You Need to Read Outside of your Genre…

Yes, you do, however, reading outside of your genre doesn’t automatically mean you should feel ashamed of the love and passion you have for your favourite genre. It’s ok to only read fantasy, to only read romance, to only read horror; reading is first and foremost about enjoyment and if that genre brings you the most pleasure- read it!

Reading outside of your genre offers you additional opportunities and perspectives to the ones you might get from your favoured genre. It is a bonus to what you already read, not a criticism of your tastes or a slap on the wrist and a firm guiding hand towards ‘real literature’. Reading outside of your genre can offer you unique insights into writing description, building character, dealing with time periods, race, economic inequalities, and many other techniques or topics. When I wanted to write characters of a certain race in my fantasy story I went away to read dramas and literary fiction focussing on that race/ethnicity written by authors from that community. Reading those books gave me some insight into the concerns and life experiences of those people that could then in turn inspire how my characters might experience and react to the fantasy world I put them in.

Reading new or challenging fiction should inspire you and will educate you in ways you didn’t expect, but it should NEVER be a punishment for your love and passion for your chosen genre.

Read for pleasure! Read to grow!

But most importantly: Read!

tw: mentions of abuse

I’m a big believer of writing for yourself and telling your story for you,however, I think it can be good to consider who your audience will be when you publish as it can effect how you chose to present your story.

When deciding on your target audience consider:

-Prose style: Is your prose style suited to people of your age range? Are you telling your audience almost everything? Are you only using short or straight forward language? Is there any swearing in your story and could it be cut easily? If yes, maybe you’re writing for a YA audience.

-Characters: How old are your characters? Would a YA audience read about a 50 year old man? 

-Narrative: Continuing from above, would a YA audience or a child audience want to read about a 50 year old man emotionally processing his divorce? 

-Content: It is important to educate YA and children about serious, upsetting, or adult material issues. However, if you are going to handle any upsetting content make sure that you do it in a way that is suitable for your audience. For example, a child who is experiencing abuse in the home could benefit greatly from finding a story that resonates with them and gives them ideas or confidence on ways to approach seeking help for their situation. However, if they picked up your book and the scenes of abuse were explicit, instead of helping them you could be triggering or retraumatising them. Content for adults can be explicit, on-the-nose, or handled in greater depth than in fiction for younger audiences. Consider this when you are looking a your own content.  

-Message: What is your message? Who is your message aimed at? Who would your book benefit to read?

Of course, message and all of the above topics are intimately entwined so there will be overlap, but it is useful going through and making a bullet point list. If you’re 50/50 then pick an age range and change the things that don’t suit it, if you find you tend towards one over another then you know which way to head. 

This list is not exhaustive! They are just examples. If you are finding it hard to judge for yourself ask your readers, they might be able to give you some perspective. 

There is no shame in writing for children or YA! Some people think writing for younger audiences is ‘easy’, this is not true. Writing for young people is an art form of its own and has just as many pitfalls as writing for adults.