If you’ve read Stephen King’s On Writing, you may remember an anecdote between King and Chuck Verill (pretty sure it was him, his agent) where King is warned, as they’re gearing up for his third book to release, that this will pigeon-hole King as a horror writer. King understood this facet of the business, but has proven time and time again throughout every era of his long career that he can write far more than just horror.

Historically, many writers stick to one genre. It’s thought to be the best way to sell books- write something your readers know you for. Make a niche for yourself, gain a loyal following of fans of that genre. See John Grisham, Mercedes Lackey, and Sue Grafton. Known for their specific genres, dependable like the sun. Even King still gets promoted all over horror genre spaces with each new release, even if that release isn’t actually a horror novel (see the Mr. Mercedes series, Billy Summers, and many others).

But we do not have to be confined by genre! Say it with me!

Since the very beginning of my writing journey, I’ve never questioned what genre I wanted to write. I still just have stories form in my head, encouraged by questions about ways I can present something in a certain way or ways I can break rules. For me, the story and characters come first, genre comes later. Thus, I have novel projects in the flavors of horror, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, and even western. Even more fun, most of those are blended together: Father Cruz is horror/romance, Romantasy is (duh) fantasy/romance, Stasis is sci-fi/horror, Space Cowboy is horror/sci-fi/western. You get the idea. I clearly don’t perceive any boundaries around genres in my work.

My greatest desire is to have multiple audiences. I want those fans that like my horror, fans of my fantasy (likely the Scrolls of Malthea series if we’re dreaming), and fans that will just read whatever because they think I’m cool (yeah, we’re definitely dreaming).

However, this makes me sound like a goddamn nightmare to agents and publishers.

Publishers want to sell books based off what you’re known for, because not every reader buys books in every genre (me included). So I can see why professionals in the publishing industry may be reluctant to take me on, when I am so adamant about having my genres and eating them too.

To self-soothe and keep up hope, I’m going to point out some very successful genre-fluid heroes.

Stephen King: The Master

He’s had such a prolific career for a reason, folks. While his horror is top-of-the-line, I personally believe that some of his best works are in other genres entirely. We’ll start with the obvious.

The Dark Tower series. If you aren’t familiar with grandpa’s magnum opus, this series is the most King you can possibly get. It’s dark, it’s tense, it’s got worldbuilding unlike any other, it’s western, it’s romance, it’s thriller, it’s sci-fi (featuring actual lightsabers and robots), it’s Lovecraftian, it’s Lord of the Rings, it’s fucking everything. If you haven’t read it, consider this me shoving it in your face. Literally.

That out of the way, we’ve also got some stellar standouts that are a little easier to define. Here are some examples of King doing fantasy in absolutely outstanding fashion:

King also has a few entries in the sci-fi realm:

Then he’s got stuff that isn’t really any particular genre:

And of course, we can’t forget one of his best works of all time, a historical fiction / romance:

Alright, I think I’ve given you enough examples from grandpa. Let’s look at some other heroes who don’t let genre hold them back.

Brandon Sanderson

Sandy here is another notorious genre sampler. He’s most well-known for his fantasy:

But he’s also skilled in sci-fi:

And Children’s:

This man can do anything! And he’s famous enough that he can really do whatever he feels like and his publisher can’t complain. That’s the good life right there.

Philip Fracassi

This guy is one of my personal heroes. He’s not at the household-name level of fame like King and Sandy (yet!) and he’s already fearless enough to be a multi-genre master. Not only can he do horror:

He’s also blown my mind and made me cry with sci-fi:

Plus there’s his upcoming novel Sarafina, a delicious blend of historical, horror, and fantasy:

Then there’s his 2025 pub, a thriller slasher with a surprising amount of heart:

Like, it’s to the point with this guy where I’ll buy anything with his name on it. Phil, can we be friends someday?

In Summary

While it is most common for authors to be confined to a single genre or conceit, I feel optimistic about my desired future as a multi-genre writer because of these great heroes. The best stories are the ones you want to tell, and you shouldn’t feel like you can’t explore those stories just because publishers and agents are afraid of a writer who can’t stick to one area. Write what you want, and the rest will come!

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Monthly Writing Goals Update

13,962 / 20,000 words

I think it’s safe to say I’m definitely on track to meet my word count goal this month. As for what I’ve been working on this week, you’ve read Saige’s last post, so you know we’re on a bit of a break from our secret co-writing project. This was Saige’s suggestion, but I was actually quite alright with the pause, as I am absolutely addicted to the world of Malthea right now. All 9,212 words I wrote this week were in my Scrolls of Malthea works. Also, I realized this week that I still have a good amount of plot left in Romantasy, so if you notice my progress bar there is lower than last week, that’s because I’ve increased my word count goal for that work.

Over this next week I’m hoping to fall back into the co-writing project, as it’s still very exciting to me. And it’s working up really fast- it’s funny how quickly that word count goes up when two writers are working on it. Who would’ve thought?

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