Everything and the Kitchen sink...

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Rachel Udin

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or permanently finding themselves interstitial... rather than confused about the genre classifications.

I pretty much throw things at the story until it works, if it be Women's Fiction, Mystery, suspense, experimental, historical, adventure or what have you I'll do it. I'll also take out genres that I planned if it makes it work and don't really care about genre classifications as much when creating the story.

I don't like being confined to genres so much or sticking to one... but at the same time I realize how unmarketable it gets if you keep throwing things at it and taking them out until they stick in some fashion. Probably old fashioned of me since I don't really pay attention to the classifications as much, but pretty much will do anything to make the story work.

Anyone else play in this pond, or are people really that strict with themselves about the genres they choose and don't jump ponds? Will you ditch the story if you refuse to jump ponds, or do you change the nature of the story to not jump classification?
 

Dawnstorm

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Anyone else play in this pond, or are people really that strict with themselves about the genres they choose and don't jump ponds? Will you ditch the story if you refuse to jump ponds, or do you change the nature of the story to not jump classification?

I've never tried to get a story published (without prompting from others), so marketability isn't really ever on my mind. I write mostly SF & F, but I have very broad conceptions of the genre, and don't care much if I "spill over". Much of the genre disambiguation that goes on in this thread is a non-issue to me. In my view, texts come first, genres later (unless you deliberately set out to write to specifications: you can't do a parody, for example, without some genre concepts, there's no such thing as a sonet without formal requirements, and so on).

As a reader, whether I enjoy your story or not isn't going to depend primarily on how well it fits into a mold. Stuff that isn't instantly recognisable requires more activity while reading, and when a text doesn't "click" with me, that's a chore. On the other hand, that activity is the very reason I'm reading in the first place.
 

gingerwoman

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This thread confuses me. I'm not sure if genre conventions are quite as rigid as you think? There are certainly unwritten rules for genre conventions, for marketability, but still plenty of lee way for creativity within those frameworks.
 
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Rachel Udin

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@gingerwoman... that's kinda like asking what's the point of interstitial?

Or why doesn't everyone just write sonnets. I mean it's poetry.

=P Weird to ask something like that in the interstitial section of this forum...

Genres may have rules, but those developed much, much later than originally. Originally there weren't genre definitions. The majority of those came after the industrial revolution. Throwing everything in isn't unreasonable, if done right in moderation. Genres actually bucked the long standing tradition of interstitial.
 

richcapo

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I write all over the place when it comes to genre; don't give it a second thought. Perhaps I shouldn't, though. I am still unpublished after all.
 
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