Comments on: Fitting in a Genre

By: Kimberly Yager

Kimberly Yager — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:06:29 +0000

In reply to Anju Gattani. Your closing sentence said it beautifully.

By: Anju Gattani

Anju Gattani — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:08:04 +0000

Hi Anubha,
Glad to have you join the conversation and share your thoughts! This is truly wonderful.

I think any writer who writes an ‘out of the box’ story will find this difficulty. Readers do get the socio-cultural context of the story when we, the authors, put in the extra work to make it feasible for them to understand.

Whether they choose to accept it or not… that’s another story! 🙂

Regards
Anju

By: Anju Gattani

Anju Gattani — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:05:29 +0000

In reply to Kimberly Yager.

Hi Kimberley,
So good to see you here and you are right! Readers will find books no matter how they’re labelled. But classifying them correctly does make the search easier! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me and keeping the conversation going!
And yes… books which transcend genre and cut across… will always find their way to readers’ hearts!

Regards
Anju

By: Anubha Yadav

Anubha Yadav — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:26:37 +0000

This problematic is not limited to books/genres alone. I feel a similar difficulty as a writer when I send my work to American or European literary journals. I do not wish to dilute the ‘Indianness’/Asian elements at all, as that is the point, but I also get very troubled when I think that my editors/half of my readers perhaps will never get the socio-cultural context of the story. And that bothers me no end.
All the best for your book Anju. Thanks for the post!
Lovely discussion. Very relevant for today’s world!

By: Kimberly Yager

Kimberly Yager — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 17:13:12 +0000

Modern romances no longer require a happily ever after ending, so Duty and Desire could fit there, but I think it fits better in Multicultural. I don’t think each book shelved there has to have multicultural characteristics within the story. I believe it’s a broader categorization of the types of books found there. I.e., books set in India, in Thailand, in Afghanistan and China are to be found in the Multicultural section of the bookstore. So if readers want something exotic, want to learn about the daily lives and workings of other countries, they’d seek out the Multicultural shelves. I’m not a huge fan of Romance novels so I don’t go to that section of the store unless there’s a specific novel I’m curious about. And I think that Romance readers who have heard about Duty and Desire will hunt it down, no matter where it’s shelved. So I think the challenge isn’t so much about labeling, but about getting our book known to readers. How many of us regularly browse the Fantasy aisle? And yet J. R. R. Tolkein transcended category to become one of the top selling authors of all time.

By: Anju Gattani

Anju Gattani — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 13:24:28 +0000

In reply to Eugenia Kim. Thanks so much for joining me, Eugenia. What an honor to have professionals like yourself share the conflict :)

By: Anju Gattani

Anju Gattani — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 13:20:17 +0000

In reply to Eugenia Kim.

Thanks for joining the conversation, Eugenia.
Trying to fit in a box… a genre… and tagging your creations with a label… can sometimes be so daunting! 🙂

By: Eugenia Kim

Eugenia Kim — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 20:39:32 +0000

I too struggled with pigeonholing of labels, but being shelved beside other great books in fiction/literature is its own reward.

By: Anju Gattani

Anju Gattani — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 22:00:12 +0000

In reply to Chelle Ang.

Hi Chelle,
Glad you hopped on over and joined the wonderful comments we’re getting here 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the read of Duty and Desire and understand the dilemma of where it could be shelved. Yes, there are bits of romance… but then again, it doesn’t fit the romance genre that requires a Happily-Ever-After ending.

I think publishers also classify according to shelving at bookstores… so, perhaps it works both ways?

A lot to chew on and think about!

By: Chelle Ang

Chelle Ang — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:53:37 +0000

I think if we start shelving books under heading such as multi-cultural or cross cultural, we will no doubt alienate some readers who will take one look at those words and turn in the other direction. As a lover of books depicting other cultures, I’m not happy with these labels. For me Duty & Desire is a story of love, passion and the desire to find one’s voice in a stringent society. I say shelve it in Romance so that readers can have more and dare I say better choices. On the flip side however, there’s anything wrong with carving out a niche for novels that set their stories in other cultures. Bookstores shelve books mostly by what the publisher wants so it’s inevitable to find a book say in general fiction that ought to be in thrillers. Oh, and as for the term multi-cultural, it’s the first and only time I’ve ever heard some one say that it refers to African American, but it’s quite unlikely that’s what it means.