Defining Plotting and Pantsing

Yesterday, Ruthanne talked about her experience with plotting and pantsing. Today, I want to explain what plotting and pantsing are, and give you some of the benefits of both, and why you might want to try a particular style of writing.

I'll define the terms, and then give you some of the most common reasons people give for why they chose (or didn't choose) a particular method. I'm not saying these reasons are right (or wrong), I'm just saying these are the reasons people give, and you can evaluate their rightness or wrongness for yourself.

Pantsing - Writing by the seat of your pants. It's the same as doing anything else by the seat of your pants (if English is not your first language, and you are unfamiliar with idioms, I AM SO SORRY because this one is really weird.) You start out with only vaguest idea of where you're going, and you let the journey shape your path as you go. Or, in the case of writing, you let the story shape itself.

Pantsing Benefits: 

- The thrill of "discovering" the story. Many people say it's akin to reading, just you're the one telling the story. It's fun to say, "Ooh! It'd be crazy if THIS happened now!" and then make it happen.
- Freewheeling feels more artistic and creative. Feeling like your characters are speaking to you, or your muse is leading you on, or any of these things is very liberating. Even a dedicated plotter loves the chance to free-write once in a while, just let the mood take them wherever.
- Doesn't require any special planning or training. You don't need to know anything special about the three acts of a story, or pacing, or any other technical aspects of constructing a story. If you read a lot, and you can feel "something needs to happen soon" then you can pants your novel. Anyone can dive in. 

Pantsing Drawbacks:

- It's easy to get stuck. It's easy to get caught up in the fun of a story and not realize that you have no possible way to tie things up. Or that you put your love interest in two places at once. Or you killed off your villain halfway through the book. It's also really easy to write twelve thousand words of crap before you realize you're going in the wrong direction.
- Drafts are super messy. Plot holes, inconsistencies, tense issues (as in, switching from past to present tense), appearance and disappearance of characters (and not in the good way), and a whole host of other problems will present themselves more often when you write without a plan. Pacing is more likely to be wrong, and you're more likely to find huge, sweeping scenes of absolutely nothing useful at all, because you got caught up in the moment and just kept writing without a plan. 

Plotting - Creating an outline before beginning to write. Outlines can be detailed (I'll spend 3,000 words in chapter four on this scene, it will have sexual tension, an almost-kiss, and three jokes) or not (First they'll travel to the Forbidden City, and along the way they'll pick up a hitchhiking ghost. Next there will be a fight scene and the tall guy will lose a hand.) Some people plot chapter by chapter, or by how many words need to be dedicated to a particular scene or plot point.

Plotting Benefits:

- Writing time is all word count. You have a plan. You know you need to write a scene where the villain confesses his evil secrets to a secondary character so she can eventually betray him. You have one hour. For that one hour, you will do nothing but write the scene that you need. If you don't have a plan? You'll spend time writing stuff you won't use, going back an re-reading previous stuff, tinkering with editing, or writing a scene that takes the story in a wrong/weird direction.
- Editing is smoother. You'll still make changes, some of them major, but it will be unlikely that you'll say, "What? This character disappeared after chapter six, and then I introduced somebody else kind of like him, and why do I have twelve pages of dialog that has nothing to do with this story?" Also, because you outlined specific scenes, it's easier to cut and paste them if you need to move them around. Without that outline, it's more likely that you have scenes interwoven together in a nonsensical fashion.
- It's like building a puzzle. Piecing things together without the messiness of dialog or setting or sensory details getting in the way. It's easier to see how the plot fits together.

Plotting Drawbacks: 

- Stifles creativity/artistic freedom. Lots of people feel like planning their art is a little like painting by numbers. Putting the story into boxes or outlines or timelines or anything else involving straight lines is boring and not artistic.
- Takes a lot of time before you get to the fun part. Spending time on an outline is time spent not actually writing. It's technical and much less fun than spending time writing a kiss or a sword fight. Especially since most dedicated plotters will plot before they write a draft, then will use a beat sheet after each subsequent draft to check their pacing, an awful lot of writing time gets dedicated to not writing the story.

The Combo - Of course, many people combine plotting and pantsing. I pantsed my way through a 40,000 word rough draft with almost zero dialog or world building, just plot and character introductions. Guess what? That's an outline, albeit an unconventional one. It was easier to make changes to that doc than it would have been to make changes to a full draft.

Some people write chapter-by-chapter concepts with no details, some people pants the first half of the book to get to know their characters and then create a detailed plot before they continue.

On this blog, and on many other resource blogs, you'll find writers talking about their methods, as well as how and why those methods work.

Defining Romance

Romance is a "super-genre", meaning it's a huge umbrella, with many sub-genres defined within it. Ranee S. Clark, who happens to be a romance aficionado, has agreed to explain the major romance sub-genres to us. 

Many books out there have some elements of romance in them, but those that are filed under the Romance category revolve around the development of a relationship between two people. Readers of romance expect a few things from them:

· The hero and heroine will have a happily ever after. If they do not, the work would be better categorized under something different. Women’s Fiction if the primary narrative is from the female point of view.

· There will be some kind of obstacle for the hero and heroine to overcome. Obstacles present a reason the characters should fight to be together and make the resolution of the relationship satisfying.

Considering that almost every genre can have “Romance” tacked to the end and made a sub-genre (for example: Paranormal Romance, Fantasy Romance, Historical Romance, to name a few), the list of sub-genres would be infinite. For the purposes of this categorization, we’ll focus on the major romance sub-genres, listed in alphabetical order.

CONTEMPORARY – Contemporary romances take place in the time period they were written in. The plot development can be dramatic or light-hearted. Chick-Lit and Romantic Comedy fall under this sub-genre. Notable mainstream authors include Nora Roberts and Danielle Steel.

LDS Contemporary Romance – The characters’ relationship develops and often revolves around LDS culture. Notable authors include Rachel Ann Nunes, Anita Stansfield, Krista Lynne Jensen, and Melanie Jacobsen among many others.

EROTIC ROMANCE – The basic elements of romance remain the same, however plot lines and character development revolve around the sexual relationship between the main characters and the book contains sexually explicit scenes. It can include elements from all sub-genres of romance. Notable authors in this category include E.L. James and Tiffany Reisz.

GOTHIC ROMANCE – Romances in this category have an element of mystery and horror that affect the plot and character development. It is not as popular a category as it has been in times past. Notable authors include Victoria Holt.

HISTORICAL ROMANCE – Depending upon the publisher, most often Historical Romance is defined as a romance taking place during or prior to World War II, however many definitions stretch to include anything up to the 1970s. The historical setting should not be simply a back-drop to the novel. Events of the time period should play intricate roles in the novel’s plot and the characters’ development. Notable historical romance authors include Elizabeth Hoyt and Phillipa Gregory. 

*Note: Defining the difference between a contemporary romance written in a certain time period and a historical romance written in present time and taking place in a certain time period is difficult. Today, Jane Austen’s novels are considered historical fiction, despite being contemporary to the time period they were written in.

REGENCY ROMANCE – Though technically a sub-genre of historical romance, Regency Romance is such a popular category that it merits its own sub-genre. “The Regency” refers to a specific time period in British history, 1811 to 1820, when King George III’s oldest son, The Prince of Wales, ruled in his stead because of madness. The cultural Regency period extends into the earlier years of the 19^th century and even into the 1830s. Jane Austen lived during this time period, and her works are often categorized as Regency Romance.
Regency Romances more often than not take place among the upper classes of British society and one of the hallmarks of the genre is the witty dialogue between characters. One of the most notable regency authors is Georgette Heyer. Notable LDS Regency authors include Sarah M. Eden and Donna Hatch.

INSPIRATIONAL ROMANCE – The relationship, plot, and character development of an inspirational romance revolve around the faith (sometimes non-denominational Christian, sometimes specific) of the main characters. The change in their faith is often as important to the plot as the romantic relationship between the two characters. Notable authors include Beverly Lewis and Wanda E. Brunstetter.

LGTB ROMANCE – The main characters are lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual (LGTB) characters. The plot and character development are closely related to LGTB issues.

PARANORMAL ROMANCE – It includes heavy supernatural elements and characters (such as werewolves, vampires, other “monsters”, and angels) in the plot development. Often either the hero or heroine is human while the other exhibits supernatural characteristics. Twilight, although technically categorized as YA (Young Adult), could be sub-categorized as a Paranormal Romance.

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE – Elements of danger and mystery are part of the plot of Romantic Suspense novels. Heroines tend to be independent minded and heroes alpha males, though not always. Often the obstacle the couple must overcome includes danger to one or the other or both.

SWEET ROMANCE – Sweet romance can cover any of the romance sub-genres. Romances classified as “sweet” contain no sexually explicit scenes and description of physical contact between the couple is either light or “behind closed doors.” Many romance publishers now have specific Sweet Romance Lines and many others have adopted “heat” classifications ranging from Sweet to Steamy and everything in between.

WESTERN ROMANCE – Though romances taking place in the American west in the latter 1800s and early 1900s are categorized here, this sub-genre also includes contemporary romances in western settings. Plot, characters, and relationship development are closely weaved with the idea of western culture, cowboys, farming, and ranching. 

This post was generously written by Ranee S. Clark. Ranee blogs at http://raneesclark.blogspot.com/ tweets at @RaneeSClark and writes lovely stories about ... well... love. 

If you'd like to contribute to MMWH, please email ginadenny129 at gmail dot com 

Defining Science Fiction

Science Fiction is another one of our "super-genres." The term stands on its own and is a correct term for a genre, but that genre is very broad and not everybody likes all the sub-genres within it. In fact, a lot of agents and editors will say they're looking for "all sci-fi except space opera and cyber-punk." And if you don't know what those terms mean, you could be annoying an awful lot of agents who have been very specific in their wish lists.

This list, much like the Fantasy list, is not exhaustive, nor is it definitive. Many people will disagree with some of these definitions, and we welcome your comments and your feedback. I'll start with what is arguably the most popular and go from there (though the whole list is not ranked by popularity - I'd pull my hair out trying to figure that out).

Again, in case you missed, we have a visual representation of most of the major genres in fiction.

SUPERHEROES - Once relegated to nerds-only comic books, superheroes have evolved into what is probably the most popular version of science fiction in any medium. Superheroes are created in a multitude of ways: via scientific experiments (some deliberate, some gone awry), from outer space, through genetic mutation. Some come from fantasy elements (like being birthed from the gods), but since they all utilize pretty far-fetched technology, you can pretty easily put these all in science fiction. I don't know that I need to give examples, but X-Men, Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Avengers are all very popular examples.

APOCALYPTIC - These stories focus on the failing of society. I think post-apocalyptic stories are the more popular ones here, but stories taking place as the world falls apart are pretty consistently popular as well. Pandemic (The Andromeda Strain and a million different zombie novels), super ecological disasters (Ashfall, The Day After Tomorrow) or war can cause the fall of civilization. But apocalyptic stories all deal with how one character or group of characters survive the disaster. Post apocalyptic stories are about people surviving in the aftermath (I Am Legend is a good example of a pandemic that collapsed society, and one man is trying to survive in the aftermath).

DYSTOPIAN - Closely related to apocalyptic, and often set in post-apocalyptic settings, dystopian is defined by the political tone of the story. "Dystopia" is the opposite of "Utopia," meaning everything has gone wrong. These books feature heavy, oppressive governments, and usually center on a character or group of characters trying to overthrow the government. Dystopians have been popular for a very long time, even though the term itself is fairly new. Some of the most popular recent dystopians have been young adult novels - The Hunger Games, Divergent, Matched - but the genre was popular in adult fiction long before the post-Hunger-Games explosion - 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Clockwork Orange.  Dystopians have been declared "overdone" in recent years, but can also be overlapped with other sub-genres (Delirium - biopunk, Enclave - apocalyptic, Atlas Shrugged - thriller) and even be divided further.

TIME TRAVEL - Sometimes it's via a time machine (Back to the Future, The Time Machine) and sometimes it's more of a preternatural ability (Tempest, Jumper, Pathfinder). Either way, these stories are usually classified as science fiction. Sometimes they function like a portal fantasy (The Time Machine)  and sometimes they don't. There's obviously some overlap with fantasy (particularly urban fantasy) and historical fiction. Time travel is a sub-genre that I think every science fiction writer says, "Yeah, I'd like to try that," and then the execution turns out to be murderously difficult and most of us give up.

STEAMPUNK - Ah. The genre I am asked to define most often. The easiest definition is "robots + corsets = steampunk." And that's correct. But it's also a wildly overly simplified definition. Steampunk is set in a time before we had widespread access to electric technology. The world is then re-imagined as if steam had remained the power of choice and technology continued forward as such. Sometimes it is a wholly fantastical world, as in The Parasol Protectorate series (aka Soulless, et al) or The Infernal Devices (aka - Clockwork Angel, etc.) Sometimes it is an alternate history, based in true events or with true or could-be-true characters like Leviathan  or Wild Wild West. Sometimes it's more subtle, like The Prestige. The setting can be European or American, though it is rarely other. (Somebody get on that, please)

Also, old science fictions are being reassigned to this sub-genre, too. Jules Verne wrote everything that we are basing today's steampunks on.

CYBERPUNK  - This doesn't get labeled very often, but with the emergence of steampunk's popularity, people are starting to put labels on cyberpunk fiction. And cyberpunk fiction is incredibly popular, and has been since the invention of cybernetics. These stories are stories of cybernetics run amok. Think The Matrix, BladeRunner, Minority Report, and (I say) Ready Player One. The internet rules the world, and is often the government/institution that needs to be taken down or escaped.


-PUNKS - There are a number of "punk genres" out there, in addition to the two most popular already discussed. Dieselpunk is usually set after World War I using diesel as the main power source instead of steam (The Rocketeer, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow). Coalpunk and Atompunk are both proposed sub-genres, though there are not many stand-out mainstream examples of either. Biopunk is more common and deals with genetic manipulation and biotechnology (Gattaca, and - to a lesser degree - Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment)

MILITARY SCI-FI - This is exactly what it sounds like. A military or war story set in space or in a futuristic science-fiction world. Hammer's Slammers, War of the Worlds, and Ender's Game are some popular examples.

SPACE OPERA - These are dramatic stories in which the setting of space is relatively unimportant to the story. The story could take place anywhere, anytime, and have basically the same impact on us. Academy 7 is a good recent example. A LOT of people will say the term "space opera" applies to the scope of the story, sort of making Space Opera the science fiction equivalent of Epic Fantasy. If this is your definition, then Star Wars and Star Trek  go here. The emphasis in Space Opera will always be on characters and plots, with the setting being secondary (even if it is detailed and perfectly foreign to us.)

SPACE WESTERN - Sounds contradictory? But it really works. The most defining characteristic of the western is the Rogue Cowboy, yes? Put him in space and you have a Space Western. Shoot outs, bandits, anti-hero protagonists, intergalactic saloons. Han Solo was sort of a space cowboy, and Joss Whedon's Firefly is probably the most popular example of recent years.

Again, as with fantasy, it's impossible to define every science-fiction exactly and place them all neatly into these categories. Time travel and superheroes can overlap, or time travel and steampunk. Space opera could be overlapped with military sci-fi, and space westerns could easily be merged with cyberpunks.

What do you think? What did I miss? What did I get wrong? Do you read science-fiction? Do you write science fiction? What is your favorite kind? 

Defining Fantasy

In the Defining Genres post, I talked about how Fantasy is a super-genre. Think of it as a huge umbrella covering a whole lot of other sub-genres. Fantasy fans are very particular about their genres and sub-genres and you'll need to know what you're writing before you get started trying to market your book.

First, if you haven't seen it, I've got a pretty decent visual representation of most of the major genres out there.

HIGH FANTASY- This would probably be considered by most people (especially non-fantasy fans) to be the epitome of fantasy. The whole world has been created from scratch by the author. It is not our world, even if it looks an awful lot like Medieval Europe. Geography, culture, language, races, religion, dress, weaponry are all fictitiously created or mashed together for the purposes of the story. It's hard to find excellent, well-known examples of High Fantasy that are not Epic Fantasy. I say Graceling fits here, since it's a completely invented world, but focuses more on a plot-driven story with just a handful of dynamic characters. Similarly, The Princess Bride (though it is satire) could fit here, too (yes, Gilder and Florin are fake countries).

EPIC FANTASY - The distinction of "epic" refers to the scope of the story. Epic Fantasy is always High Fantasy, meaning it is in a fictional world and all elements of that world have been defined by the author. Epic Fantasy centers around a massive storyline, "Fates of Nations" and epic quests. The most well-known examples are also the most well-known examples of fantasy, period. Lord of the Rings, Sword of Truth, Shannara, Xanth, Narnia, Game of Thrones, The Belgariad. 

PORTAL FANTASY - A character from our world is magically transported to another world via a portal of some kind. In Narnia it was the wardrobe (or the rings or just Aslan, depending on which story you're reading). In The Wizard of Oz it was a tornado. Doors, spells, gates, fairy companions, etc. If your character is from a mundane setting and gets transported to a fantastical world where magic is possible, you have portal fantasy. Lots of agents say this is overdone right now.

URBAN FANTASY - A fantasy that is set in our real world, often in a big city, though not always. Think magical elves in Central Park, fairies in Los Angeles, vampires in London. Portal fantasy will sometimes fit here, especially if the characters portal back and forth a fair amount. This sub-genre is very closely related to both magical realism and paranormal, differing from the first in scope and the second in character focus. Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series (and related series) would fit here. The Parasol Protectorate (Soulless), also fits here, though that's a steampunk story, too.

MAGICAL REALISM - This one is more of a contemporary, realistic story, in which magic plays a part. The world is so very much like ours, except for this one tiny piece of it. Often times religious stories will be recast with magic standing in for the power of deity, giving us magical realism. The most popular example I can think of for this sub-genre is actually a movie, not a book. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman's movie Practical Magic is completely realistic and has both feet in our world, telling a fairly mundane story. Except they're witches. Similarly, Matilda would be another good example. Some people argue Harry Potter belongs here, other call it a portal fantasy and stick it up with Epic Fantasy.

PARANORMAL - There is not a huge difference between Urban Fantasy and Paranormal, it's more in the tone and the focus on character relationships. Urban Fantasy is written around the conflict, Paranormal is written around the interpersonal relationships and is more often than not a romance. The focus is usually on supernatural creatures, more so than magic. Twilight, How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf, and Paranormalcy are popular examples of this sub-genre.

MYTHOLOGY - We don't write a lot of straight-up mythology these days, it's more like a reinterpretation of ancient mythology. But, still, we're relying on a magical, unknowable power to explain immortality and the powers of a handful of individuals to control the world. Percy Jackson is probably the most notable example.

LIGHT FANTASY - Some fantasy is not "hard" enough to be considered epic or high fantasy, but is too "other" to be described as contemporary

FAIRY TALES - A Fairy Tale relies on folklore or a "moral of the story" in order to tell the tale. We don't write a whole lot of these as original works anymore, they are usually in the form of retellings or reduxes. (is that how you pluralize that word???) In any case, we are taking existing fairy tales and twisting them around. In case you need examples: Cinderella, Snow White, The Goose Girl. 

FAIRY TALE RETELLINGS - Keeps the original story but tells it in a slightly new way. Shannon Hale wrote some very popular versions of fairy tales in her Books of Bayern series.

FAIRY TALE REDUX - Takes the original story and mashes it up in some way. These have been very popular with the young adult set lately. Cinder, Twisted Tales

SCIENCE FANTASY - This is where science-fiction and fantasy collide. The focus is less on the science of the story/setting, and more of a "wouldn't it be neat if this was possible" and focuses on the story. Star Trek talks a lot about the science behind the story, how they got here, how they made that, developing new science, etc. Star Wars is a story that could be told anywhere, but it happens to be told in outer space. This is also where science fiction and fantasy mashups generally get placed, like Orson Scott Card's Pathfinder series, or The Lost Swords series. The stories feel like fantasy, but have a sci-fi setup or a sci-fi subplot.

Obviously it's impossible to define every single fantasy novel ever and put them all into neat little boxes. You can see Narnia popped up in two of my definitions here, and The Amber Chronicles are an excellent example of an epic fantasy that uses elements of portal fantasy and crosses into urban fantasy and science fantasy. There are arguments to be made the Cinda Williams Chima's Seven Realms series is high fantasy but not epic (though I say it qualifies as epic - four books, I'd guess around a half million words, fates of nations. That's epic, IMO)

What did I miss? What did I get wrong? Do you write fantasy? Do you read fantasy? What is your favorite kind? 

Defining Genres

One of the first things you're going to need to know when you start pitching your work is what genre it is. This is rarely cut-and-dry, and a lot of readers love genre-bending books. But the truth is, your book has to sit on a shelf somewhere, and that shelf will largely be determined by the genre. (Unless you're lucky enough to be labeled as a "bestseller" - then you go on the fancy shelf at the front of the store.)

First of all, if you want to know the difference between YA, MG, NA, Adult, and PB... you're in the wrong place. Those are categories and are discussed in another post. Once you figure that out, then come back here.

I was going to do a huge post on defining all genres, but that's proving to be impossible. So, this post will talk about what I call "super genres." Super genres are huge, broad, sweeping titles that each encompass a dozen or more smaller, more specific genres. You can click on each one to get a better idea of the sub-genres. Constructive discussion is welcome, please feel free to comment, if you feel you can do so nicely.

First, a diagram that I spent an inordinate amount of time on:

If you click on that, it should blow up pretty big for you to see. First, all the blue genres and sub-genres fall into a huge umbrella that we call "Speculative Fiction." Some people put horror in there, but I think that only qualifies as speculative sometimes. Now, we can move on to defining these so-called super-genres.

FANTASY -  The single biggest component for you to consider is this: Is it possible? If not, is it being explained by magic? Then you have fantasy. Magic, the supernatural, paranormal, etc. Any amount of this and you are automatically in "fantasy" range. You might be "fantasy light," but fantasy nonetheless. Fantasy and Science-Fiction (and all their endless sub-genres) make up the giant bucket we call "Speculative Fiction."

SCIENCE FICTION - This is anything that is possible, if science were to make it so. Where fantasy relies on magic for its impossibility, science fiction relies on science. A simple example: In Harry Potter, they apparate, that is to say, they magically transport themselves from one place to another. In Star Trek, they travel via a transporter. In other words, a scientific development occurred that allowed them to transport people across great distances instantaneously. Same action as Harry Potter, but it's a scientific explanation instead of a magical one.

CONTEMPORARY -  This includes a lot of smaller genres and on its own doesn't really describe anything other than the timeframe for the setting. Contemporary means exactly what it sounds like. It is set in a time relatively close to the one in which it was written. A huge majority of fiction is contemporary. In fact,  the next five super-genres are overwhelmingly (though not exclusively) contemporary.

MYSTERY - Someone did something bad, and the protagonist needs to figure it out. Usually the protagonist has very little (if anything) personally invested in the case, they are just the person hired/approached to figure the whole problem out. The reader knows no more than the sleuth, and puzzles the problem out alongside them.

THRILLER - Closely related to mystery, but this time the antagonist is often known, and the suspense comes from how the protagonist is going to escape/figure things out in time.

ROMANCE - They meet. They fall in love. The title of this super-genre is pretty obvious, even if it can be broken down into dozens of sub-genres.

LITERARY - This one is hard for me to define. I think the simplest way to define literary fiction is by what it's not. It's not any of the other super-genres (collectively referred to as "genre fiction"). It overlaps with other genres A LOT. Think of literary fiction as the stuff you read in Lit classes: the classics, heavy emphasis on prose and literary devices, little focus on complicated plots or settings.

UPMARKET - This is where literary fiction becomes approved by the masses. It's still high-minded, focusing on prose and literary devices, but it has a mass-market appeal. Often times "upmarket" is difficult to define until after it's taken off. This is the only super-genre I won't touch on in a separate post. Think The Help, Water for Elephants, Life of Pi, Memoirs of a Geisha. Anything that sounds like it should have been labeled as "literary fiction" (and probably was) but became a total, complete, breakthrough, international bestseller.

HISTORICAL - These are often based on real people and real events, though not always. Historical romance, in particular, focuses on mostly fictitious characters, though again, not always. Covers any fiction set in a time that is not contemporary. Historical fiction is usually set far enough back for most readers to view the time period with nostalgia, if not farther back so as to be outside the readers' lifetime. For example, I am writing this post in 2013. Writing a book set in 1995 would likely not get a "historical" label (it'd be a pretty hard sell, I'd imagine), but setting one in 1965 would. Obviously, the only limit on this is the dawn of human existence, so there's a lot of ground to cover.

In a post on queries and pitches, Evan Gregory - an agent at Ethan Ellenberg Literary - said,

"Have you written a YA Horror Romance Women’s Fiction Thriller? No, you haven’t, because that’s impossible. In these post-modern times it’s also kind of impossible to write a story that doesn’t have a teensy bit of genre bleed. Genre can be difficult to pin down sometimes, and some books skirt the edges of several genres. For the sake of description, however, you ought to pick one genre and stick with it. That means doing research into other comparable works to yours, and trying to pin down which genre they are sold as. It also means identifying which readers you think would be most likely to read your book, and choosing the genre you think they might most identify with. It also means evaluating which elements of your story are most prevalent. If your book is 90% horror with a love story sub-plot, it is not a Romance/Horror (nor is there such a thing), it’s just Horror."

And that's the purpose of this post. Not to get you down or put you in a narrowly-defined box, but to help you pin down the genre that most represents your work so you can successfully pitch and sell your book. 

Defining "New Adult"

There are so many opinions out there about new adult, we feel very blessed that you have clicked on this here post to discuss the age-old (or at least four-years-old) question: Is “New Adult” a thing?

I’m going to suggest the answer is yes … with some caveats. 

New Adult is basically a category of books written for individuals aged 18-25ish, about protagonists aged 18-25ish. It is definitely a modern convention. How so? Well, think about it. Would you consider Sense and Sensibility “new adult”? No, definitely not. 

Maybe we need to back up a bit. Not so very long ago, “young adult” was not a category of fiction. In fact, the word “teenager” itself was only coined in the 20^th century. It makes sense when you think about it. 100 years ago, “teenagers” were getting married, having babies, going to war, working jobs, living independently—things that we currently believe only adults do. There was a fairly clear demarcation between childhood and adulthood—you were one, and then you were the other.

As society changed, so did our conceptualization of childhood and adulthood, with science recognizing a fact that seems obvious today: that in addition to the different ways we socialize adolescents in the modern era, there is something different about the brain chemistry of a 14 year old compared to a 24 year old. And with that societal change came a change in literature—books devoted to the experiences of the teen years. 

So what does that mean for “new adult”?

Well, it’s fair to say that the 18-25 age group faces a unique set of challenges they have not faced in the past. (For now, we’ll call the entire group “millenials,” just to save time, though I think that is misleading in a way.) Just as the markers of adulthood (independence, adventure, marriage, family) have been pushed back for teenagers, so they’ve been pushed further into the late 20s. Student loan debt is crushing many millenials at the same time the job market it weak. Many millenials grew up with the first generation of helicopter parents, so their first steps into adulthood are more tentative. More and more of them grew up as children of divorce, so their ideas about adult romantic relationships are more cynical. 

Which brings us back to Sense and Sensibility. Are Marianne and Elinor Dashwood “new adult” protagonists? They’re in the right age group. Their dilemmas—financial insecurity, lack of confidence in the future, uncertainty in romantic relationships—are similar.

But in the end, I would argue that “new adult” is a modern conception. Marianne and Elinor may be struggling to find their place in the world, but there is no doubt they are adults. Their problems were not unique to their age group—their problems were common problems for many adults in their era.

So here’s the caveat on new adult: it is currently a thing. 

But it might not always be a thing.

At the moment, it is the product of a unique set of circumstances. Eventually, those circumstances will change. I believe new adult’s staying power—or lack thereof—will depend entirely on whether new adult expands beyond the “College Kids with Problems” genre.

I am simplifying for the sake of argument—I do know there are a handful of New Adult novels that fall outside this description. But the vast (and I mean, vaaaaaaast) majority are romance novels with a female college student as the protagonist.This leads to a lot of logical criticisms: that "new adult" is a genre that is synonymous with "chick lit," that "new adult" is just sexed-up young adult, that "new adult" is just an invention of self-publishing.

The proponents of "new adult" will be able to present plenty of counter-arguments to those assertions, but really, the only thing that will prove that New Adult is a real category is when there is a strong showing of multiple genres within the New Adult category. New adult thrillers, new adult sci fi, new adult romance, new adult mystery, new adult horror, etc.

For the record, I hope new adult is here to stay. As someone who has written some new adult and is working on more, it would be a real problem for me personally if the category were suddenly to become un-sellable. I suspect that will not be the case. But at the moment, new adult is a transitory category. Its future will depend entirely on how writers shape it.

This post was generously written by RuthAnne Snow. RuthAnne is a lawyer and aspiring writer. She lives in an old house with a little dog and a big porch. She blogs at http://andthenshewaslikeblahblahblah.blogspot.com/. Follow her on twitter @ruthanne_snow and facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RuthAnneSnow.

If you'd like to contribute to MMWH, please email ginadenny129 at gmail dot com 

Defining Categories

Picture Book. Middle Grade. Young Adult. New Adult. (Whaa? Don’t worry, we’ll discuss this one further.) Adult. 

These are examples of “categories.”

In fiction, category is different than genre. Genre describes the type of story, like whether there are aliens or ghosts or bonnets or happily ever afters. Category tells us who this book is for, where in the bookstore this book is located. It is in the section for grown up readers? Teen readers? Kids? Little kids? 

In that sense, category and genre are a lot like the divisions of life we all learned about in junior high biology. Remember Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species? Well, when it comes to books, it goes Fiction/Non Fiction --> Category --> Genre, which is even simpler since it’s just three steps instead of seven.

So what are the differences between these categories? 

Well, most of them are self-explanatory. Picture books are for the youngest readers. They are primarily art and the language is simple. 

Middle grade is a category of books for kids just breaking into the chapter book scene. Think Goosebumps and The Baby-sitters Club and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The pictures are gone (or significantly reduced), the sentences are more complex. 

Young adult is a category of books intended for teenaged readers. (Note that I said intended. We’ll talk about crossovers in a minute.) The characters are teenagers, and they deal with problems like a teenager would. Now, up until a few decades ago, “young adult” didn’t exist as a category. You were either a juvenile reader, or you weren’t. But then breakout novels like S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders were published, and it seemed obvious that in the literature market, there might need to be a sort of bridge between Nancy Drew and Stephanie Plum. And readers ate it up, which is why there are currently so many books for young adult readers out on the market today.

Which brings us to new adult. Like young adult, it’s a fairly recent invention of the publishing scene—as in, within-the-last-five-years-recent. There are some who would debate whether it’s a true category at all. But assuming it is, new adult is a category of books aimed primarily at readers who are older than teenagers, but not quite adult. You might even think of new adult as a product of the modern era, where a lot of the markers of adulthood are being pushed back further and further. Is a 20 year old a kid or an adult? It would seem the answer is “both.” And “new adult” books are aimed that audience. 

And then there’s adult, which always manages to sound just a wee-bit-dirty, thanks to that section of the video store with the beaded curtain. But when it comes to literature, "adult" simply means, “for adult readers.”

So here’s a few obvious questions. 

What is Twilight?

Well, Twilight is young adult. 

“But wait! Don’t adults read Twilight?”

Of course. But the question is not who currently reads a novel. The question is, "Who was the reader the author was envisioning when he or she was writing that story?" And there’s no doubt that Twilight, even though some characters are adults (and some are ancient immortals), was always intended for teenagers.

If you're still confused, think about The Stinky Cheese Man. No doubt, there are jokes in there for the adults who are reading that book to their kids -- but there's no way the author of The Stinky Cheese Man thought that 43-year-olds would ever cuddle up with his picture book on regular basis.

Let's look at another, more complicated example. What is Harry Potter? 

Well, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is definitely middle grade. It features an eleven-year-old protagonist who reacts to his problems like an eleven-year-old would. But by the time we move to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, well, we’re clearly in young adult territory. Harry is seventeen, and while his problems (saving the wizarding world) have remained the same, his thought processes and reactions have definitely matured.

So what book transitions the Harry Potter series from middle grade into young adult? Well, that question is debatable, but for me it’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry has firmly entered Angst Town by book 5, and he won’t really leave until the end of The Half-Blood Prince. 

The Harry Potter series is not the only series to grow with its audience. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (a young adult novel if there ever was one) engendered four sequels—two more young adults, a new adult (Forever in Blue), and an adult (Sisterhood Everlasting). Is it safe to say that the teenage fans of the original sisterhood probably followed the girls into college and onto adulthood? Certainly. But that fact alone doesn’t change the category of Sisterhood Everlasting into young adult.

So even when we’re talking about “crossover” novels (i.e., novels that end up breaking through to audiences for whom they were not originally intended), category is fairly easy to understand if you ask yourself, “If I had to pick just one, who is the author talking to with this book? A pre-schooler, a fifth grader, a teenager, someone just starting out on their own, or an adult?" Almost always, it will be very clear. And if you're the author, and you don't know the answer about your own novel? Well, you've got a problem that you better fix.  

And that's how you figure out category.

This post was generously written by RuthAnne Snow. RuthAnne is a lawyer and aspiring writer. She lives in an old house with a little dog and a big porch. She blogs at http://andthenshewaslikeblahblahblah.blogspot.com/. Follow her on twitter @ruthanne_snow and facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RuthAnneSnow.

If you'd like to contribute to MMWH, please email ginadenny129 at gmail dot com