Is Genre-Hopping Bad?

Silver-Midnight · Jun 12, 2012

I was just wondering if genre-hopping is bad. I know the actual story should be focused on first then the genre. But would it be bad to write in three or more genres or sub-genres on a regular basis? I know that I'm a while off from really publishing anything. However, would it be hard for someone to write in that many genres and/or sub-genres, especially if they have one or more series in some, regularly? I was just wondering.

Thanks.

fireluxlou · Jun 12, 2012

Julia Golding is a genre hopper. She has two other pen names to separate her works. I bought Julia Golding's children's books then I saw Joss Stirling's and it was really good and I looked her up and I was thinking 'I know her face from somewhere :?' lol then I noticed that 'Joss Stirling' is Golding's other pen name.

Julia Golding is for her Children's books
Joss Stirling is for her YA books.
Eve Edwards is for her historical romance books

Kerosene · Jun 12, 2012

Genre-hopping is fine, as long as you really want to write it.

In "tradition" publishing, it's frowned upon. But it's a easy fix with pen-names.
In self-publishing, I see it as a diversity that makes a writer better. But that's me.

I do mostly fantasy. Sometimes, I feel like a contemporary story every now and then.

fireluxlou · Jun 12, 2012

Also Mandy Hubbard writes I suppose chic lit under her regular name and under Amanda Grace she writes more serious and darker books

http://querytracker.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/genre-hopping-should-you-do-it.html

Silver-Midnight · Jun 12, 2012

WillSauger said:
Genre-hopping is fine, as long as you really want to write it.

I agree with that. These would be genres that I'm interested in and/or want to write(or continue) writing in.

I wouldn't mind getting multiple pen names but I just wanted to make sure that it was okay to have more than two genres/sub-genres to write in on a regular basis.

@fireluxlou: Thanks for the article. I really liked it and it was helpful. I'm going through that right now honestly. I'm still trying to figure out what all I want to write, and some of it, a lot of it actually, is new to me. (I mostly wrote Contemporary Romance previously). So, I haven't been able to tell what "fits my voice" yet; I don't even know if I actually found my voice yet. Haha.

Vicorva · Jun 12, 2012

As far as I can tell, Genre-hopping would only make you a better writer. And plenty of pubbed authors do genre-hop - just they often use different pen names.

I was going to mention Julia Golding... I think Jaqueline Wilson does the same, but no pen names. She writes Tracy Beaker and all those other children's stories, but also writes crime and adult novels.

TheHungryFreelancer · Jun 12, 2012

If you want to make a lot of money, I'd try to focus on one genre first and get a few books out in that area before hopping over to a different genre. I also think using a pen name is a pretty good idea if you plan to change genres.

Silver-Midnight · Jun 12, 2012

TheHungryFreelancer said:
If you want to make a lot of money, I'd try to focus on one genre first and get a few books out in that area before hopping over to a different genre. I also think using a pen name is a pretty good idea if you plan to change genres.

Well, that one of the suggestions the article had. It said the two best times to genre-hop in your career is when: a) you're unpublished (which I am) or b) as you just suggested, after you've become really popular in one genre.

I know that it's going to be a while before I publish anything; I want to hone my writing a little bit better and get more practice. However, I wanted know should I be focusing in a certain area or areas. For example, should I be focusing on Fantasy, should just be focusing on Romance, or something like that.

I know that you don't have to publish everything you write. Some stuff can be just for practice or fun as well. Some can even help you figure the type of writer you are more or less.

lauralam · Jun 12, 2012

As you said, you're still discovering. Write a bunch of different kinds of things and see what you like best. Writing different genres will teach you different skills. I did that with short fiction first. Then I started writing adult fiction, and realised I prefer writing YA for now.

NeuroFizz · Jun 12, 2012

Of course we should write to our interests, but there are some business issues that may come up. For example, if one is successfully (traditionally) published, the publisher may want to brand the author in a specific genre to concentrate their marketing efforts. Presumably this is one reason why many writers who write in different genres use pen names.

If unpublished, the best thing to do is write the best damn stories you can.

When published, this issue is something that should be discussed with one's agent and publisher(s), so the business side of the decision is made with input from the publishing professionals who have a specific interest in that author's work.

lorna_w · Jun 12, 2012

It depends. Are you a writer who only produces one revised/edited 80K novel a year? Then probably one genre is for you; you aren't producing enough books to sustain any more career than that.

But if you can zip through a romantic comedy in a month, an urban fantasy in six weeks, and still manage a literary mainstream family-drama novel the rest of the year, sure, go for it, have three names and three careers.

As with pen names, or drafting your Nobel Lit award acceptance speech, worrying about managing your multi-genre career isn't really the worry to focus on at the beginning of a writing life. First, you have to write the first half-million or million bad-to-mediocre words of fiction to learn to write well enough to get published. You study the craft. You read a lot, and widely. Write in different genres and categories, too. You put the years in. By the time you are good enough to attract an agent, you'll know a lot more about yourself as a writer. These issues tend to take care of themselves by the time they are actually a real-world concern.

LJD · Jun 12, 2012

Well, if you're a slow writer, it would be hard. If you're only writing one book a year, I don't think writing in multiple genres would work.

Most of the authors I can think of who do this are writing in multiple sub-genres, not genres (eg. Nora Roberts). And usually they're not writing in three or more, just two.

But trying out multiple genres now might be a good idea. See what you like to write best, see what you're good at.

aibrean · Jun 12, 2012

I write science fiction and fantasy, but they are typically grouped together anyway so it's not a big deal. As for pen names, I'm noticing a larger trend with this. C.C. Hunter (YA author) also writes romance novels under another name. Personally, I'm open to whatever if it gets the book out there.

If you do your research you'll be fine.

quicklime · Jun 12, 2012

WillSauger said:
Genre-hopping is fine, as long as you really want to write it.

In "tradition" publishing, it's frowned upon. But it's a easy fix with pen-names.
In self-publishing, I see it as a diversity that makes a writer better. But that's me.

I do mostly fantasy. Sometimes, I feel like a contemporary story every now and then.

self-pub or otherwise is immaterial; the concern publishers have is with building a "brand". That's why people who write in more than one genre (and theres' quite a few) often use a different name for each genre....so the customer knows what they can expect and they are able to shop accordingly.

This is still an issue in self-pubbing, although as captain of your own ship you can either choose to adhere to or ignore this marketing principle it is not at all new or unique; it is just avoiding brand dilution.

dangerousbill · Jun 12, 2012

Silver-Midnight said:
I was just wondering if genre-hopping is bad. I know the actual story should be focused on first then the genre. But would it be bad to write in three or more genres or sub-genres on a regular basis?

There's no harm in it, for sure. In fact, there's a lot to be said for experimenting in different genres to see what works. I was a little surprised to find that I preferred erotic romance to thrillers, where I started writing.

jaksen · Jun 12, 2012

I write in three genres and use the same name. Because that's my name. (So far most of my published stories are mysteries, but one was a fantasy.)

I write what I write and if I get so famous (hehe) that someone who knows me as a mystery writer picks up my new horror novel and goes oh damn it...

*shrugs*

Silver-Midnight · Jun 12, 2012

lorna_w said:
It depends. Are you a writer who only produces one revised/edited 80K novel a year? Then probably one genre is for you; you aren't producing enough books to sustain any more career than that.

But if you can zip through a romantic comedy in a month, an urban fantasy in six weeks, and still manage a literary mainstream family-drama novel the rest of the year, sure, go for it, have three names and three careers.

As with pen names, or drafting your Nobel Lit award acceptance speech, worrying about managing your multi-genre career isn't really the worry to focus on at the beginning of a writing life. First, you have to write the first half-million or million bad-to-mediocre words of fiction to learn to write well enough to get published. You study the craft. You read a lot, and widely. Write in different genres and categories, too. You put the years in. By the time you are good enough to attract an agent, you'll know a lot more about yourself as a writer. These issues tend to take care of themselves by the time they are actually a real-world concern.

This is the biggest issue for me. I don't know how fast I can write a novel. I'm still trying to see how fast it takes me to write something, only including the first draft not the second or possible third. And you're right, it is something to worry about later on when I'm actually publishing or have agent or something like that.

LJD said:
Well, if you're a slow writer, it would be hard. If you're only writing one book a year, I don't think writing in multiple genres would work.

Most of the authors I can think of who do this are writing in multiple sub-genres, not genres (eg. Nora Roberts). And usually they're not writing in three or more, just two.

But trying out multiple genres now might be a good idea. See what you like to write best, see what you're good at.

Yeah. That's why I asked about three or more. I don't want to bog myself down with too much, if that makes sense. So, I kind of really want maybe a minimum of three, if I could have it.

That was one of the main reasons I did it. I wanted to see if there were other genres I would like writing more because I was starting to lose interest(at least as far as my writing) in the genre I was originally writing in. So, I wanted to try something "out of the norm" for me.

And now I'm trying out another genre, but this is my first time writing in this genre. I haven't written in it before, not that I did in the first one I tried. But I don't feel like I have as much as a handle or understanding on this one as I did the previous one. So, I know the WIP I'm currently working that falls into it will probably suck for two reasons: 1) For what I just said and 2) It's technically my first original fiction piece that's longer than a short story and/or novelette. So, even though I know it probably sucks, I don't know if that's a sign to go ahead and throw in the towel in that particular genre (technically, sub-genre) yet. I'll just wait and see.

But I am learning a lot about myself as a writer so, that's good. I am glad about that. That's one thing I like about all of this.

Nick Rolynd · Jun 12, 2012

I don't see any problem with it. I genre-hop all the time. In fact, I don't have any two stories that fall into the exact same set of genres and sub-genres. Most fit into the general "sci-fi" or "fantasy" categories. All fit into the encompassing "speculative fiction," but my ideas tend to be quite diverse. I generally market myself as a sci-fi writer though, since that's what I'm currently focusing on. However, after getting my first few sci-fi works out, I do plan on expanding my genre-range.

Also, there's types of works to considers. Generally, my long works (i.e. novels) are either sci-fi or fantasy (or a combo), whereas my short fiction is all over the place. I have everything from horror to straight comedy. So, that's a consideration, too. If I ever get around to enacting that self-published short story serial I keep thinking about, then I'll be probably be known for a fair amount of genre-hopping in the short fiction department.

Really, it depends on a lot of factors, but there's nothing inherently "bad" about it. Lots of writers have ideas that crop up in a variety of genres, and as others in this thread have already proved, many have no issue with branding themselves as multi-genre writers (whether it's by a different pen name or some other mechanism).

If you want to try out multiple genres, go for it. Who knows, you may discover you like one you haven't considered before or that you're better at one you've never written than the one you've been writing all this time. The more you diversify your writing, the more challenges you have to overcome, so really, (while it can potentially slow you down/distract you from your publishing tract), it can be beneficial to your overall skills. Since you're not that close to publishing at this point, I say go ahead and try it. =P

CJ Knightrey · Jun 12, 2012

Hmm, this had got me thinking now. The only two categories I write under are high fantasy and urban fantasy, but one is always adult fiction and the other YA (respectively). Would that be a marketing issue? They're still both fantasy, though the age of my intended audience is different .... oh boy I never considered this.

Is Genre-Hopping Bad?

Silver-Midnight

fireluxlou

Kerosene

Your Pixie Queen

fireluxlou

Silver-Midnight

Vicorva

The Ineloquent Writer

TheHungryFreelancer

Silver-Midnight

lauralam

Moonshade

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it

lorna_w

Confused Alien

LJD

aibrean

Author, Designer, Imaginative Being

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

dangerousbill

Retired Illuminatus

jaksen

Caped Codder

Silver-Midnight

Nick Rolynd

50% Dark, 50% Snark

CJ Knightrey

She Who Constantly Changes Avatars