This week we look at a book that breaks down the conventions of mystery and helps the mystery author not only to write his or her book competently, but also market it. And no writer wants to lose his audience because he doesn’t know what he should be writing. Unlike literary fiction, where the plot makes little difference and the language itself is the only thing that sets it apart from other works, readers of mysteries and other genres have an expectation for the presence of certain scenes, events, and actions that the writer ignores to his peril. It’s actually much harder to write than flowery literary fiction. It takes planning and structure to pen a competent mystery, as well as understanding its tropes and all of the conventions that classify the work as belonging to a genre. Not the top genre, of course-that honor would have to go to romance-but it’s up there with thrillers, which blends mystery, action, and horror into a tight, exciting package, and falls leagues beyond poetry and literary fiction, which rarely entices a reader to devour it all in one sitting.īut, despite what flowery literary fiction writers may think, writing a mystery (or any genre for that matter) is no brainless task. One such genre, mystery, is among the most popular with readers.
Pretentious authors who believe literature should represent high art often scoff at genre fiction as “beneath them,” but genre fiction authors are the ones who typically make all the money. Title Image for The Writer’s Bookshelf Episode 55
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