Genre Expectations: Writing All the Punks

by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

When I was a kid, punk culture had really taken hold of the world. However, the idea of punk culture started in music, with punk rock and the idea that great music didn’t need a record label to succeed. I guess you could say it was the anti-establishment movement of the mid 70s and early 80s.

But “punk” in books really only showed up as a genre since 1987, although since then a host of classics and other works have been retroactively labeled with the punk genre. And since 1987, the punk culture of books has exploded. Maybe you’ve only heard of steampunk or cyberpunk, which are arguably the largest segment of the punk genre. But there are countless others, so as we bring this series on genre expectations to a close, I figured it was time to take a brief look at all the punks.

Genre Expectations: Writing Classic Mystery and Cozy Mystery

by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

It’s no mystery what the top-selling fiction genre is: Romance. Even if you didn’t know that for sure, you probably could have guessed. But did you know that mystery is also one of the highest selling genres?

I’m not sure if these statistics are accurate, but if you can trust WorldMetrics.org, romance novels make up 23% of book sales in the United States. And the next most popular genre is mystery at 19%. 

So if the mushy stuff isn’t your favorite, take heart. Instead, try writing something about murder. 

Genre Expectations: Writing Dystopian and Apocalyptic

by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

What do you do when the sky is falling? Or if some unstoppable natural disaster has sent the entire world into political and economic upheaval? Or what if the powers of democracy fail, and the free world tumbles into the abyss of totalitarian rule?

If any of your stories ask those questions, you are writing either a dystopian novel or an apocalyptic novel, but don’t make the mistake of thinking they are the same. They may be similar in some of their tropes and aesthetics, but the core of what makes each genre different is surprisingly unique.

Genre Expectations: Writing Suspense and Thrillers

by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

I grew up reading Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden (not that you asked, but Trixie Belden, in my humble opinion, is superior to Nancy Drew in every way). Every week, I’d march into our town library and pull one of the old, ugly rebound versions of a Nancy Drew mystery off the shelf and devour it. So I assumed I knew everything there was to know about mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels at the highly mature age of sixteen.

Genre Expectations: Writing Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance

by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

Vampires, Werewolves, Shifters—Oh my! 

“Oh my!” is right. When you start digging deeper into the market’s expectations for some of the most popular low-fantasy genres, story elements can get pretty weird really fast. Not that weird is bad necessarily, but it does get confusing. Hopefully this series on genre expectations can help clarify what genre you’re writing, so that when you start marketing it, you can target the right audience for it.

Genre Expectations: Writing Romantic Fantasy and Fantasy Romance

by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

The best advice you can receive as an author in 2024 is to write a great story. Period. If you’ve put in the work to hone your craft, to identify your audience, and to understand your genre, and you’ve made the effort to get the words on a page, your writing will stand out. 

But that brings up another topic: Genre.

I would swear that when I was young there were only three speculative genres in the world: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. Well, that is no longer the case in today’s world. With the increasing popularity and accessibility of self-publishing, authors can now create wild, imaginative subgenres of fiction to captivate and attract the niche stories that their specific audiences crave.