How Important is Genre?

We all have our preferences when it comes to reading, and we can all be picky at times. Even the more open-minded readers might hesitate if there's a story before them that is in a style they just don't click with. I will read most anything Stephen King writes, and I will hesitate at the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's nothing about them personally, it's just that I prefer reading certain a genre more than others. (Though I literally could not finish The House of the Seven Gables. Sorry, Nate.) However, genre often comes with bias, and sometimes, as writers, we need to consider whether we want to steer our writing to fit into that genre.

To broaden this idea out, let's look at action movies. This category is fairly well-known, and comes with a lot of packaged assumptions. We know that character depth will be limited, fights will be extended to inhuman lengths, the first option will be to swing, shoot, or destroy, and when we get to an elaborate set-piece, there's a very good chance it will blow up by the end of the scene. Now, going into an action movie, these assumptions are kind of baked in and we adjust our expectations accordingly when we buy our ticket. Things will happen a certain way, if the main character seems a little transparent and one-dimensional, well, you really came to see things blow up, and the bad guy gets bumped off in a big showcase way at the end. Anything more is really above the bar.

As readers, we act the same way with our stories. If we are reading a paranormal thriller, we find ourselves believing that there's some kind of spirit world seeping into our lives and everyone just kind of goes with it (except for the naysayer who gets bumped off early in the book to reinforce the point). A mystery novel brings us a Rogue's Gallery of mischievous characters with marginal scruples amidst the stand-out character who figures everything out while everyone else either watches or dies. And when reading the horror genre, well, we let our darker angels judge humanity harshly, allowing for the worst of the worst to be played out before us. And if we are not ready to do those things, we don't read that piece.

But how would we approach a piece if we didn't know the genre?

Putting a book into a genre draws it to a particular audience, giving it the best shot of finding people who will connect with the style. Any book cover should immediately tell you if it's romance, fantasy, horror, etc., despite what they say about judging a book. However, most stories at their core are about people, conflict, and hopefully growth. When you write, does it matter whether that personal struggle to grow is done on a Kansas farm or on an Arcturan battle cruiser? The story can be any genre you want, mostly because at its root, there is no genre to the main story. It's like a nice, lean, chicken breast - you can't say if it's Jamaican or stir-fry or baked because it's just the core ingredient. The rest is prepping it how you want.

If you specialize in a particular genre, that's great - write everything you can in that way and really hone your craft. However, if you come across the idea for a story, find out what it is at its roots before you try and put it into the "appropriate" genre. Let the story inform you what serves it best, then write it that way. That's the genre of writing that's called "good writing," and everyone enjoys that.