Genres, Book Comps, and Tropes, Oh My!
Dragon Pearls, Issue #4
I’m Lydia Woodward and I write fantasy stories about redemption and forgiveness. To learn more, you can read my bio here or the about page here.
Welcome back, starling!
First off I want to apologize for this post being a few days late. My brain randomly decided to "unlearn everything about literature" and I've been scrambling to get back on track with my college assignments — for a literature class (and my major!) no less.
Now that the gray matter is cooperating, I can take a quick break from the looming deadlines to write to you. 😊
Today is issue #4 of my Dragon Pearls series and I'll be going over a few things that I have a very love-hate relationship with at the moment. Those are
1. Genres (including all the many, many subgenres)
2. Book Comps
3. Tropes
I've decided to lump all of these together in one post because a lot of what makes sense to me about these topics tends to intertwine a lot. This will be a quick overview of what they are and how-in-the-seven-mirrorworlds-did-I-get-myself-into-this-mess?!
*Cue the distant crying*
Doesn’t everyone know this already?
Now, I am 100% sure that you already have a pretty solid grasp on genres and are familiar with tropes, whereas book comps might be a bit more of a fuzzy shape on your memory's horizon (no? Just me? 😅).
To sum it up in simple terms: a book comp is another book that is similar in some way, shape, or form to your story that you can use to attract the right readers for your novel.
While that might sound easy enough, in reality, it often works out to be a bit of marketing nightmare for most writers. It's daunting to know that you must pin down exactly where your brain-child should sit on the virtual bookshelf of, say Amazon, for instance.
If I tell a stranger in the grocery store that I'm writing an epic fantasy with dragons, faeries, and goblins in a world of magic and technology, her eyes are likely to glaze over before I get any farther. I mean, having a fantasy world full of mythical creatures is about as surprising as someone telling you they ate pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. It's been done before. So many times, in fact, that it's pretty much the vanilla ice cream of speculative fiction.
Instead, what if, in this hypothetical situation, I notice that she's wearing a shirt with an ATLA character on the front? And I tell her that I'm writing a book that's like if Zuko and Sokka were older and had grown up together, and instead of fighting each other, they have to enter a magical Hunger Games-type arena to save the teens who were forced into it.
Or, what if I have a teenage sister who loves Percy Jackson and ATLA? So I tell her to picture a world where Camp Halfblood is a series of deadly tests set up to try freeing a bunch of demons masquerading as gods from their ancient prison. Then imagine that Zuko and Sokka are older, having already escaped these trials before, but now they're going back in to save each other and the teens inside.
Those aren't even the best examples ('cause I'm terrible at comps), but they're already far more interesting than the generic description we started with. While choosing a well-loved comp can build anticipation for your story, it can also lead to a lot of disappointment if your book doesn't deliver on those expectations. And this is why I lump this together with genre and tropes — because those are two things you need to have somewhat settled before you can understand whether your book will be a disappointment to the readers you just pulled in with your comps.
Great expectations can be just as terrifying as a lackluster blurb.
If there’s one thing I’ve picked up on so far it’s that getting the wrong audience to read your book is a whole lot worse than having none. Nobody likes to feel cheated. And readers will feel cheated if they go in expecting a Percy Jackson/ATLA mashup only to read a Jane Austen retelling with pet dragons.
Back down the rabbit hole…
Fantasy is a huge genre. I honestly have no idea how many subgenres there are and that is not for lack of trying. I’ve researched so many different ones at this point that many are starting to blend together in the background. Here’s the “short list” that I’m currently looking at:
Noblebright Fantasy
Christian Fantasy
Portal Fantasy (or Crossworlds Fantasy)
Gaslamp Fantasy
Arcanepunk Fantasy
Fable/Fairytale Fantasy
Historical Fantasy
Mythic Fantasy
Magical Realism
Sword and Sorcery
Most books have elements from more than one genre but it’s important to know which one will be the best home for your book baby. You want your story to fit in with the books that will be listed in the same category. Every genre and subgenre comes with its own list of time-honored tropes that readers are looking for when they pick up a book from that particular category.
Some genres will all but guarantee that the reader expects a happy ending with all loose ends tied in a nice bow. Others leave room for vague or disturbing endings.
Nobody who picks up a cozy mystery wants the love interest to die, or for the killer to get away with it. So, if you want to try a new twist on a genre it’s important to recognize when a guide post cannot be tampered with.
As I continue my research into the genres, book comps, and tropes for my current novel, I’m reminded, again and again, of the importance of reading. Perhaps it’s a bit of a me-problem, but I often get confused when I get too deep into research without lots of examples to drive the point home. There are many tropes and genre conventions that I never seemed able to pinpoint until I started reading the actual books in that genre.
I have a lot of work to do still, so I have a huge list of books to read for fun and to take notes. I’m having a lot of fun with this story because I’m writing the type of book that I love to read and I hope that it finds other people who will love it as much as I do. 😊
Until next time, have a blessed week!
Lydia Woodward ✨
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