The Write Life: What kind of book is this?

Before you begin writing your book, it’s important to know what kind of book you’re writing. Is it horror, sci-fi, fantasy, romantasy, literary fiction, etc.?

It’s important to know the nature of your book to help you and others understand how it fits into genre categories and thus the marketplace. If you care about such things, that is. No judgement from me if you don’t, as I often don’t think of the marketplace at all. But trust me when I say your life as a writer will be easier if you do consider the marketplace before you start writing.

If you don’t like writing to genre categories, you can always mix things up a little and create a hybrid. Romantasy came out of the fantasy and romance genres, after all, and it’s the biggest thing in publishing right now — maybe even ever.

Once you have the basic genre established in your mind, you need to consider the book’s form, its defining structural or stylistic feature. Here’s a quick overview of some of the more popular ones and more or less contemporary examples.

Quest

A hero or group of heroes pursue a specific goal, overcoming obstacles to achieve the goal.

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Picaresque

A roguish, lower-class protagonist moves through society in an episodic manner.

The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

Epistolary

A tale told through letters, diary entries and other documents.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Bildungsroman

A coming of age tale, often with moral development.

His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman

Kunstlerroman

A chronicle of the development of an artist.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Unreliable Narrator

A tale told from the POV of a character that cannot be trusted.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Story Within a Story

A tale that is often about storytelling itself because of its very nature.

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

Historical Fiction

A tale set in a carefully researched past, often meant to highlight issues in the present day.

Libra by Don De Lillo

Gothic

A story set in an atmosphere of dread and decay with supernatural overtones.

Crucible of Chaos by Sebastien de Castell

Dystopia

An imagined society used to critique the present or at least present trends.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Metafiction

A tale that draws attention to its own fictionality, often to mediate on creativity but sometimes to critique social or cultural issues.

If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino

Satire

A comic tale, often dark, meant to mock or critique some element of society or current trends.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

There are many more forms of novel than this, of course. And writers often combine different forms and structures to create innovative new works and entirely new structures. But it’s important to have an understanding of the classics before you set out so you can have a vision for your own work.

Remember, you are entering a literary conversation of the ages! Make sure you understand the language first.

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