It’s so often said that it’s become a cliché: authors should be readers first. While it doesn’t always have to be true, there is a kernel of truth in the often-debated idea. Readers of their genre understand the mechanics of their favorite types of stories. They see patterns that, while repeated in so many books, create new stories when imagined in complex ways. These pieces of insight boil down to genre conventions, and knowing them can help you find success in writing, editing, querying, and building an audience. Here’s how:
They Build Shortcuts to Audience Connection
When you have a list of genre conventions, you basically have a list of reader expectations. They’re going to be wondering when your final outcome is and how you’ll come to it, but they have a subconscious understanding of natural checkpoints along the way. Every time you hit one in your narrative, it grounds the reader, which allows you to take them to wild places in between while keeping them on board. In fact, you can even use an obligatory scene for your genre as a moment of shock and awe while still giving readers what they need to feel engaged in the story. It’s kind of awesome how creative you can get with it.
It Minimizes the Likelihood of Writer’s Block
One of the most pertinent types of writer’s block comes when you don’t know what to write next. But having an idea of conventions for your genre acts like a mental checklist of necessary scenes to build your story upon. Though each of these conventional scenes are something you’ll want to put your own twist on, having them in advance will get your mind working on them before you arrive and give you a map of how to get there when you’re stuck even if you aren’t ready for the next one the list just yet.
You Can Control Them Rather Than Them Controlling You
By having a comprehensive understanding of conventions of your genre, you are also going to have a means of adjusting them to fit your story’s unique needs. Just because we have conventions doesn’t mean readers want to read the same thing again and again. But having an incomplete list of conventions and understandings of what your readers need can make the whole situation feel trite. Why do I have to have a first confrontation with the antagonist in the first act? Well, there’s a whole arc to your character’s journey that you’re already trying to accomplish, and this missing piece will make it feel wonky. Having the building blocks early in your writing or editing process will help relieve a lot of frustrations later. So, if you don’t already know them, a session with a book coach could be a great way to get a little help without too much expense.
They Brainstorm Ways to Subvert Reader Expectations
Not only does having an idea of your genre’s conventions give you a roadmap to help build a well-rounded story, it also gives you a sense of the most meaningful scenes in your book to give it an interesting twist. Every romance novel calls for a meet cute, but what could make it stand out from the crowd? These scenes have the highest potential for juxtaposition while still nodding to your genre in a thoughtful way.
Agents (and Readers) Want Authors Who Know the Rules
You know how people talk about modern artists and how they first had to learn the rules in order to break them? That’s also true with writing. Agents want to bring new stories to publishing houses and readers, but new interpretations must include nods to the old art form. In order to give readers an entertaining and thoughtful story, you must meet some of their expectations to keep them reading. A story that is completely different in structure, character, and language will be too challenging for most readers and won’t sell. As such, most agents have a mental checklist of genre conventions while reading and are looking for stories that meet about 80 percent of expectations but still include some surprises.
It's Going to Make Your Marketing Efforts More Effective
More often than not, genre conventions are exactly the topic of the copy for ads about stories including books, television, movies and more. How many times have we heard the “In a world where one man is faced with…” trope? Well, it’s there because it works. Genre conventions give people quick bites of understanding about your story that they can compare to their other experiences to know if it’s the right story for them.
Not only that, keeping most of your genre conventions intact and finding ways to make them new and interesting is a shortcut to make your story satisfying to the reader. And what do satisfied readers do? They leave great reviews.
It’s easy to feel beholden to genre conventions when you begin writing your novel, but in reality they create a porous set of boundaries that allow you to explore while giving you a framework for story building. Still, if you’re not sure what the expectations for your genre(s) are or don’t feel certain if you’re using them to the best of your ability, it can be frustrating and leave you feeling stuck. If you’re still working on writing, a book coach is a great way to help you mid-stream. But if you’ve already finished, we’d suggest considering a developmental edit. That way the editor can help you build in more structure to your already interesting ideas!
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