Genre-bending mind games!

When I was trying to find a literary agent for my novel Rest and Be Thankful, I worried a lot about genre: what genre was my novel? Did it "fit" properly into a specific category of fiction? How should I market it? Was it like other novels in that particular genre? My novel is part mystery, part coming-of-age novel, and part travelogue. It doesn't really fit the "cosy" mystery or "hard crime." The main character is 13, but the story isn't solely about the "teenage" stuff other young adult novels seem to be about -- romance, fitting in at school, etc... -- although it does cover some of these topics. It's kind of a mixture!

But mixtures don't always work in the literary world. While writing queries, I struggled with trying to market my book -- sometimes I said it was "women's fiction," since the main characters were all women. Other times I called it "literary fiction" because I felt it was quite literary! But it's also plot-driven and, at it's heart, is an adventure story. I got lucky -- Pilrig Press, based in Edinburgh, chose to publish my novel as "crime fiction"!

Right now, I'm reworking the novel for the American market and am aiming it more for young adults. It still doesn't feel like the "typical" YA novel I see in bookstores, but choosing a specific audience has helped me focus my writing better. After reading one of John Green's YA novels, I realized I had just scratched the surface of my characters' lives -- writing for a younger audience, while telling the same story, made me feel a little freer to dig deeper! So, maybe genre isn't just an annoying marketing ploy by the publishing industry! Maybe it helps writers to really focus on who they want their audience to be. Any thoughts?

Writing where you are...

Right now, I'm reading a thriller based in Bulgaria called Valley of Thracians by Ellis Shuman. It's really good, and Shuman does a great job describing the setting. Here's an example:

"The weathered tenements he passed on the road looked just like those he had imagined Eastern Europe would have, with laundry drooping from metal-railed balconies and faded, chipped paint barely concealing the aging cement bricks of the structures. Graffiti sketched in oversized letters and psychedelic hues shouted at him from the concrete walls..."

I admire writers who can describe places in such detail, partly because it's one of the skills I struggle with. No matter how many stories I've written, there comes a point where I think I have the work completed, and then I read a really amazing description by another writer who uses all the senses to describe the smells, the feel of the air, the hue of the grass... And I think, "Oh, man! I haven't described my settings at all!" Then I go back and re-think my work, trying to put myself into each scene, inserting key details, imagining what the characters see. It happens every time!

Perhaps it's because I tend to focus more on the characters and their dialogue, but I always have to remind myself that they are LOCATED somewhere -- and that that place matters to the readers! Plus, the setting is an impotant tool for writers -- we can use it to subtly set the tone of a scene (is the sky overcast, creating an ominous feeling?) and actually push the plot forward (what does the character see? Someone hovering in a darkened doorway? A dusty lace curtain twitching?).

When we talk about Southern literature, we automatically assume the setting is the South, and that in itself creates meaning before the reader has even turned one page! What do I think of when I imagine the South? Mosquitoes, heat, humidity, condensation on iced tea glasses, frigid air conditioning, cars, highways, lush greenery. That's my South. But I have to remember that others have different assumptions -- someone from Bulgaria, for example, may never have tasted syrupy sweet iced tea. As writers, we must constantly think outside ourselves and describe places as though we've never been there. It's a lesson I have to keep reminding myself!! What's your experience writing about setting?

Freebie, today only!!

Just a quick note... You can get my collection of short stories, Up Pops the Devil, for FREE until midnight tonight (Pacific Standard time).

The collection takes place in North Carolina, Vietnam, and on a subway carriage. In "Up Pops the Devil," pregnant Lara awakes in the middle of the night to find a group of men with guns standing in her bedroom. Her husband Nathan owes them money for cockfighting. On impulse, she flees into the mountains, taking the youngest (a teenage boy) with her. In "The Mood Detectives," a couple becomes obsessed with the depression craze that's hitting the country! In "What's for Dinner?" an insensitive husband wonders why he keeps drawing The Devil tarot card. And in "Viet," a teenage girl visits her mother's homeland of Vietnam and makes a surprising discovery. The characters in this collection confront unfortunate choices, bad luck, and plain old destiny, hoping to make it to the next day.

Just go here:  http://www.amazon.com/Up-Pops-the-Devil-ebook/dp/B00DP77PVC