When I walk into a bookstore (you know, those buildings that
used to be on every corner?), I almost always head to the Mystery section.
I am well
aware, however, that I will be stepping into territory that does not
necessarily start and end with Agatha Christie-style novels. Instead, I will be
investigating a huge list of sub-genres, and maybe sub-sub-sub genres, as well as
crossovers and mixed breeds.I began to think about this obsession with classification and genre-labelling. Yes, the system certainly helps us find a book in the store or the library. But have we gone too far?
Wikipedia says, “Literary genres are determined by literary
technique, tone, content and by critics' definitions of the genres.” I think
the latter is important. We should probably add to “critics” the author, the
publisher and/or the agent. Has this resulted in too many classifications?
Should we go back to simply “Fiction” and “Non-Fiction”?
Wikipedia also says: “Genre works are written with the
intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers
and fans already familiar with that genre.” Hmmm - I'm not so sure I did that.
But what if your book crosses lots of genres? For instance,
Sweet Karoline could probably fit into romance and history as well as mystery,
literary mystery and psychological suspense. Would it be better for my book if
she could simply be classified under “Fiction”? Would readers find that too difficult?
So now I'm asking (as I write my next novel) -
Do you look for books in certain categories? Do you care
about the genre/sub-sub-sub genres? I’d love to know!!
Send me a message and I will gift you a free ebook copy of
Sweet Karoline on October 9.
(Of course, on October 9, 10 and 11 you can get
your own free copy; I’ll just be saving you the trouble of remembering LOL.)
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