Mastering Genre "Your Promise"

In the following weeks, I will be highlighting past articles on various topics from the previous years' posts.

The following information on genre can also be found in the book Story Building Blocks The Four Layers of Conflict in ebook and print editions. Much of the material from my Story Building Block series is available in my blog posts and on my website (www.dianahurwitz.com) along with free forms.

This week, I begin with the importance of defining the type of story you wish to tell your readers.

When you choose a genre and subgenre, you make a promise to your reader about the type of story they are settling in for. Is it a cozy or gritty noir mystery? Is it a Hallmark Romance or erotica? Is it a prairie Western or a shoot out between cowboys and aliens?

It is crucial to outline your promise with your blurb/story description.  A consumer needs to know what a product is and how it will work. Readers are less likely to choose a confusing product or muddied premise. Broken promises are the number one cause of one star reviews: a Romance that doesn't end happily, a Horror story that isn't scary, or a Thriller that is a snooze. Bait and switch (promising a comedy and giving them a tragedy) ensures the reader forever associates your name with betrayal.

Here is a list of articles on how to keep your promise.

Betraying Your Readers

The Central Question

Genre Roundup Part 1

Genre Roundup Part 2

Con, Heist, and Prison Break Skeleton

SBB Build A Plot Con, Heist, and Prison Break Workbook is available in ebook and print.

Comedy Subgenres

The Comedy Story Skeleton

Injecting Humor Into Plot

Injecting Humor into Dialogue

SBB Build A Plot Workbook: Comedy is available in ebook and print.

The Gothic Skeleton

SBB Build A Plot Workbook: Gothic is available in ebook and print.

Historical Fiction Subgenres Part 1

Historical Subgenres Part 2

Historical Story Skeleton

SBB Build A Plot Workbook: Historical is available in ebook and print.

Literary Subgenres

The Literary Skeleton

SBB Build A Plot Workbook: Literary (Drama) is available in ebook and print.

The Road Trip Story Skeleton

SBB Build A Plot Workbook: Road Trip is available in ebook and print.

Science Fiction Subgenres

Science Fiction Skeleton

SBB Build A Plot Workbook: Science Fiction is available in ebook and print.

The Team Victory Skeleton

SBB Build A Plot Workbook: Team Victory is available in ebook and print.

Thriller and Suspense Subgenres 

Thriller and Suspense Skeleton

Making a Thriller Part 1 of 2

Making a Thriller Part 2 of 2

SBB Build A Plot Workbook: Thriller and Suspense is available in ebook and print.

Western Subgenres Part 1

Western Subgenres Part 2

Western Skeleton

SBB Build A Plot Workbook: Western is available in ebook and print.

In the next few weeks, we will highlight four specific genres: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, and Romance.

Worldbuilding: Law & Order

What legal system did they have and how were they chosen?

Who enforced laws? Local councils made up of citizens, judges only, local or regional magistrates, or a court system with juries?

Who served on juries? How were they chosen?

Did they have representatives such as lawyers, solicitors, etc. and how were they chosen: court appointed or services purchased?

How often did the judges or courts convene?

Were they local or traveling?

List the legal hierarchy. Did they have uniforms or badges?

Did they have guards, sentries, police, detectives, or private investigators, and how were they chosen or qualified?

Were they armed or trained to fight?

List the enforcement hierarchy. Did they have uniforms or badges?

Did they have cages, oubliettes, dungeons, prisons, jails, or other forms of incarceration?

What were the top crimes? What was the punishment for each?

How did they feel about rebellion, peaceful protest, or violent protests?

What type of intelligence agencies did they have: CIA, NSA, MI5, Scotland Yard, spies?

What type of military did they have? Did they have uniforms or badges?

How did they view their veterans or warriors? Were they valued? Were they taken care of? Were they admired or looked down on?

What methods of execution or torture did they have?

Next week, we will explore government.

For advanced world-building, the SBB Build A World Workbook is available in print and e-book.

Other titles in the series:

Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of Conflict available in print and e-book takes you from story seed to conflict outline. The fourteen companion Build A Plot Workbooks, in print and e-book, offer step by step development prompts: Comedy, Con, Heist & Prison Break, Fantasy, Gothic, Historical, Horror, Literary
(Drama),  Mystery, Road Trip, Romance, Science Fiction, Team Victory, Thriller & Suspense, Western.

SBB II Crafting Believable Conflict in print and e-book and the Build A Cast Workbook in print and e-book help you build a believable cast and add conflict based on the sixteen personality types.

SBB III The Revision Layers in print and e-book helps you self-edit your manuscript.

Free story building tools are available at www.dianahurwitz.com.  

Historical Subgenres Part 2

Last week's post on Historical Subgenres created some discussion about other favorite categories of Historical fiction.

"I suppose genres in historical fiction would be things like historical romance (no more, please, the world is sinking under the weight of the existing books); historical crime (e.g. Ellis Peters), historical mystery etc. And, of course, literary historical fiction - Hilary Mantel etc. [...] historical revisionism is often popular, starting with Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, although not strictly a historical novel." ~ Caroline Miley, The Competition

"Late Stuart period." ~ Carole Penfield

"[...] Tudors, the Stuarts, the English Civil War and Restoration, the colonisation of North America." ~ Alison Morton

"Where is the Renaissance? Tudor era England? Elizabethan England? English Civil War? What about the near and far East?" ~ Emily Cotton

"Roman Britain history between A.D. 43 and c.A.D. 400." ~ Nancy Jardine

"USA 19th century, Settlement, Native American, Civil War, etc." ~ Janet Oakley

"Australian colonial History! convict battles, Rum rebellion, vinegar Hill and later the Eureka Stockade! All Fascinating Historical accounts! Sheila Hunter wrote 3 novels around this era - minus the battles! #sheilahunter." ~ Sara Powter

"GEORGIAN: 1714 (with the accession of George 1) to the death of William IV and accession of Queen Victoria 1837 (also known as the LONG eighteenth century). REGENCY: 1811-1820, when George the Third's son, the Prince of Wales was regent. I would LOVE to see Amazon give the Georgian era its own category! :)" ~ Lucinda Brant

"How about Renaissance Italy or France? The Medici and Borgias in Italy? The Sun King (Louis XIV) in France? The French Revolution? :-) " ~ Cathie Dunn 

"Historical paranormal....like what if the princes in the tower were bitten by werewolves or vampires! What if Richard the Lionheart was vampire? :) What if Darnely were a dangerous werewolf and had to be killed and Elizabeth knew about it which is why she waited so long to have Mary killed?" ~ Helen R. Robare 

"That's what you would call The Golem and the Jinni, a recent bestseller." ~ Emily Cotton 

There are so many fascinating eras to write about. Each of the European monarchs could be explored, not only those from England, but Spain, The Hapsburgs, the Russian Tzars, etc. Asian, Indian, African, and Australian time periods languish in the mists as far as American publishing is concerned. Though History is not as lucrative as Romance or Mystery, there are fans waiting for stories that haven't been told.

For help with building the Historical novel, check out the Historical Build A Plot Workbook print and e-book. and the Build A World Workbook.

Next week, we will look at the building blocks for the Historical story skeleton.

For more about how to craft plots using conflict check out, Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of conflict available in print and e-book and check out the free tools and information about the series on my website.