Genre

[alg]

Genre as a marketing category!
Publishers and editors do not think about genre the same way authors do. Here's an explanation.



... Now I write an ode to spinach:

spinach,
you
are green
and
i wish i had more
of you than
what I ate
(yum yum yum)
at five in the morning,
dawn
creeping
up
you are
(my sunshine and)
the perfect delivery method
for salt and
garlic.

Comments

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Well....


One group of people feel that we (the members of the writing group) can offer valid critiques on any genre. A second group seems to feel that we can offer valid critiques on any genre to a point, but there are conventions within certain genres that someone that doesn't actively read the genre might not understand. And, a third group feels that one should not critique outside their genre.

My own feeling is that a good story is a good story, and I can comment on that (hopefully!). But, if I'm preparing a manuscript for submission, it's extra helpful to get insight from someone "in the know". However...often my "in the know" folks are just people that like to read and not always fellow writers (target audience types).

Any opinions you might offer (if you're comfortable with that, of course) would be great as this issue has really divided an otherwise happy and healthy writing group.

[hamadryad11.livejournal.com]

This is an interesting debate. Will you be posting more about it on your LJ? I'd like to hear some different perspectives on it. On the one hand I agree with your position, but at the same time, it seems to me that it can be difficult if you go too far outside the genres you're familiar with.

I went to a writer's group meeting, and found that there was a really wide variety there. I thought it was great that they were such a versatile group, but I could see members having a lot of trouble when it came to critiquing poetry, for instance. I have to wonder if the lone poet in the group was benefitting all that much.

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Hi!

Sure - I'd be interested in outside opinions too, so thanks for the idea! :) Post is underway...

[hamadryad11.livejournal.com]

Great! I will head over there and look for it.

[alg.livejournal.com]

My opinion is the same as your whole group's! I think that most people can offer valid critiques on any project, to a point. There are many conventions that people who don't participate in a given genre will miss that are important to the context of the book. Sometimes that means their commentary will be almost worthless -- i.e. if you have a group of people immersed in contemporary mystery novels trying to critique a regency romance.

However, I think it's always helpful for writers to get an outside perspective -- someone who says, "This doesn't work. Is this a particular trope of romance? Why are you using it here? What is it supposed to accomplish?" can almost always help the writer. THe helpfulness is not as much their critique (of "this doesn't work for me") but rather in the questions they pose which are specifically designed to help the writer figure out why part A works and part B doesn't make sense.

I particularly think that groups who all write the exact same thing inevitably end up acquiring each other's flaws rather than helping each other succeed. I've seen quite a few manuscripts come out of some people in particular writing groups that look the same and have the same errors, to the point where I have suggested that the try a new writing group. Ten women in their middle age with teenage children getting together to critique each other's contemporary romance manuscripts about women in their late 20s and men in their early 30s (or wahtever the genre/trappings are) are, I think, too similar in too many ways to do each other much good.

Does that make sense?

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Makes perfect sense and confirms some things that I had been wondering about - essentially, that it's not cut-and-dry. I especially appreciate your comment about the groups that have writers all writing the same thing - there's always a danger of homogenization, isn't there?

And, I like the idea of posing questions - I do this sometimes, but I think I'll make great use of them in future critiques.

Thanks again for taking time to help me out with this! I know that several members of my critique group have read your post with great interest and as a result, we've got some very healthy discussions going on, rather that squabbling. It's always great to get the insight of someone inside the biz...:)