Genre: Using the Tropes as a Tool for What You Really Want to Say - by SC Skillman
Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham, designed and owned by Horace Walpole, author of the first gothic novel in the English language - photo credit SC Skillman Recent experiences have set me thinking much more deeply about genre. Once author Fay Sampson , multi-published novelist and longstanding ACW member, said to me that she uses her crime novels as a vehicle for what she really wants to say. I didn't set out to write crime novels, but a story about a family history researcher turned into one without my making a conscious choice. The rest followed. I would never write one that was just about solving a mystery, instead, I weave into them the things I really love - history, sacred places, legends and myths. So the format is to suit the market, but the content is my personal enthusiasm. (Fay Sampson) So, for Fay, crime fiction is her genre for saying the things she cares about. For me, it's the gothic genre. It’s said that when choosing your genre as a writer, you can only be gu...