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I used to puzzle a lot over what genre

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was. I knew that I was writing sometimes

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genre fiction, sometimes not. I knew

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that I had a huge advantage in that the

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majority of what I was writing as a

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young writer was comics was graphic

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novels which is a medium comics that

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looks to the uninitiated like a genre.

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But because it wasn't a genre, it was

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just a medium. I was allowed to do

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whatever I wanted. I could write

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historical fiction. I could write

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fantasy fiction. I could write high

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fantasy and low fantasy. I could do

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science fiction. I could do pure horror.

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I could do political fiction. I could do

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it all. And because it was all coming

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out as comics, people didn't mind.

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But what genre was baffled me.

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It wasn't until I read a book by a film

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professor

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in California called Linda Williams um

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who wrote a book called Hardcore

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and it was a film professor's analysis

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of hardcore pornography.

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And threequarters of the way through the

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book,

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she compared hardcore pornography films

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of the 1970s

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to the musical.

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And suddenly the penny dropped for me

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because musicals like 1970s porn films

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had certain things that have to happen.

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You need the opening song by a large

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chorus of people. You need the heroine

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singing on her own about what she thinks

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is going to happen. You need the song

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that's the first meeting of our heroine

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and our hero. You need the comic relief

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song with the three robust people behind

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him. You need all of those things ending

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up with the final song which the hero

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and the heroine sing together that

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indicates they have been brought

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together. You need the final chorus and

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then we're out. And the truth is, in a

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classic musical,

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the plot exists purely to stop all of

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the songs from happening at the same

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time,

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just as in a 70s porn film, according to

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Linda Williams, the plot existed to stop

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all of the sex happening at the same

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time.

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And I thought, actually,

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that tells me what the difference is

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between a cowboy novel and a novel set

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in cowboy times.

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Because you can just look at it from a

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perspective of reader expectations.

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What are they coming to this for? What

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will they feel cheated if they do not

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get?

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They're going to expect the cattle

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stampede. They're going to expect the

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showdown at high noon. They're going to

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expect the fight in the saloon. They're

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going to expect um you start listing the

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things and you go, "Okay, so the plot

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actually needs to exist to keep all of

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these things from happening at the same

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time."

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Or you can do a novel set in the Old

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West and none of those things need to

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happen. you can go after completely

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different things, but you need to

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understand at that point you're writing

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something that might look like genre but

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isn't. And that people may point to it

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as genre and it's not. And that if

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somebody picks up your novel expecting

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genre, they will be disappointed just as

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they would be if they went to see a

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musical and there were no songs at all.

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So

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a lot of what you wind up doing then

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with genre is going okay what makes

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genre genre

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what do people what would people feel

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cheated

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if they didn't get

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earlier on we were talking about making

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a novel out of that March short story

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with Anne Bonnie the pirate and so at

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that point you might start making a list

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for yourself of, okay, if I wrote this

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novel and there wasn't at least one

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boarding of a ship,

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people might feel a little cheated. I

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should I'd like to put one in. It might

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not You can always turn things around.

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You don't actually ever have to give

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people the thing they want in the way

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they're expecting it. Actually, always

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like it if you give them what they want

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in a way that they're not expecting.

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If you give them what they need but

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didn't realize that they wanted in a way

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that's unfamiliar, people like that. But

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you're still trying to give them the

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moments that are actually going to make

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them feel like, yes, this is what I came

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for. I'm getting my money's worth. They

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are singing all of the songs in in the

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order that those songs should be sung.

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And actually, it's a musical. It's not a

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mysterious musical. without songs.

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Or you can go actually those things that

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are musicals without songs, they're

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called plays. They're okay, too. But

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it's a different kind of thing. And you

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need to know what you're going into and

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what you're building.

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I think understanding genre is a hugely

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valuable tool for writers. Um, and if

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you don't understand genre, you're going

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to come across her.

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It's very easy to look at fiction and

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not quite get what genre is because the

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surface trappings of genre are a lot

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like the surface trappings of things

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that aren't genre.

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And yet, there is a huge difference.

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There is a difference between a novel

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set in the American Wild West and a

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cowboy novel. There is a difference

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between a novel set in the intelligence

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community

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and a spy story.

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Um,

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and if you don't understand that, you

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will wind up disappointing your readers,

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confusing your publishers, making a

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general mess of things. If you do

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understand it, then it can be useful for

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you and you can use it or you can ignore

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it. Many many years ago when I was 9 10

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years old, I had an appalling lisp and

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was sent to a uh elecution teacher named

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Miss Webster. And Miss Webster

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um had a number of Scotty dogs. I kind

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of borrowed her for Coraline, her and

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her best friend as the actresses in uh

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Coraline. And she would smoke little

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black cigarillos and and rest her arms

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on her magnificent bosom as she listened

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to me. And I remember once she listened

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to my my reading of a speech from Puck.

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At the end of it, she said, "Neil, dear,

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before you can be eccentric, you have to

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know where the circle is."

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And I took that as glorious advice that

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has always seen me safe.

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Um, it's always good to know what the

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rules are before you break them. It's

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always good to know what the rules are

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when you're breaking them. It's good to

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know what the rules are, even if you're

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going to ignore them absolutely

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completely from the word go and just set

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off to break them because at least that

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way you know how people have been doing

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this. You know how people ought to do

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this. You know how people think they

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ought to do this. And you can set off

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and do whatever you like. But know

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before you go,

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know safely what the rules are and then

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break them with joy.

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When you're writing fiction,

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um, you need to know more than the

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reader.

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You do not need to know everything, but

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you always need to know more than the

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reader does.

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Now, the great thing about beginning any

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piece of fiction is you know something

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and that something is more than any

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reader knows because the reader knows

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nothing about what you're doing and you

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at least know something.

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But

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where and who and how and what these are

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all things that you can know and the

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reader doesn't you the way you reveal

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information

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is in a way that suits you. It's not in

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a way that necessarily is going to

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initially suit the reader. you can know

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more, which means that you can hide

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things in the text, which means you can

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set things up in the text, which means

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that um you can play

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with things

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you can play with things as simple as

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the fundamental sexism of language. For

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example,

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uh, in Sandman,

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I took enormous pleasure

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in Sandman number one, already having an

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idea of who this family was and the

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shape of it, um, of mentioning that a a

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black magic organization in 1916 had

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been attempting to capture Death, but

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they had failed, and they had caught

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Dream, Death's younger other.

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And back in those days, people would

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actually write letters to the editor and

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the letters would come in. And I asked

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the people of DC Comics if they would

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mind just sending me the letters to the

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editor as they came in. And I took

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enormous pleasure

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over the next months in seeing every now

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and then at the end of a letter people

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would say, "You've said that they were

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trying to capture Death's younger

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brother. When are we going to see

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Dream's older brother, Death?"

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And I, knowing full well that this was

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going to be an older sister, um, just

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took pleasure in that. I knew more about

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the story that they did. I'd used I'd

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built a little little trap

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for

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the reader. I knew that that was going

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to be to my advantage. I knew that

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having a reader think that something is

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going to happen and actually something

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else that will be much more

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satisfactory, much more interesting, and

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something they haven't seen is going to

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be really fun. So, reader expectations

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are a lovely thing to play with. and to

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sail against. It's like the like the

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wind on a little sailing ship. You're

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you're using it to power you and it

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comes sometimes from the side and it

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pushes you forward.

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For a writer starting out,

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I would tend to push you away from genre

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fiction. And I'll push you away from

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genre fiction on the basis that you've

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probably spent your life reading some

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kind of genre fiction and you love genre

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fiction and that's what you know.

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And I think it's really important for a

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young writer and it could be a young

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writer of any age to get out of their

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comfort zone. Go and write things that

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you know

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that aren't the fiction that you know.

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Because if you write the fiction that

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you know, then the best you'll ever be

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is a good copy of somebody else and what

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you're most likely to be is something

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that looks like a photocopy of a

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photocopy of a photocopy. and now you're

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gray and unattractive and barely

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readable.

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Be yourself.

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And that may involve dipping into genre.

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It may involve going to lots of places.

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But go explore. There are so many things

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that you can do in fiction. Go find what

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they are. Go play.