Genre Expectations Versus Cliches (Or, How To Keep Readers From Rolling Their Eyes)

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Ok, I'm going to start out by acknowledging that all genre writing requires adherence to some formula. Romance requires a happy ending with the couple united. Science fiction and fantasy require speculative elements while mysteries generally need a dead body ("onscreen" or off).Whether the author decides to use a little or a lot of formula depends on how much he or she wants readers to recognize themes or tropes, common literary devices, in the story.

What's the difference between genre expectations and clichés? How do you keep readers engaged if your story centers upon time-tested themes such as love, revenge, or coming-of-age? Since I write romance, I'm going to use the genre as an example. Let's look at some formulas and those dreaded clichés.

Romance Formula #1: A Happy Ending

As human beings, we all desire to be loved. Despite our knowledge that sometimes love doesn't last forever, that strife and separation between couples does occur, we hold out hope that there is someone out there who will love us continually, flaws and all. That's why romance is one of the most enduring and popular genres in the market today. A story that features a couple whose relationship doesn't survive the end of the book is not classified as a romance. It is a story with romantic elements.

Romance Cliché #1: A Dainty, Simpering Heroine

Sorry. My sarcasm starts to show whenever I get on this topic. Romances of yesteryear typically featured the standard 5'2, 98-pound dainty darling. Her sixteen-inch waist and ability to cry on cue were usually all it took to wrap the big, tough hero around her pretty little finger. Today, as you can guess, most readers don't appreciate this type of heroine. Blame women's lib or the decreased popularity of tight-laced corsets (I say tight-laced, because anyone who's ever been to a Renaissance Faire or steampunk convention knows that corsets are very much still in vogue ;-) ).


Romance Formula #2: Conflict Between The Couple

Actually, this formula applies across the board. There is no story without conflict. With romance, in particular, readers want to see the hero and heroine battle and banter for control, even as the two fall in love. The writer can't "seal the deal" too early by having them declare their love for each other in the middle of the book.

Romance Cliché #2: Pining Pairs

Yes, yes, we know the romance hero and heroine cannot stop thinking about each other, even if they're mad enough to throw something at the other person. That doesn't mean they sit around all day writing sonnets dedicated to the color of their true love's eyes. They should have other equally pressing things to do, such as -Oh, I don't know- earn a living, save the family farm, jump off a sinking ship, dodge bullets from the outlaw's Winchester rifle, whatever your plot requires.


Romance Formula #3: Characters Need To Meet ASAP

Thanks to fast-paced action movies and the instant gratification that is online media streaming, we are conditioned to expect things bigger, faster, and in our grasp last Tuesday. If you write romance, your leading man and lady need to make each other's acquaintance within the first couple of chapters, if not paragraphs. Readers simply have too many other things pressing on their time and attention in real-life than to wait around for the author to leisurely get the plot gears turning.

Romance Cliché #3: Characters Need To Act On Their Attraction ASAP

I can't tell you how many times I've explained to well-meaning friends that not all romances are bodice rippers. While there are certain sub-genres that contain a high level of heat, not all romances push the boundaries of morals and self-control. Since I write sweet romances, my characters experience the tensions and temptations that any normal-functioning adult in love would feel, but because of my faith, I don't write explicit scenes or have the characters engaging in premarital sex.

That doesn't mean the story will appeal only to a dour ninety year-old grandmother. Sometimes the most intense romantic scenes in novels are those that engage the mind and take command of a full spectrum of emotions, not just the tactile senses, although those are very important, too. Read the classics and take notes. There's a reason why Austen and Bronte are still popular two centuries later.


All that being said, recognizing formulas necessary for good genre writing and avoiding clichés isn't very hard. Use what I like to call the eye-roll test. Read parts of your manuscript aloud. If certain scenes give you the involuntary urge to glance skyward or you get a little antsy about another reader perusing your prose, chances are there's a cliché waiting for the delete button.


What are the funniest/most annoying clichés you've come across in books?

The Business Side to Writing

      It is a reality that the book publishing industry has a bottom line. No matter how dear a writing project is to our hearts, no matter how long and hard we have worked on our “baby,” the project must be marketable. And we as authors are under constant pressure to remain commercial, even as times and tastes and styles continue to change around us. Remaining current in an ever-changing marketplace is a daunting task.
     I have been saddened by the recent termination of contracts for a few of our friends and colleagues. It not only saddens me but frightens me as well. I’ve asked myself repeatedly: Am I headed in the right direction with my new project? Will what I’m working on right now be acceptable two years from now when it’s finally published? Have I run my course and had my “fifteen minutes of fame”? The old saying “You’re only as good as your last book” has taken on new meaning for me. In this day and age, I’m not sure how much “track record” still means.
     A friend contacted me recently and asked for advice on getting published. I told her: “You need to know your target audience. And you also need to decide on the genre that best suits that target audience. You also should ask yourself: Does my story have commercial appeal? Because like it or not, book publishing is a business, and publishers won't take on a book that they don't think they can sell. Your grandmother's diary, for example, might be special and treasured by your family, but is it something the general public will go out in droves and buy? I don't want to discourage you but book publishing is very much a business venture and your product has to be marketable or it won't be accepted. So ask yourself the basic questions I've outlined, and if you feel confident about the answers, then by all means proceed with an eye toward getting published.”
I wish my friend all the best. And I extend best wishes to those who lost contracts. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
     I hope each one of us can find fulfillment in writing and remember the singular joy that comes from putting words on a blank space where they did not exist before. The royalty check is nice . . . but fortunately that isn’t the bottom line for writers.

Why Do I Bother?

“Don’t do it.”

Sometimes, that’s the best advice I can give someone who has stars in their eyes asking about becoming a writer.

“Don’t do it.”

It’s easy to believe in the dream. I was there only a couple years ago. You think, “Oh, if I could just get picked up by a publisher!” You see your cover for the first time or, better yet, you hold a real physical copy of your book in your hands! Or that first moment that you walk into a bookstore—in another town—and see your book sitting on the shelf. Your literary baby has come home from the hospital and it’s a beautiful feeling.

But it won’t last.

Once the euphoria settles, then people start bringing up the ugly “M” word—marketing. Now you’ve got to convince 7 billion people that your baby is as beautiful as you believe she is. Some people are going to agree with you. They’ll love your book. Others will hate it. Think it’s trash.

I don’t mind those latter people though.

Because, the cold hard truth that writers rarely tell you is that most people—about 99% of the world—will never read your book. Moreover, they just won’t care. You could spend an entire day walking around the library or your local Barnes and Noble and hold every book in your hand. Imagine that, at one point in time, someone felt like you did—holding their book for the first time, thinking they were going to change the world. Some accomplished that dream. Most never will. You probably never will.

Blog tours won’t pick you up, or if they do, nobody will come and check it out. You may get a couple book signings and have fifteen people show up. You’ll send out review copies to reputable places, and they won’t read it for whatever reason. They’re busy or they forgot or their cat had kittens, it doesn’t matter. They don’t make time for you. It’s nothing personal, it’s just the way of things. Others might read your book and love it, but they won’t take a second to leave a review on Amazon or tell their friend. Publishers lose heart when you can’t bring the money in and they make hard decisions, no matter how much they supported you in the beginning.

This is happening to all of us writers. I talk to many writers on a daily basis, and they’re losing contracts, dealing with apathetic readers, struggling to just announce to the world that they’re even alive. But it seems that no matter what we do, the hard truth is that most people don’t care.

So why bother with writing at all?

If you want to be a writer, I’ll tell you that, if you can choose something else to do with your life, do that instead. Be a plumber. There’s got to be more job security there, more return for your hard work. As a writer you’ll spend countless nights at the computer, away from your family, bleeding on the page. You’ll break your heart and pour your soul into every word…and then people won’t read it. Or they’ll shrug, toss your book to the side, and find something else to do. That’s reality.

So why do I bother? I’m working on seven books as we speak! Why? I’m just another faceless name on the spine of a book in an aisle of the bookstore that you’ll never go down. You’d love my book, but you won’t read it. You may never have even heard of it. And I have no idea how to get it to you.

Why do I bother?

Sure, I could “get lucky” and write some crazy mega-selling hit. But then what? What comes after that? Obscurity again? What if I never achieve fame? What if only two thousand people read my book in my entire life? Am I a failure?

Man…why do I bother?

I’ll tell you. I bother because, one night at four in the morning, I woke up with an idea that made me dance with excitement, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I bother because, while driving on my way to work after my lunch break, I saw a scene in my head of two estranged characters reuniting and it literally brought tears to my eyes. I bother because these are not isolated incidents, but weekly occurrences. I bother because writing is not a choice. It is who you are. Who God made you to be. I bother for the same reasons you do: Because to stop telling your stories is to stop breathing. I try to stop all the time. I make declarations to my wife that “After this story, that’s it. I’m done. It’s just not worth it anymore.” And she smiles and nods and says “Sure.” And you know what? She’s right to mock me. Because next week I’ll have a new idea and I can’t sit still. I HAVE to write it. I have to take that journey, go on that adventure—just one more time.

I would love it if you read my books. I would love it if you posted reviews—hey, even negative ones!—on Amazon or wherever you post such things. I would love it if you moved me to the top of your reading pile.

But even if you didn’t, it’s okay. I can’t write for those things.

I write because I love it.

To the readers out there, when faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, why do you bother?

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I would suspect that this blog, like many others written by professionally published authors, draws a certain amount of aspiring authors, perhaps looking for advice or insight concerning the in-roads to breaking into the business. I know I've been asked a couple times in my career if I have any advice for folks just starting out. Well, as it turns out, I do. I could go on about the benefits of being open, honest, polite, and friendly to absolutely everyone you meet. Not only is that just a good thing to do in your every day life, it can also benefit you in strange ways in your career as you never know who might be in a position to help you one day--and they will most assuredly remember if you were a jerk or not.

I could give other advice about honing your talent and staying true to your story. Both are sound, practical advice.

But, perhaps the best piece of advice I can give you is something that I learned from a small child that I taught one year many years ago at a Vacation Bible School at my church. We had a small group of, I believe, pre-schoolers and we had them for the evening. It was tough going trying to come up with something to keep them all occupied and interested for the time allotted, but one thing we did was hand out mazes. We passed them out and the kids went to work, trying to get from Start to Finish. They took some wrong turns and a few probably even made it through. But my attention was focused on one little boy. I watched with mild amusement, at first, as he took the crayon in his chubby hand, stabbed the Start line, then drew a straight line, cutting through obstacles, to the Finish line. Blank-faced, as though he wasn't even aware that what he'd done was the total opposite of every child, he calmly handed the maze back to me, without a word, to show me he was finished.

For long seconds I stared at that page and, I kid you not, I had an epiphany. The heavens parted, light shone down, and the scales fell from my eyes. I remember looking at that maze with one simple line drawn from Start to Finish and thinking "Exactly".

It has become an attitude I have adopted in all areas of my life, and especially my writing. There are so many people in this business who will set before you hoops to jump through. They'll tell you you have to get an agent, or go to writers' conferences, or get a certain publisher, or be a New York Times Bestseller, or this, or that. Everyone seems to have a different level they want you to reach before they accept you. Before they deem you "Finished". To that, I say "bah". Set your mind on your goal--what you want to do--regardless if anyone believes in you or not. Then, like that boy in my VBS class, shoot for that goal, never minding the obstacles in your path, never minding the accepted "rules" of "how it's done". Yes, you're going to make mistakes along the way. Maybe you'll have to retrace your steps and try again to find your way through the maze. But don't be afraid to be unconventional. Don't be afraid to blaze new terrain. Be yourself. If I've learned anything, no two writers come to the Finish Line the same way. We all take different paths, some we planned, others we didn't. But know where you're at right now in your life. Then identify your goal.

Then draw a straight line. Don't hold back.

That's probably the best advice I can give you.

To the other authors out there, what's some of the best advice you've received about writing and/or life?