A quickie blog post for you all today.
I have been working on an outline for my first book, and I realized early on that I didn’t know what particular genre it was. Since I started writing on this blog, I haven’t stuck to any genre with my short stories. Same with books. One of my favorite books is a biography and it’s the only biography I’ve read so far. If I tallied the number of books I’ve read by genre, mystery would come up on top. I’ve definitely read more romance due to circumstances even though I definitely prefer to bundle up with a good thriller. And no matter the genre, if any of them include some type of supernatural or mythological elements, the book gets shot up to the top of the “To Be Read” list. So looking at my earlier works and reading list hasn’t been helpful at all.
I decided to take a microscope to it all. Look at the bare bones of my writing and favorite books and figure out what elements of those drew me in and are possibly influencing my current work in progress. As I mentioned before, I am a huge fan of supernatural elements, whether it be local tales of a creature in the woods or an ancient god who was once worshipped for prospering crops. I love a good mystery as well. I tend to enjoy stories with limited points of view, and I like to see a good character transformation by the end, either literally or figuratively.
For my own book, I want to incorporate African American folklore, folk magic, and family bonds. The story will follow a single protagonist uncovering family secrets and discovering a new world. It will explore one’s relationship with the past and burdens one may not realize they carry. I hope by the end the protagonist has a renewed sense of self and identity by the end.
I did some googling, and my use of folklore put me in the fantasy category off top. I looked at all the subcategories, and that helped me narrow it down to urban fantasy since I want it to be set in modern times. I was positive that I found my genre when I found an article that stated the magic, mystery, and a singular protagonist. I didn’t realize giving my book a genre would help so much. It has helped unjumble some thoughts and ideas I was considering and provided me with a much-needed sense of direction. Still got a lot to figure out, but I’m getting there. Slowly but surely.
Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
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