Pick a Genre, Damn It!

"My work defies genre. How can I possibly call it simply fiction or non-fiction, when it comes from the hard-lived lives of those who have come before us, those whose very existence have determined the hard-driven lines of poetic justice so poorly maladapted into the simplicity of the written word. But it is all we have, only the merest scratch on the surface of our souls..."

PFFFT! Please! Someone save me!

If there is one thing I can't stand anymore, it's this my-writing-defies-genre drivvle. Pull-ease! Get over it! Most especially when you are begging for promotional help, complaining that your work is not getting noticed by Penguin or Random House, nor put on the shelves of Barnes and Noble, and, oh, by the way, couldn't we possibly, pretty please do something about helping get the book reviewed?

Yeah, sure. Here's a start. Tell me how to list the book on the site. That's right: DEFINE YOURSELF WITH CONVENTIONAL GENRE! If you want to be recognized in this reality, then you have to play within certain parameters of the reality. If I can't list a book as fiction / non-fiction / poetry at the very least, then, promotionally speaking, we're in some serious trouble. Further than that, many books now are clearly labeled on the back as to what section a bookstore might place them for the customers to find them: Self-help; GLBT Fiction; Young Adult; Memoir; Historical Romance; etc.

Oh dear. Did you say label? How dare you label me!

Okay, then don't expect publishers to be able to promote your book. Don't expect people to be able to find your book. Don't expect reviewers to know if they want to select your book for review because they happen to prefer and have their specialties in particular GENRES for their review reading. And don't forget the Library of Congress needs to have a way of cataloging your work - you know, the Dewey Decimal System and all.

Yes, yes. I know. New genres have been created, and will continue to be created over the years, and this is what is great about literature - it continues to grow and change an recreate itself in form and function, style and, yes, genre. If this is what you hope to do, to be a part of a movement of defining a new genre (maybe the antigenre genre), then figure out what to call yourself, and do it. But, if like one of the popular bands of my college days, who preferred to label themselves "psychodelic funk fusion ska," ends up in the general "world" section at the music store or "jazz" - well, they can hardly blame the just-above-minimum-wage manager or floor lackey who simply has to find a spot for all the materials coming in.

Of course, that bargain bin starts to look pretty tempting when no other genre really seems to fit.

I'm not alone in my ranting on this. Robert Lasner, guest columnist for Moby Lives, has his own reasons for considering this same issue in his article: The Death of First Fiction. Really writers, we're all on the same side. We want to see you get published and get promoted and get read. That's the point, isn't it? Maybe after establishing yourself, gaining some clout in the field, then you can institute the change. Sometimes you can strike out, defy convention and come out on top, but those stories seem few and far between. Try it, and if it works for you, more power to you. And if not, then there will still be those of us who will be here: ready to list your book, publish it and promote it.