Creative Writing 101

Lesson 2: Genres

This lesson covers genres in fiction and includes some of the "givens" in each.

This will help you choose the best genre(s) for you.

Adventure, detective and mystery.

Children's books, picture books and YA.

Fantasy and science fiction.

Historical novels.

Romance.

Writing exercise.

Genre fiction goes in and out of favour, so it's unlikely that you will be able to sell any one genre for an extended time. This lesson is about writing, not selling, so for now we shall concentrate on the genres themselves.

Despite this, there are things you need to know about genres, and I might as well begin with a cautionary tale from my own experience.

In the 1980s and early 90s, I was reading category romances with a view to writing some for sale. I found that some authors appealed to me more than others. So far, so good.

Then I found some books by those authors appealed to me more than others. OK! I thought I'd discovered the kind of romance I wanted to write.

Unfortunately, as I found later (many thousands of words later), the books I liked best were atypical of the genre. They were so atypical that they were written only by long-time authors who had earned the right to deviate from the unexpressed norm.

Although I enjoyed books where -

(1) the hero and heroine didn't meet until Chapter 3 ('Man of Iron')

or

(2) the hero was a dancer with a sense of humour ('One Last Dance')

or

(3) the heroine was an author with a strongly characterised family and a dog ('Touch Me in the Morning')

or

(4) the hero was a colour blind farmer who wore glasses and odd socks; ('Beyond Compare');

I found out that such atypical themes would not be even remotely acceptable from an "unknown" (to the category romance genre) novice.

I found out the hard way. It is quite OK to deviate from the accepted but often unstated norm of a genre if you're writing for your own amusement or if you're a long-time best-seller, but otherwise you need to toe the chalk line. In other words, before writing genre fiction you should ideally read several recently published exponents of that genre and observe their similarities. If one or two seem to differ from the others on major points, then those are probably atypical.

Which Genre? (1) Adventure, Mystery and Detective.

ADVENTURE

This is a genre that is often found mixed with others. You get fantasy-adventure, sci-fi adventure, romance-adventure, mystery-adventure, historical-adventure and a few other sub-genres such as sword-and-sorcery-adventure.

An adventure novel usually has a protagonist (or group of protagonists) facing danger and excitement. The danger may be courted (as in a novel where the hero climbs a new mountain peak or sets off on a cross-country trek) or accidental (as in a novel where characters survive a plane crash and face a long walk to safety or where someone is cut off from help by flood or fire).

Whether danger is courted or accidental, the adventure protagonists will face more hardship than they anticipate. They may deal with the situation either better or worse than expected. Either way, there will be surprises, good and bad, for characters and reader.

Many adventure novels take place in exotic locations. These may be dictated by the fantasy or historical (say) part of the plot, but even straight modern adventures usually toe the genre line. In real life, one may face danger in the home or in other familiar environments, but novels are not real life. Unfamiliar environments help to make things more uneasy for the protagonist and more entertaining for the reader. Urban adventure is possible, of course, but that's really a sub-genre on its own.

Why should wild or exotic locations be used? Partly for reader-entertainment, but mostly to remove the characters from their comfort zone. Getting lost in your own closest city is annoying, but you do have the option of asking for directions. Being lost in an unfamiliar bush, desert, jungle or mountain range is much more likely to lead to suspense.

In adventure, the unexpected is always king. The best equipped expedition can run into danger if;

-the leader vanishes.

-the map proves faulty.

-the expedition is attacked.

-someone sabotages the equipment.

-the weather turns wild.

In accidental adventure the stakes might be higher yet. The accidental adventurer will probably not be equipped for hardship. There's no need to sabotage equipment if there isn't any in the first place. The leader need not vanish if the characters are not exploring.

'In Search of a Husband', one of the recommended books for this course, is a romance adventure. Leaving aside the romance for now, let's look at what makes it an adventure.

The story starts in the civilised setting of Australia's gold coast. Rue, the heroine, is engaged to a pleasant older man named John. Shortly before their wedding date, Rue has a fall which sets the adventure part of the plot in motion. Because of the fall, Rue does not accompany John to his outback property, Golden Lode. She expects him back for the wedding, but after one brief message they are out of contact. There is no answer when Rue calls Golden Lode. Rue is worried, so when a man who claims to be John's stepson, Marcus, shows up also looking for John, she decides to accompany him to Golden Lode.

Rue and Marcus set out on a gruelling cross-country drive. By itself, an uncomfortable, tiring, drive does not make an adventure, so something unexpected must happen.

The weather turns bad, and a flash food threatens to strand them. Faced with rising water and cut off from the main road, they decide to try a little-used track, which should take them to higher ground.

Here bad luck takes a hand, and so does a fateful decision.

Driving the Jimbala Track is a new experience for Rue, and the road is much worse than Marcus remembers. A mudslide robs them of their vehicle (and of their mobile phone) and of almost all their supplies. This is another dose of bad luck, accompanied by bad judgement. (Marcus has insisted on driving while over-tired.)

Marcus attempts to reach the damaged vehicle, falls and dislocates his shoulder. A long trek ensues, with physical and mental trauma for both characters. Ordinary people against the elements, with their own decisions and characters carrying them into different situations, is a typical adventure theme.

Rue and Marcus finally make it to the safety of another outlying property, but meet a mysteriously bad reception from John's neighbours. And where is John?

The "adventure" is over, but mysteries and difficulties remain, almost until the end of the book. The adventure and its aftermath can be seen changing the protagonists' lives and attitudes forever. In the adventure genre, then, you need to bring danger and hardship along with a mixture of causes.

MYSTERY.

The mystery genre is closely allied to adventure, and quite often the two are blended. Mystery relies not on physical danger and hardship, but on something unexplained. Many mysteries are concerned with crimes. Thus the mystery might be-

-what was done?

-to whom/what was it done?

-why was it done?

- who did it?

-why did s/he do it?

On the other hand, the mystery might not involve crime. It could be a conundrum whose answer is of interest to just one person. Perhaps the protagonist (or someone known to the protagonist) is the only witness to some event. Perhaps the protagonist loses something of sentimental value (i.e. a pet) in mysterious circumstances.

Usually, mysteries are played out so that the protagonist (usually in the role of detective or researcher) finds clues and learns the truth at about the same time as the reader. Now and again the reader knows the truth and watches the protagonist unravel it.

In the case of 'In Search of a Husband', the mystery of John's disappearance is solved right at the end of the book; the solution fits in with John's character as it really is, not as Rue has perceived it. The mystery acts as a trigger point to launch the adventure part of the story, but having done its work it retreats to the background. Thus 'In Search of a Husband' is not really a mystery, although it contains one.

Quite a few mysteries have gothic or suspense overtones; in the former the mystery will have a creepy or supernatural tone, while the other will have danger from a human source.

DETECTIVE.

Detective fiction is a more specific genre than mystery. This genre is split, in turn, into at least three strands.

POLICE PROCEDURAL.

The first is known as a Police Procedural, in which a crime (or crimes) will be investigated by one or more police officers. The author of a Police Procedural must know a lot about real-life policing. Quite often s/he will have direct family or personal experience in "the job".

Procedurals need to follow the correct form with discovery of the crime, gathering of evidence, questioning of suspects and (usually) apprehension of the criminals. This doesn't mean the Procedurals mirror real life. Since these are novels, they must have more of both mystery and certainty. And the usual common round of several cases will probably be honed to one or two, which may be linked.

PRIVATE DETECTIVE.

The PI or Private Detective novel is another branch of detective fiction. The PI is mostly presented as an unusual or quirky character, who often works with, or at least with the tacit agreement of, the police. The hard-boiled PIs of the early 20th Century (Sam Spade, Mike Hammer) have mostly given way to more human characters, many of whom are women. Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone has appeared in several novels, as has Kerry Greenwood's Jazz Age detective, Phryne Fisher.

The PI may work alone, or with one or more side-kicks, who will act as "runners" or sounding boards, or who will often stand in place of the reader to ask the right questions of the detective. Sherlock Holmes and Watson probably set the pattern.

AMATEUR DETECTIVE.

Yet another branch is the Amateur Detective. Jill Paton Walsh's two books about Imogen Quy ('The Wyndham Case', St Martin's Press, 1993, and 'A Piece of Justice', St Martin's Press, 1995) are good examples. Imogen Quy is a university-based nurse. Her occupation and pleasant manner make it natural for people to confide in her; thus she is able to solve mysteries. Agatha Christie made good use of the amateur detective. Her novels, and the two Paton Walsh mysteries, display a strong thread that binds many books of this genre. They very often take place in semi-closed communities such as hospitals, colleges, villages or (in the older books) in house parties or ships.

An amateur detective needs a good excuse to be on or near the scene of a crime or mystery. S/he must also have the kind of character to invite or command confidences. Priests or medics may be naturals. Then there's Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. Dick Francis heroes are usually amateur detectives, although his books are more often described as thrillers.

Thus the three main strands of the detective novel run from the professional (police procedural) via the semi-professional (the P.I.) to the amateur. In tone they vary from the hard boiled to the cosy, from the violent to the bloodless puzzles.

RELATED GENRES

Beyond and amongst adventure, mystery and detective novels lie thrillers, chillers, romantic suspense (rom-sus), straight suspense and the so-called "women in jeopardy" (wom-jep) genres.

Thrillers and suspense usually combine the physical danger of the adventure with the puzzle of the mystery and add a strong dash of psychological terror. They usually have startling or frightening events.

Chillers are very similar, tending more towards horror.

Romantic suspense is a sub-genre of romance. It's usually the modern descendent of the old gothic novel. In most rom-sus novels a couple must work together to solve a dangerous mystery. Wom-jeps are similar but the threat is always aimed straight at the heroine.

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