Bloggy Update 7/24

The wheels are beginning to turn.

We have the french horn! ISU is scheduled to open/begin on August 17. I’m a few weeks away from starting revision #3 of Rage (novel #4).

Now that we’ve caught up with the basics, let’s look at Rage a little more closely. This book is suspense. It’s not a who-done-it. It’s not a mystery. It probably doesn’t quite fit neatly into the horror genre. It could, however, be seen as a psychological thriller.

Why does all that matter? Because, like so many websites which expound on “finding your audience”, it’s important to know where you’re writing lies – what boundaries can a potential reader expect. The last thing I personally want from a horror book I’ve picked up is to find out it’s actually a “horror/comedy” or something more akin to a “sci-fi” or “fantasy”.

While I have never written “TO or FOR” a specific audience, I do think it’s important to understand WHERE my story fits. Sure, there’s always crossover – probably most novels can be categorized into a few genres (or sub-genres). BUT – when someone is standing in front of me at a book/author event and they say they only read historical fiction or refuse to read anything with sex or horror themes, I know to steer them away from my writing. I don’t want to mislead anyone, although I might ask if they know of someone who does enjoy the types of books I write.

I also know that some folks WOULD like my work, even though they believe that my writing (which I once classified as horror) might be too scary. My short stories are indeed horror – similar to the Twilight Zone / Night Gallery. But the novels? Suspense and/or thriller. Most definitely.

And that’s where Rage comes in. It’s a little more like “Track 9” as opposed to Buried or Badfish, but it fits snugly in the world of suspense. And I’m okay with that.