Next up from North Texas WORDfest’s online edition: authors Michelle Stimpson and Amber Helt on how to meet – or bend – the tropes of genre writing. First, however, a word of thanks for all who signed up to be slushpile readers (aka judges) for the 2020 version of DL Hammons readers’ choice contest, WRiTE CLUB. The contest is now accepting submissions from contestants! See DL’s site for details. But hurry – entries are due by April 19!
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“The human experience is the same all over the globe,” author Michelle Stimpson told the audience for her virtual WORDfest workshop, Don’t Reinvent the Wheel. No matter where we are, when we are, our brains like patterns, Stimpson said. “What do our readers’ brains already like that we can capitalize on?”
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| Michelle Stimpson |
To illustrate her words, she listed such common story themes as:
• Overcoming the monster
• Rags to riches
• The quest
• The voyage and return
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Rebirth
Writers, she cautioned, must be aware of which trope we’re writing in and what expectations it triggers in the minds of readers. “When you start writing with one of these tropes in mind, you can’t end up in a completely different one” whether causing reader confusion – not to mention rebellion.
Although this is far from meaning that authors should write same old, same old. She’s a “planner” not a “pantser” (in writing jargon) to avoid that trap. “The more books you write the more you need to plan or it’s all going to end up sounding like the same book.”
Neither should the use of archetypes be an excuse for turning characters into one-dimensional figures. (For help determining what character archetypes are, I found Reedsy’s post (https://blog.reedsy.com/12-common-character-archetypes-every-writer-should-already-know/) helpful.
For help with story structure, Stimpson suggested:
• Save the Cat, by Blake Snyder
• Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maass
• Jami Gold’s multiple beat sheets (available at https://jamigold.com)
Stimpson also suggests studying other books, chapter by chapter. “You can veer from the recipe once you know what
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Speaking of breaking the rules, here’s Amber Helt’s take from WORDfest on Genre Bending.
When readers see a story they recognize as belonging to a particular genre – that is, a particular subset of fiction with archetypes, tropes and themes that define it, readers have particular expectations.
“When you go against those expectations you make readers pause,” Helt said. “This doesn’t mean you have to be a slave to expectations,” only that authors must persuade readers to accept them. And they can be willing to do this because, even though “we recognize the patterns, what we want in a book is to be surprised.”
It’s that element of surprise that Helt believes is driving a thirst for stories that span multiple genres.
Although stories written primarily in a single genre often have elements of another, such as a quest fantasy with romance elements, to be truly cross-genre, “there must be two different genres such that if one was removed, you’d have a completely different story.”
And if we think this is unheard of, consider such modern stories as Outlander (romance or historical?), Girl on the Train (thriller or mystery?).
Helt proposed two major ways to subvert reader expectations in pleasurable ways – changes in either substance or style.
Substance subversions include putting archetype characters in new roles or positions, perhaps turning a warrior figure into a mentor. Another way to subvert expectations agreeably is to tease readers’ expectations of structure. Perhaps, as in Outlander, a romance doesn’t end up “happily ever after,” while still supplying enough emotional steaminess to satisfy readers of the genre.
Subversion can also occur through variation of the elements of writing style – “the way we structure prose,” Helt said. “How you present it on the page can influence the story.”
Common elements of writing style include dialogue, description, lengthiness, and energy. Again, citing Outlander, a romance that is typically expected to be a fairly short narrative can blossom into doorstopper size. Dialogue in a mystery expected to be stoic can turn expressive instead. Descriptions expected to be concise can become detailed.
Admittedly, changes in style elements alone “are not enough to make (a story) cross-genre,” Helt said, can still afford readers the delight of surprise.
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Still to come, the return of Shayla Raquel for a discussion of book launches and William Ledbetter’s discussion of writing and marketing short fiction. Also, since I’ll be returning for a second year as slushpile reader for DL Hammons’ WRiTE CLUB, I’ll offer hints from last year about what caught my interest from submissions to that contest. Again that deadline is coming up fast -- April 19.
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