If you’re a new and aspiring writer, then you may be wondering which genre you should start writing your first book from. There are so many genres and subgenres out there that it can certainly seem confusing. Additionally, the genre of your book actually matters quite a lot when it comes to making decisions about the tone, the content, and the style of your book. So, for today’s post, I’ll be helping you figure out how to choose which genre to write a book in!
Why Does Genre Matter?
A genre is basically a category of literature that is defined and contains specific elements that are repeated across the different works within that particular category. These include the themes, settings, character archetypes, plot structures, and world building. For instance, romance books are focused around a relationship while fantasy books explore alternate worlds where magic is present and matters.
There are many ways books bend genres, and there are books that are genre crossovers, but the idea is that people search for a specific genre because there are pieces and elements that each story within that genre has that they are looking for.
Genre matters quite a bit when it comes to depicting what your book is about and it’s important for the marketing process as well. When someone searches for a book that falls under fantasy, they are likely expecting magic and world building. If your book doesn’t have these things, then readers may feel unsatisfied.
Furthermore, genre is important because it guides your writing process and the creative direction that your story will take.
As an example, defining the genre of my series, The Fallen Age Saga, we can see that the series takes from a few genres, but ultimately, it is a grimdark sci-fantasy. Why? Well, it’s grimdark because it’s very bleak, quite violent, and has an overall very dark and gritty tone. It’s a sci-fantasy because it combines elements of sci-fi and elements of fantasy. If you want to learn more about sci-fantasy, check out this post. If you’re curious about what grimdark is, then check out this post.
Tip 1: What Interests You?
The first thing I recommend you look at is what you actually find interesting and what you have a passion for. Chances are, if you read mainly sci-fi books, then you’ll probably be more interested in writing your own sci-fi book as well because you have a passion for that particular genre.
The way to identify what your preferred genre is is to think about what your favorite books, movies, games, etc… are. Once you’ve identified a list, you should look up the genre of each one and from there, determine what the most frequent genre on that list is.
I personally really enjoy fantasy, but I also have an interest in sci-fi. I also love to read grimdark fantasy books. So, from there, I was able to determine that I wanted to write a grimdark sci-fantasy series.
If you prefer stories that are more grounded in reality and don’t require extensive world building, then chances are, you’ll be more interested in literary fiction such as contemporary romance.
Tip 2: What Are Your Strengths?
The next thing I recommend you do is to actually assess what your strengths and weaknesses are as a writer. Different genres out there will require a different set of skills to write. As I said earlier, fantasy and sci-fi especially demand high levels of world building. Other stories from different genres may focus more on dialogue or introspection.
If you know that you are really good at world building and that you really enjoy creating new and unique worlds, then you’ll probably be more oriented towards the sci-fi and fantasy crowd. If you know that you’re not a huge fan of science, then fantasy is what you want to pick.
Do you enjoy writing a lot of plot twists and do you like creating an uneasy feel around your story? You probably want to go with horror!
The idea is that you need to identify what your strengths are and where you find that your writing tends to orient.
Tip 3: Your Audience
Across one genre, there can be many target audiences. Of course, the genre will likely have a target audience that has more in common with each other, but there are still impactful differences. Under fantasy alone, there are people who enjoy cozy and light-hearted fantasy and then there are people who enjoy grim and violent fantasy. Ultimately, people seeking out cozy reads won’t likely be the same as the people seeking out violent reads.
The age group of your audience is also insanely important. Young adults are different from children and are different from adults. Each age group has its own socially acceptable conventions. For instance, if you’re writing young adult, you probably won’t be including much graphic content. If you’re writing for adults, then you can do whatever you want.
In addition to this, there are tropes that exist within the genres that resonate with certain age groups and not with others. So, think about these things when you’re going to choose which genre you want to write.
Tip 4: Write Different Genres
Another way you can figure out your genre is to actually write stories within those different genres. I’ve personally had ideas for genres that I don’t usually write, but when I went to write them, I felt like something was missing and that I wasn’t passionate about that particular genre if I was writing it.
So, my recommendation is that you actually write at the very least some short stories in those different genres. Try to see if there is something that resonates with you about a particular story over another and try to see which ones you actually stick with and write a lot in. Chances are, that genre is one that you like more.
Tip 5: Author Goals
Making a career out of being an author is a great decision to make! You definitely want to think about what your goals are as an author though. For instance, are you aiming to become an educational voice? Do you want to just write to entertain? Are you looking for commercial success?
The reason why these questions are important is because there are different genres out there that each come with their own purposes. For instance, if you are writing fantasy, you are writing mostly to entertain. If you are writing nonfiction, you might be wanting to educate or entertain or inform people.
Furthermore, if your goal is to write a series or stand-alones, then different genres have different standards. Fantasy tends to lead itself towards series while nonfiction is fine if you’re writing just standalones.
Tip 6: You Can Blend Genres
As you saw above, I actually blended genres to create my series, The Fallen Age Saga. Obviously, not every book is going to blend genres, and some stick pretty solidly to the genre of their choice. However, I like to experiment and try different things and I felt like grimdark sci-fantasy was the best combination for my series.
Writing across genres is a pretty unique way to approach writing if you feel like more than one genre resonates with you. You want to think about the elements of the genres you’re interested in, how those elements work together, and so on.
Also, it’s important to note that you shouldn’t blend too many genres. If you start blending a lot, you might find yourself overwhelmed and confused. Oftentimes, writers may blend two genres together to create a singular genre, but you can probably go up to three genres. You just need to understand the requirements for each before you do something like that.
A recently popular genre blend has been romantasy, or romance fantasy. Romantasy takes the structure of a romance story and places it in the context of a fantasy story, and if you want to learn more about that, then you can check out this post!
Tip 7: Check the Market
Writing what you love is something that I always advocate for, but sometimes, you might not find the success you want in the current market. This is especially the case if you’re planning on going for a traditional publisher. However, if you’re planning on going the self-publishing route, you have significantly more flexibility and freedom to write something that interests you.
The market determines quite a lot of what trends and what doesn’t trend and many publishers might not accept certain genres or subgenres if they feel that they cannot sell your book. Even if you think your book has a high sales potential, the publisher might state that the market trends deem otherwise.
Tip 8: Personal Experiences
If you’re someone that likes to gather a lot of life experiences, then you might want to consider drawing upon those when you go to write your own book. For example, if you like to travel a lot, you might want to use the idea of travel in your book or write about how it’s like being a traveler.
If you’re someone that has had some crazy life story, then you might want to consider writing about it and talking about what it was like to grow up and maybe what those life experiences were and what lessons you took from them.
If you have a degree in some field and want to talk about certain concepts in that field and your interpretations, then that’s also a great idea.
Using your personal experiences can help you determine what genre would fit you the best.
Conclusion
When going to choose what genre you think you should write in, it really depends on a lot of factors that relate more to you as a person than anything else. It’s mostly up to your preferences, your skills, and what you find interesting. If you think that fantasy is the coolest thing ever, then chances are, you should be writing a fantasy! If you think that thrillers are so amazing, then write a thriller! At the end of the day, it’s totally up to you.
Before you head on out, be sure to check out my series, The Fallen Age Saga, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter so that you get updates on all my latest WIPs, book releases, posts, reveals and more!