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Writing Tips: 4 Suggestions For Navigating The Multi-Genre Waters

    Categories: Writing

Sometimes I think my life would be simpler if I could just stick to writing one genre. 

But then my Muse pipes up – “You'd be sooooooo bored!”

So I am (happily) reconciled to being a multi-genre writer, as I am a multi-genre voracious reader too. 

In today's article, Mackenzie Belcastro gives some tips for embracing your multi-genre self.

Wearing two (or more) hats can be a tricky business, especially when it comes to writing.

We like to put each other into boxes with large, clear labels. “Science fiction writer,” “journalist,” even “blogger” today will do.

But what happens when you attempt to don two hats, to glue an additional label to your box?

If slapped on carelessly, you risk confusing the market, jeopardizing your reputation, and threatening the sales of your work. But, if pressed on gingerly, with care and intention, you may find yourself on your way to joining the club of which Ursula K. Le Guin, Joan Didion, and Neil Gaiman belong.

That is, the club of the multi-genre writer.

How does one do this? In answer, here are four tips to help guide you.

#1 Know your goals

Each hat requires its own set of goals. Here are some common examples:

  • I am a blogger looking to build a name for myself in order to speak/coach/teach
  • I am a journalist working toward writing for The New Yorker or The Paris Review
  • I am a novelist looking to land a three-book contract
  • I am a poet looking to go on a worldwide book tour
  • I am a screenwriter looking to write a screenplay that may be picked up by Hollywood

Write yours down.

Now, ask yourself, which is most important? Order them.

*If you don’t know where to start, sit quietly for a while until honesty whispers into your ear. Not enough? Take out your trusted pencil and begin to free-write. Let it come out. It will.

#2 Noms de Plume

Goals in hand we may find ourselves facing the age old question: to pen name, or not to pen name?

There is no “right” answer. Joanna has chosen to adopt one, for instance, while others have opted to not.

Do so only if you deem it absolutely necessary. In other words, if you truly risk confusing your readers, or tarnishing a delicate reputation.

This may be if you’re a children’s author branching out into erotica, or you’re a literary author dipping your toes into the pool of YA fantasy.

If there’s no real risk, don’t have a pen name. It’s intense work building two author brands. So, why add to your already heaping plate if you don’t have to?

#3 Cultivate intentional communities

Aside from your craft, your community is everything. They are your support, your feedback, your patrons, and sometimes even your inspiration. Cultivating and nurturing this community is crucial.

You may need one for each of your hats—offline and online. Yes, even without a pen name. Why? Because though you might write across genres, not all your readers will.

Here are some tips on where to focus if you’re getting started:

  • Journalists: focus on meeting editors in person
  • Bloggers: focus on e-meeting fellow bloggers and influencers
  • Novelists going the traditional publishing route: focus on meeting agents and publishers in both online and offline realms, through industry events (try MeetUp) and via personalized email (canned will be promptly deleted)
  • Indie authors: focus on spreading your net wide; build a solid relationship with your readers, connect with indie editors, and seek out mentors—those who have done what you aspire to do

*Your communities may overlap here and there. This is fine, even expected.

As for a web presence, you may choose to have multiples of everything. That’s two websites, two email lists, and two social media personas.

Those of you that went down the pen name route, you must do this. If you have not, you may think of clever ways to merge your two hats, if possible.

Ryan Holiday, for instance, sends out an email once a month recommending books, sometimes throwing in one of his own.

Ultimately, use your judgement—cherish your readers, but don’t forget you are but one person. Be realistic.

#4 Make a schedule

Whether you presently wear two hats, or want to, bear in mind you can only wear one at a time. This may look like working in seasons — a year on one book, a year on another.

Or it may look like divvying up your week — Monday to Friday the journalist hat comes on, Saturday and Sunday the novelist hat replaces it.

Alternatively, it may look like breaking your day up — half a day for the business of blogging, and half a day for book-writing.

Your routine will be unique to your lifestyle and your goals. The important thing is to have one. Regularity and repetition are your friends.

As Mary Oliver says, “The patterns of our lives reveal us. Our habits measure us. Our battles with our habits speak of dreams yet to be come real.”

Frustration & Fear

You may feel distressed. You may question whether you’re a writer at all if you don’t fit into a box. You may feel many things.

When the overwhelm begins to eat away at you, do this: pause.

There’s no use, after all, in beating yourself up for desiring more from your craft than the confines of one small box. The truth is writers write. Sometimes in one vein, sometimes in another.

While others may tell you that you fit this mould or that, it is you and only you that knows what is best. Trust your gut. Accept it’ll change.

At the end of the day, what really matters is not your label but your craft. Write well.

If you do feel like you want to leave one box for another, know that you can. It goes back to number one: set that goal. Learn what you will need to do. Start to take those steps.

Baby steps, dear writer.

Great things take time.

Do you write in multiple genres? If so, how do you manage your pen names? Please leave your thoughts below and join the conversation.

Mackenzie Belcastro is a creative nonfiction writer, as well as a low-fantasy fiction writer. She currently resides in Toronto, Canada.

For more from her visit MackenzieBelcastro.com. Or connect with her on Twitter and Instagram at @mackbelcastro.

[Hats photo courtesy Joshua Coleman and Unsplash.]

Joanna Penn:

View Comments (16)

  • All roads lead to Rome. The blockbuster and breakout books have the basics of romance, mystery, and adventure in them - all at the same time. Improving your writing in each genre will improve your ability to write the others. Wear different hats, sure, but know it's the same head underneath.

  • Self published a children’s book Super Nit and working on the second but also now writing a crime novel - do I need a pen name ??!

  • Good post, Joanna. Thanks for addressing one of many problems that never really go away for so many writers.

  • I, too, wish I could stick to a genre, but like you, I can't confine myself to one! I write epic fantasy, and dystopia/sci-fi, and historical fiction in several periods, as different as the Viking era and Regency... but since I already have a different pen name for my nonfiction (yes, I write that as well!) I know I should probably keep all my fiction under one pen name, or I'd be overwhelmed. With your permission I'm sharing this!

  • I love it when a message uplifts you and inspires you to keep writing. Perfect timing for my writing life.

  • Yep. This is me. My new book, House of Rose, is even multi-genre. Murder, Mayhem, and a little Magic--about a police officer who discovers she's a witch. What the heck is that? Crime? Mystery/thriller? Urban Fantasy? Paranormal? ...yes. This after two historical novels and non-fiction civil rights era books. No wonder I walk into a room and can't remember why. But I've decided my readers can handle it and keeping one name--T.K. Thorne. Thx for talking about this issue!

  • Self published a children’s book Super Nit and working on the second but also now writing a crime novel – do I need a pen name ??!

  • Good post Joanna. Your article explains the problems and how to approach multi-genre writing and branding.

    Thanks for the invitation to share about writing in multiple genre.
    I live a life with multi-faceted interests, so it's no surprise that my writing has developed to envelope multi-genre. These include paranormal, psychic, spiritual, ethics (published book); strategies and discussions on more than just coping or dealing with chronic pain (columnist for an authors' magazine), as well as writing a book on living with chronic pain; writing a memoir of an awesome woman who, by a chance conversation between myself and a museum curator, was inducted into the Women's Pioneer Hall of Fame for her achievements in the male-dominated field of accounting.
    I'm also a co-author of three novella for a writing and critiquing group. These publications are as diverse as a re-telling of a fairytale; sci-fi based on an alien zoo; and a murder mystery.
    I have a facebook page for the psychic ethics book, and then an author/writer facebook page. However, not wanting to feel fragmented it took ages to come up with a website which is empathetic with my three main genres, and I'm happy that my website reflects both my writing and me.

  • From the heading I thought this was going to be about mixing different genres in the same bowl and was expecting the usual warning not to. But it's about writing different genres at different times and allocating sections of the day to do so. Which makes perfect sense. But as others have mentioned they combine more than one genre in a book perhaps you could do a post on that?

    • I think most of us combine lots of sub-genres in one book :) That's why we get to choose 2 or 3 categories when we publish and 7 keywords which often get us into more categories. For example, I am usually in conspiracy thriller, supernatural thriller, action adventure, men's adventure, women's adventure, and then somethings crime fiction, horror, occult, and more.

  • A subject I’m struggling with (and yes, have looked to you for help). I took an unexpected route in a romance sub-genre some years ago but have also written some Steampunk and Doctor Who related fiction while at heart I most love writing my brand of Dark Fiction/Horror — one of those often gender bias categories you’ve mentioned, though women are pushing their way slowly into horror, surprising many that they don’t hold back as is the general perception. How to balance and please these various readerships isn’t easy. I’d also love to try YA at some point. When the muse pulls the writer in more than one direction, it’s painful. For me this likely stems from my eclectic love of books.

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