Series: How can I get my reader to not expect any one genre?
Background: I'm planning on writing an extensive series of fantasy books. I plan on writing quite a few of these books, and while they'll all be set on the same planet, I intend them to center on different characters, countries, and cultures, and not stick to any one. Disregard for now the logistics of pulling off such a feat.
Question: I intend these books to be traditional fantasy (with a few alterations to make it less cliche). I don't want to limit myself to any one sub-genre (here meaning 'plot genres' like romance, dystopian, mystery; as opposed to 'setting genres' like historical, fantasy, sci-fi, etc.). However, this doesn't mean I won't create novels in those genres. It just means I will create other novels which are in different genres as well.
How can I prepare my readers for this?
If, for example, I open my series with five novels set in a dystopian country, and follow the general plot of dystopian novels, how can I convey to my reader that these are primarily FANTASY novels, and really only a small portion of them will happen to be DYSTOPIAN also? How can I write my novels so that the reader doesn't expect any one genre? I'm trying to avoid jarring or surprising readers when, after a five-book dystopian story, I suddenly switch to a mystery series. And then a romance series. Followed by a coming of age story.
How can I keep my reader from expecting any one genre?
4 answers
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Great question! Don't worry too much, genres that we read are just an extension of how we feel about our history our future, and our day to day experiences. It furthers the mood of what you are reading, but does not define it.
- Determine what the genre says about your story - does the genre highlight character emotion, or our feelings about a period in time.
- Make sure you stay true to the elements that make your world. If you change the rules in your world, you have to have a solid reason that makes sense or you'll lose your audience.
- If you're planning on be flexible, be flexible now. Incorporate the magical with the scientific if you plan to go sci-fi. Bring your characters into situations that force them into romantic, comedic or tragic moments.
You don't have to be campy to thrust your characters into a new scenario. I always suggest putting your characters in an unpublished short story. Take them somewhere you'd never put them and see how they would act in that setting. Doing this a few times should loosing you up and make your writing sound more natural when moving from genre to genre.
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It's hard to build a recognizable identity while genre-hopping. The more successful you are with any one style or genre, the more both readers and publishers are going to demand more of the same. Based on my observations of writers in the wild, however, there are several potentially successful strategies for mitigating this.
Be insanely prolific: Stephen King is known for horror. Isaac Asimov was known for classic SF. But both have written widely across any number of genres. Both wrote enough, and successfully enough in their home genre to get carte blanche from both fans and publishers to at least try other things.
Be insanely successful: JK Rowling could probably write a telephone book and get it published. She's such a successful writer that people are at least willing to roll the dice on anything she wants to write (which is apparently unexceptional mysteries).
Have a unique voice, approach, or characteristic themes. Samuel Delany has written across a wide variety of genres (SF, Fantasy, Non-Fiction, Erotica) but he has such a distinctive voice and perspective that people seek him out for that, rather than the specifics of a particular book. Neal Stephenson is similar --his books are all very different, but they are nearly all intellectually and philosophically adventurous meditations on the intersection between human beings and technology. Several other answers have mentioned Terry Pratchett's Discworld series --I'd also put him in this category. The subgenres may vary but a Pratchett/Discworld book is a reliable brand as a whole.
So to summarize, either you play the "one for you, one for me" strategy of giving people enough of what they want from you to buy indulgence for your passion projects, or you make genre-hopping your brand, by producing books in each genre that couldn't have been written by anyone other than you.
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If your “series” is one story told in parts, then the answer should be obvious.
You, however, are telling multiple stories set in one world. Here is what you need to keep in mind:
- If you do not make clear the fact that the stories are mostly stand–alone, then your readers will think otherwise when they see the same headliner on the cover.
- Choose your first five stories to be ones which are distinctive as possible. The first one can be that coming–of–age, melodramatically tragi-comedy. The second can be an espionage thriller. The third is a wild adventure and the introduction of the recurring maverick rogue. Et cetera.
Do not publish in any chronological sequence — either make them simultaneous or select stories which occur at scattered points in the history of the world. - Optionally: Do not emphasize the shared world anywhere in the titles. Maybe you can let the publisher add that somewhere on the jacket flaps or small print on the paperback's aft cover.
- Choose your first five stories to be ones which are distinctive as possible. The first one can be that coming–of–age, melodramatically tragi-comedy. The second can be an espionage thriller. The third is a wild adventure and the introduction of the recurring maverick rogue. Et cetera.
- These stories, though they share the same world, will appeal to different people. Some readers will not like some of them.
Separate the stories as much as the plots allow. Reward your dedicated readers with inside jokes and the sense of a rich world demonstrated by thorough continuity and crossovers — but, allow each story to stand alone well enough. You don't need to do it quite like television — and probably shouldn't, because by that I mean insular stories with same theme, genre, and characters. - Cover art: it goes a long way towards informing prospective readers as to the theme of a story. Use it to emphasize the distinctions between books.
If all else fails, then
• use the other authors to write or co-write the stories of widely differing genre. Put their name above yours if the two of you wish to share credit.
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Other than an explicit "disclaimer" in an author's note or something, I really don't think you can. If I buy five books set in a dystopian fantasy (I might), I will be disappointed if the sixth book is a romantic comedy.
My best suggestion would be to be explicit in a sub-title or something, and call it out. Call this the "XYZ Worlds" series and in the sub-title say "A Romantic Comedy in the XYZ Worlds", "A Dystopian Adventure in the XYZ Words", "A Murder Mystery in the XYZ Worlds".
Your better bet is to listen to Trout and Ries (Marketing Consultants for Fortune 500 companies) and not try to pile everything on one Brand, and thus make that Brand meaningless. Focus on one brand, this dystopian fantasy, and get published there, then invent again. Make a different world with with different rules, and write a story in it. Your NAME, as the author, will get your dystopian readers to try your new world with a new name without any expectations of dystopia, just because they like your writing.
Make a separate brand for each genre you want to write, just like Pepsi or Coke make a separate brand with its own artwork, music, commercials, websites and demographic targets for each product they sell. You can still see who owns the copyrights; but instead of just trying the easy way out by riding one brand name for everything and thus diluting the power of the Brand, they let each Brand acquire its own following. It's a winning strategy that broadens the market.
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