Focus On The Writing, Not The Genre

I recently had the chance to appear on the debut episode of a new show on the Authors on the Air radio network, a show called The Science Fiction Spotlight. During the interview, the host, Mack Meijers, asked about my approach to writing. In my response, I mentioned how I didn’t consider my novel, THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE WORLD END, to be science fiction or dystopian fiction or any other genre until I finished the final draft of the story, sat back, and thought about how it would be listed in a bookstore. I went on to mention The Road and 1984, two books that have had an enormous impact on me, and two books that serve as a valuable lesson for writers today.

Both novels are considered masterpieces of science fiction/apocalyptic fiction/dystopian fiction/etc. And yet neither Cormac McCarthy nor George Orwell set out to write to those genres or to any others. Instead, they merely focused on telling the story that was important to them. It was only afterward that the publishing industry and readers categorized them. But I think that one of the reasons the stories have become classics and appeal to a wide range of audiences is that both McCarthy and Orwell focused on the story they wanted to tell instead of specifically trying to create a certain genre of book. And because of that, they created novels that appealed to wider audiences.

In a day where many books seem to be written with one specific audience in mind, The Road and 1984 serve as two examples of books that appealed to readers of literary fiction, classics, science fiction, commercial fiction, etc. The impact that had on their long-term success is obvious. That’s why, with THE MAN WHO WATCHED THE WORLD END, and with my other upcoming novels, I did what I think McCarthy and Orwell would have done: focused not on the genre, but on the story I wanted to tell and why it was important to me. Hopefully, that comes through when people read it.

To listen to the entire podcast of this episode of The Science Fiction Spotlight, go to:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authorso...

The next episode of The Science Fiction Spotlight airs this Friday at noon. Don’t miss it!
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/authorso...