The One with the Genre Flouting

If you're a writer, there's about a billion different internal battles you'll have on the daily.

If you're not a writer, you may well be familiar with them anyway . . .

Imposter syndrome

Creativity droughts

Work / life balance

Procrastination

Identity crisis

Money worries

Confidence crashes

And many, many more.

Today though, I want to settle on one that has gripped me in its tight, gnarly fingers for a while . . .

Writing to genre

This was not a notion that eight year-old Abi was familiar with. Do you think that happy-go-lucky, Geordie whippersnapper of a lass even thought about genre when she plinked away on her mam's old typewriter? When she wrote a poem about gravel or a play about bubblegum or a story about the injustices of not making gymnastics club in the second year of juniors?

No, she did not.

Ok, so I'm a bit younger than eight here but even dressed as a Christmas angel, writing was my go-to

Leap forward a couple of decades and even though twenty-eight year-old Abi was fully aware of book genres (having become a ferocious reader since the whole gymnastics debacle), do you think she considered genre when she had a writing epiphany on a Turkish mountain? Or paid much attention to it when she dragged her own story of heartbreak kicking and screaming out of her soul? Or when she stayed up night after night by the light of a shoddy old laptop or scrawled down notes in between baby feeds or wrote furiously during soft play sessions or tried to finish chapters before nursery pick-ups?

No, she did not.

It does seem, when I look back over my years as a writer, that I have purposefully flouted the rules of genre in favour of a heart that shouts louder. Heart first. Genre second.

This is all well and good until it comes to actually selling books. And let's not forget that the selling of books can often determine how much of your life you then get to spend writing. It's a cruel paradigm that I generally want to pretend doesn't exist. But for you, Dear Reader, I'm here for it.

The first 4 books that came directly from my heart (the Life is Yours series)

Last weekend I went to see a favourite writer of mine speak. And when I say, 'favourite writer', I mean, FAV-OUR-ITE.

This author has been etched into my reading psyche for a good 27 years. That's decent, right? It's Joanne Harris, of course.

The novel of hers that first did that psyche-etching was a decadent story of magic, flavour, temptation and revolution called 'Chocolat'. Yes, it was made into a movie boasting names like Depp, Dench and Binoche but it was Joanne's words on the page that really did it for me.

Paradoxically, reading Chocolat inspired two things in me:

1. A wild abandonment of my actual life in favour of this sumptuous, heartfelt, intoxicating fiction

2. A furious commitment to my own writing - that it could, should and WOULD be done

Since it was released in 1999, I must have read Chocolat at least twelve times. I've read the other books in the series too and they've affected me in similar ways. So when I found out Joanne was releasing a prequel to Chocolat, all about the origins of the titular character, 'Vianne', I knew I had to have it.

Thanks to the lovely Leslie at First Draft Books, that book was in my hands in no time and the wild abandonment of life began.

A girl's got to eat, you know

Predictably, I finished the book in mere days and immediately took to BlueSky to express my absolute exuberance about it. Yet again, Joanne had taken me simultaneously so far away from myself that I could spend months in 1993 Marseille with Vianne as well as dig so dangerously deep into my own writer self that 'spine-tingling' didn't even cover it.

Imagine my DELIGHT when BlueSky informed me that Joanne was doing a book tour and was coming to a town a mere hour away from where I live.

'Crediton', my debit card quietly whispered, 'here I come.'

If there's something I love in this bill-balancing, family-serving, full-time-working life of mine, it's going to events that bring out the author in me. And I took my mam with me - because, obvs, she remembers the eight year-old typewriting fiend who wrote stories like her life depended on it.

Thanks to the hosts, the Folkore Library, the event was packed. Joanne spoke with this impressive combo of authority, warmth, integrity and humour. Her stories were infused with the magic her books are renowned for yet somehow rooted in dazzling realism. I couldn't get enough of it.

I loved hearing about all the ways her life had informed characters and happenings in the Chocolat books. I enjoyed her cheeky tales about publishing and rogue attitudes to professional feedback. In fact, it was what she said about genre that inspired this post and has had me spinning out for days.

I'm paraphrasing but she spoke about genre as something we get too caught up in. As something publishers had to make up as a means to sell books. She encouraged us all that, 'The story you have to tell is always more important than genre.'

If you follow this blog that likely means you've read my almost-memoir Life is Yours series of novels. You can probably tell from that - although they are packed with Netflix-worthy moments - they don't fit snugly into a pre-defined genre that would in any way, shape or form, make a bookseller's life easier.

(As if that's what us authors are here for)

However, you might also know that a couple of years ago I had an idea to write a cosy murder mystery inspired by my now home-town of Brixham in South Devon. I wanted to use the world-famous event of the annual pirate festival to set a murder on a pirate ship and have a load of locals solve the hell out of it.

I couldn't believe I'd finally had an idea that was MARKETABLE. I was absolutely certain, in that indie-author kind of way, that this book would not only sell from the perspective of genre, but that the mere title, would captivate a brand new audience.

And then I started writing.

And I realised it wasn't so cut and dry.

So genre-worthy or not, it seemed I was incapable of writing a book without heart. Yes, there was still murder and mystery and cosiness and humour but it was all deeply imbued with what my soul wanted to say. It was an accident though. I didn't mean it. It just . . . kind of happened.

Was it also an accident that I slipped a copy of Murder at the Pirate Festival into my bag before going to Joanne's book event?

Perhaps not.

Was it also an accident that Joanne spoke about genre and heart and telling the story you've got to tell?

Who can say (maybe Vianne had something to do with it)?

Was it also an accident that I acted like an absolute nervous FOOL when I met Joanne at the book signing afterwards and forget to tell her most of what makes her writing so important to me and that I too am a genre-flouter?

I think you know the answer to that one.

When Abi met Joanne . . .

Regardless, Joanne politely received my nervous ramblings as well as a copy of Murder at the Pirate Festival. I didn't really expect she'd ever have the time or inclination to read it but lo and behold, the next day, my BlueSky feed was emblazoned with THIS...

(Silent scream of joy)

Who knows if Joanne even noticed that this genre-friendly book is also hopelessly heart-led? That somehow, through the pages of the story there are themes that come from such an authentic place, they quietly transcend categorisation? That the novel touches not just the values and visions of eight year-old Abi, but also twelve year-old, seventeen year-old, twenty eight year-old and yeah, ok, perimenopausal Abi too?

I mean, is there any other way to write?

Apparently not for me.

And I'm guessing not for Joanne either.

A friend of mine called Nat (amazing life-coachy type person, check her out), whilst helping me to come down from the dizzy heights of having my book social-media-shared by the legend that is Joanne Harris, wrote this in a WhatsApp message:

"Remember writers are all expressing from the same space of creation. Some have just been noticed and caught up in a broader awareness. Not to take anything away from Joanne, but your craft is as beautiful as hers."

How lush? And how lucky am I that I get to have friends who cheer me from the sidelines despite my genre-flouting?

It makes me proud of my defiant little writer's heart.

And very, VERY grateful for an evening with Joanne Harris.

Right, I'm off to see what chocolate we've got in the fridge and maybe come up with some more anarchic book ideas. Watch this space . . .

Go well,

Abi

xxx

P.S. If you enjoyed this blog post then make sure you sign up to get ALL my bookish news as and when it happens. You'll also bag yourself a FREE copy of Life Is Yours - the first book in the Life Is Yours Trilogy. Sign up here

P.P.S. If you liked what you read and want to help me keep on writing (it's a tough old world out there), then you can support me for just a few pennies over on Kofi. The price of a cuppa makes all the difference - thank you!

#loveblogging #muminthemomentblog #mumblogger #mumbloggersuk #bloggerlife #mumblog #parenting #mindfulparenting #mumlife #mumofboys #positiveparenting #writer #uplifitingfiction #womensfiction #readers #bookishnews #bookstagram #joanneharris #chocolat #vianne #chocolatseries #crediton #folklorelibrary #folklorepodcast #genre #bookgenre