, including grinding your own paints.

Read more on my blog.

Genre-Crossing?

I confess to being a little muddled at this month's Blog Tour topic.  I've heard of gender crossing, and, certainly, cross-dressing.  The term isn't used for women much, but I do a lot of cross dressing.  Men's clothing has always been more durable -- both in construction and fashion.  I've been tall with longer legs for most of my life, so the only way to get pants long enough or long sleeves that come below mid-forearm, I've had to purchase men's clothing.  That works fine for casual clothing, but for dressier things, I've had more of a challenge.  But you didn't come here to read about clothes shopping challenges. Continue reading on my blog.

Crossing Genre Lines

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.

 

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topic bending and my plan for fighting terror

I have a suggestion for the tenth anniversery of the 9/11 attacks: do something real. Turn off your computer, put your cell phone on silent, unplug yourself. Watch the wildlife at a local park, walk barefoot in your garden, close your eyes and just feel the wind blowing through your hair. What does this have to do with genre-bending? Umm...

Genre-Bending: When categories just don't fit

For this month's Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, we're talking about genre and what happens when writers ignore the boundaries of bookstore categories.  Actually, I also want to talk about my experience as a reader and how genre can both inform and limit me in my search for something new and shiny to read. (Continue reading "Genre-Bending. . . )

it's all niche markets

Lately I have, for no particular reason that I can think of, written several ghost stories. (Continue reading at Cowgirl in New England)

Isn't One Genre Per Story Enough?

So what’s the deal with cross-genre fiction? Isn’t enough that we have a dozen genres to write, read or watch on TV?

Continue reading here: D.M.Bonanno.

Crossing the streams of genre

Okay, crossing the streams is an obvious image to use when talking about crossing anything, especially with any kind of an SF/F background (or an ’80s movie background). But it’s a bad analogy, because crossing genres is a good thing, if done well. Continue reading on my blog…

The Overgenre-ing of Books

When is a fantasy book not a fantasy book? When it's an epistolary young adult paranormal romance.

Bah!

Find out what I'm talking about over at AlexWorld.