Your Genre Knowledge Matters!

Genres help you transport readers to your unique story world.

This step:

• Explains how genres give insights into what readers expect,
• Describes how you can choose genres for your stories, and
• Defines your genres’ conventions and key scenes.

Your knowledge of genres guides you to:

• Show readers how people and the world works,
• Categorize your novel’s sales page at retailers, and
• Deliver to readers the content they expect.

However, defining genres is as difficult as defining art.

Readers often know what they like but can’t name the genre. Like an artist who discovers the type of art clients want, your research of genres helps you understand what readers expect. That knowledge empowers you to write for your readers.

Research can transform your storytelling skills, increasing the opportunities to surprise and delight readers.

The Problem with Genres

Most bestselling authors read extensively, including fiction in their chosen genres.

Top authors want to understand and create stories designed to satisfy and exceed the expectations of their target audience.

Like bestselling authors, the problem you must solve has several layers.

• First, there are no universally accepted definitions of genres and the terms used vary.
• Next, you decide which genres to research.
• Then you define the genre’s conventions and key scenes.
• Finally, you use the definitions of your chosen genres to first satisfy your audience’s expectations, and then find fresh ways to surprise and delight your readers.

To solve this problem, you will create working definitions of your chosen genres, and these valuable summaries you can use again and again.

The Trellis Method Serves as Your Guide

We understands what it takes to find and document a genre’s familiar patterns.

That’s important because top writers know which genres they love, and they use that knowledge to create grand stories.

Here’s why bestselling authors spend so much time understanding genres.

• By the time readers reach adulthood, TV shows, films, and books have established storytelling expectations.
• Most readers know what they like and dislike, even if they can’t name the genre.
• And even for those who can name their favorite genres, the terms and definitions blur when writers mix genres.

Most top writers first satisfy a genre’s familiar patterns, fulfilling readers’ pre-established expectations, and then they leverage their knowledge of genres, finding fresh ways to surprise and delight audiences.

The Secret to Writing Page Turning Fiction

Within the diverse universe we call genres, the secret to creating page-turning fiction is to first understand and then give your target audience the familiar details they expect.

Namely:

• There are Conventions that define the content linked to a genre.
• Your Key Scenes structure how the story is told.
• Your Characters shape who experiences the story.
• Plots provide what happens with the narrative and Subplots amplify elements of the theme or story.
• Themes convey why the story matters.

By researching genres and then applying that knowledge to your writing, you’ll discover many opportunities to not just satisfy but exceed readers’ expectations.

Define Your Chosen Genres

You can simplify your writing efforts by first creating genre summaries.

In particular:

• Conventions that define the audience’s expected content.
• Key scenes that show specific content within the story.
• Characters that react to plot events with emotions readers crave.
• Plot threads of key scenes throughout the story that create conflicts, forcing characters to react with emotion-laden thoughts, decisions, conversations, and actions.
• Subplots that interject more events and characters, amplifying the main plot and the story’s themes.
• Themes (i.e., external, internal, and philosophical) that convey why the story matters.

This step’s prompt-based worksheet helps you to research genres and summarize the conventions and key scenes.

The Importance of Researching Your Genres

John Truby stated in his book, The Anatomy of Genres, “Once we understand that all of human life is a form of story, the next step becomes clear: genres are the portals to this world.”

Top writers learn about genres so they can satisfy an audience’s desire for a familiar story world and then find fresh ways to exceed expectations with unique twists.

What does that mean to you?

• Many experts write about genres, but few agree on how to define all the moving parts.
• Historically, as the publishing industry and reading audiences grew, the emphasis on genres has increased.
• Although there is no definitive agreement on what makes up a genre, there is a consensus that readers love them.

The genres contain many details.

• If those details are missing from your story, readers notice and express disappointment in their book reviews.
• Doing your genre research and applying what you learn helps you avoid writing a book that doesn’t satisfy readers’ expectations.
• Also, reading broadly will help you garner useful ideas and valuable writing techniques.

Way Forward

As most successful bestselling authors discovered, defining and showcasing your chosen genres is a step toward achieving the goal to write a book readers will love.

Once you define the conventions and key scenes, you’ll see opportunities to adapt and adopt them in ways that take your story to the next level.

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