The Author Wheel Podcast
The Author Wheel Podcast
Quick Tips to Cross Genre Lines Effectively
How do you write genre fiction without feeling formulaic?
This week, we’re taking a deeper look at tropes and giving you our best tips for combining elements to effectively cross genre lines.
Tip #1: Understand the rules before you break them
Tip #2: Pick a primary genre first, then twist it with other elements, keeping your reader in mind
Get a free worksheet to help you analyze your sub-genre when you subscribe to our weekly newsletter at AuthorWheel.com/stuff.
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Welcome to the AuthorReal podcast. I'm Megan Haskell, a award-winning fantasy author of the Senyari Chronicles and the Rise of Lilith series.
Speaker 2:And I'm Greta Boris, usa Today bestselling author of the Mortician Murders and the Soon to Be Released Almost True Crime series. To celebrate the release of our new course, troop Stacking and Other Genre Magic, our quick tips this month are going to all be about you guessed it tropes and genre. This week we're taking a deeper look at tropes and giving you our best tips for combining elements to effectively cross genre lines. And I'll start Tip number one pick a genre and understand its roles.
Speaker 2:I know, I know that seems obvious but you gotta know what you're writing and, honestly, too often new writers put everything they love, plus kitchen sink, into their stories. We both did this.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, we did it. It was one of those things where it was like, oh, I love this thing, I'm gonna put it in the book, and I love that thing, and I'm gonna put it in the book and it's gonna have magic, it's gonna have all the things, and Exactly.
Speaker 2:Yes, me too. I was philosophical and romantic with my serial killers. Yes, it was lovely.
Speaker 1:Romantic serial killers Aw.
Speaker 2:I know so cute. Anyway, the thing is is that I didn't. I wasn't really following anyone's genre, it was just this mishmash of everything and I couldn't really. Here's an extra bonus tip for you If you cannot tell somebody what you're writing in one sentence, you need to rethink it. Folks, I remember standing up at a event where there was this big agent there and you could just stand up and you could tell her what your book was about in one sentence or less, and all these people were getting up and whatever, and they were doing pretty good Some of them, some of them not. I got up and I just was like I just went completely blank. I well, you know, see, there's this woman and she's a real estate agent and she gets us listening, but you know she's having trouble with her husband and that it was like she kind of like yawned and said sit down please, and that was that.
Speaker 1:So anyway, no, I mean, but, but it's true. I did something so similar to with my very, very, very, very first unpublishable story, where it was like oh, yeah, it's about werewolves, but also about witches, and oh, there are twins who are like secretly connected to each other, and oh, no one gets bitten, and then there's going to be this thing, and then there's oh, and there's wards and there's runes, and then oh, and then there's going to be some time travel involved too, and oh, by the way, there's a chosen one as well. And it's like every single trope that I loved from fantasy I threw into that book and you couldn't explain it. You couldn't. It wasn't like oh, it's a werewolf story, no, it was a werewolf. End of this, end of that, end of oh and but this and don't well, don't be confused, because that and it just doesn't work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yep, I remember somebody telling me you have to understand the high concept, and I was like you do. What the heck is that the high concept? Yeah, so, dialing this all back in to our first top tip, really, truly pick a genre and then go get a book that tells you what the basic story beats and the rules of that genre are. Don't write a Frankenstein book like Megan and I did so. If you think you're writing romance but you think you're writing suspense, guess what You're not writing either.
Speaker 1:Well, but that's kind of. That leads us into tip number two. There should be a primary genre that is the biggest element of your story, but you can also have a secondary genre that crosses those genre lines to make it a little bit unique. I mean, obviously we all want to have unique stories and we want to attract readers with something familiar, but we also wanna have a twist, we wanna make it unique and artistic and all of that. So it has to be all those things. So when we're talking about genre, there should be one primary genre that really hooks your reader.
Speaker 1:So my example for this is difference between fantasy romance and romantic. They sound the same. Often you'll see some of the same books in the two categories on Amazon, but when you really dive in deep and when you look at what readers are looking for, there is a difference. Fantasy romance puts fantasy first. That means that it's probably gonna be a single point of view character or maybe multi point of view, but it's not gonna be the traditional like dueling chapters we're a hero and heroine, back and forth. It's gonna be fantasy first.
Speaker 1:So it's gonna be more about the plot of that fantasy world, of that quest or that journey or whatever it is, than it is about the relationship between those two characters. But there will be a romantic subclot that will be strong, just not as strong as the fantasy. On the flip side, the romantic romance comes first. It's in the title, right. So the romance is the main driver of the plot, that relationship between the hero and the heroine, or the two romantic partners. The fantasy might just be an add-on, like oh yes, it's a romance, but one of them's a witch, okay, like there are readers out there who will eat that up, but it's different than the reader who wants a fantasy first, with a little bit of romance tossed in.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. In our course, trope stacking and other genre magic, we actually have a tool that will help you walk through the analysis of your genre and pull in the elements that will satisfy your artistic soul while still meeting reader expectations.
Speaker 1:It's a really cool little worksheet tool actually. That and the whole course is great because it walks you through how to analyze and research your genre, how to understand what these tropes are or figure out what it is that you're actually writing and then put it all together. But this tool in particular is was kind of eye-opening, even for me more recently, when I was using it to look at my own work, because it was like, okay, what is the primary hook for my reader? And then how could I layer in extras, add-ons, icens, if you will, onto that cake of that primary genre?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I actually had. You know, they always say, when you wanna learn to do something, teach somebody else. Because I am using that tool quite a bit now as I'm rewriting my old Seven Deadly Sins series. It's really helpful because those books were my first books and I didn't always do everything exactly right like I do now.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we're just way on top of it all the time. Never make any mistakes anymore.
Speaker 2:No we're also planning to host a series of webinars over the next several months, and at least one of them is gonna be all about effectively crossing genre lines. We're really excited about this, because sometimes we do feel like we're talking into the void and we wanna hear your voices. So you will get an invite. These webinars are still in development, so stay tuned for more on that in the future.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, if you're enjoying this podcast and feel like buying us a coffee, yes, what Now you can At the bottom of each episode's show notes, is a link where you can throw us a couple of bucks if you're feeling generous. Your support helps us cover Jim, our producer, and all the other expenses of the show, and we would really appreciate any and all support. So until next time, keep your stories rolling.
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