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As part of my local writing group, I’m reading different books to be critiqued throughout the year. We’re doing this as an exercise to pick apart successful novels to see how they were put together, and generally look at them from a writer’s perspective. This means looking at them with a more critical eye than just reading them and filling out a review.
The first one up is Safe Harbour by Danielle Steel. It’s in the romance genre, one that I have classically avoided like the plague. Despite that aversion, I read the book and learned a few things along the way.
More generally, I’ve reflected on the fact that I’m glad I read something outside the recommendations I get from algorithms and suggested reading lists. Different genres have different, subtle conventions they can get away with. Writers tend to emphasize different points, and the intended audience definitely affects that. I’ve become more aware of how I can use shorthand in some of my writing because science fiction readers will forgive the lack of an explanation, or horror readers will make some given assumptions ahead of time. It’s like the second one discloses a book’s genre, there’s a list of conventions that goes along with it.
But these conventions aren’t inherently tied to the genre. I liked being surprised at seeing story elements presented in a different fashion, especially since I wasn’t fully expecting to find any. Some of these things I noticed specifically because I don’t normally read romance novels. I found some treasure in a place I never expected it to be buried.
As a result, I do recommend this for anyone looking to sell one’s writing. Different genres teach different styles, as well as the different authors that write them. I’m not going to be so closed to other styles of storytelling from here on out.
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