: Re: How do I ratchet down expectations in a genre that seems to have gone gonzo? I've done worldbuilding and extensive plotting for a Book 1 based around a "detective" (not a literal detective

@Courtney562

Vote Up Vote Down

I love this question, and @HenryTaylor 's answer (upvote!). Let me add:

The biggest problem here is not:

How do I ratchet down reader expectations within an existing genre?

But rather:

How can I be more confidant about carving my own niche within a genre that has already been widely played?

Write boldly, in your own style, voice, and in a genre you're familiar with. You identify as a sci-fi writer, so write it as a sci-fi. Use the tropes and expectations that come out of you, your story, and your genre. Don't try to consume and metabolize a sub-genre that is new to you while you're in the middle of the story. That leads to genre anxiety, which is more likely to produce tentative and contrived writing than to help you in any way.

You've now read some of it, so it might make it's way through your writing on it's own, but that's the only way it should. Leave it alone and allow it to operate on its own without thinking about it. You've almost certainly already consumed and metabolized a fair number of detective stories (or you wouldn't have arrived at the grumpy retired detective character), so you can be confident that the detective fiction is already operating through you as you write.

(0)

Login to post a comment!