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Joined: 3/11/2011
Posts: 156
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Writing wise. Do you fit in one of the well-defined mystery genres or are you flirting between the lines? I think of mine as cozy-paranormal. I've got a small town filled with psychics and the ghosts are mostly friendly.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 412
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I have 4 mystery novels on the backburner. One has a psychic, one is very sitcom murder mystery in style (father dowling mysteries, murder she wrote) one involves aliens, and one is a kids book I'm working on with my wife.
Uhh... yeah. Labels don't work for me, heh.
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Joined: 3/15/2011
Posts: 7
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I write crime noir. Mostly. Sort of crime suspense. Not really mystery, but it goes on the shelf with mystery.
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Joined: 4/3/2011
Posts: 20
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I write lighter (but not cozy) mysteries and romantic suspense. My straight mysteries are closest to cozies, though on the genre map I put my book in general mystery because there's no humor in it and all the "cozy" stuff on the genre map is too funny for mine to fit in with.
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Joined: 3/14/2011
Posts: 8
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I guess what I've been writing falls somewhere between noir and general mystery. My main character is maybe what would happen if you threw Stella Hardesty, Charlie Fox, and Joe Pike in a blender...maybe with rum or nutmeg...served with a side of crazy-pants family members.
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Joined: 3/7/2011
Posts: 38
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I tend to think of myself as sci/fi and fantasy, but several people have told me that my work might be more suspense/mystery.
Mystery/Suspense is one of my favorite genres to read, and I do include a mystery to drive my plots.
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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 54
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It certainly is a challenge to fit into one of the genres. What do you call a mystery / psychological drama with a side of humor?
But i do LOVE the genre map. It is so helpful. After throwing in the Tones and the Tags, i think it's possible to get close to the essence of most stories.
Annabelle
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Joined: 4/28/2011
Posts: 4
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I'm writing a light-funny noir. The genre map sets me right next to Get-Shorty. The genre map is really helpful in identifying how to pitch my story to friends. It's nice to read other forms of mystery and get an idea of the different sub-genres out there though.
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Joined: 3/10/2011
Posts: 7
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We had a hard time deciding on genre. Our 4 main characters are female, we've got a bit of romance, we have a mystery that we solve in a caper-like style, we've got curse words and lots of tequila drinking...
We don't think we fit into any one single genre, but needing to choose one, we saw Janet Evanovich under general mystery and went with that.
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Joined: 2/27/2011
Posts: 353
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Hi Lynne -
The genre map was created to help writers understand what the expectations for specific genres are among editors, agents and most bookstore buyers. These expectations hold true even for ebooks and those people who read them. That doesn't mean that your book won't work if it doesn't fit exactly into one of the genres; it just means you may find yourself with a smaller audience for the book when it is finished.
That's one of the beautiful things about digital publishing, though: it isn't limited to what a large publisher believes it can sell to the general public.
I would use the genre map as a guide, and not a hard fast rule. Put your book where it seems to work the best. The readers here will tell you if you've placed it in the wrong area. One of the other reasons the genre map was created was to help writers better understand what it is they're actually writing. You'd be surprised how many new writers actually don't.
Good luck and thanks for joining Book Country!
Colleen
Community Manager
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Joined: 2/27/2012
Posts: 3
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I have been following the conversation and I think the more I work with the genre map, the better I will be able to fit my book into the right spot. I agree with what most of you say, I find my writing doesn't exactly fit any given location. But as I work with a book, and study the map, I begin to see where it will fit best.
I guess what I have found surprising is that when I work with a second and third book, they don't fit in the same spot as the first one. I think of my writing as connected, each book not similar but with a similar focus to the last one. But when I work with the genre map, that doesn't prove to be true. They are each unique.
I imagine I will get better at this as I work at it. Hope that is true. Thanks for the other comments, they have put it into perspective for me.
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