Genre's and ideas.

Well I may have stretched my description.But my trouble is I have had trouble settling on any idea's for a book.I wanted to write Fantasy but other genres are starting to look interesting such as Mystery and Fiction,can anyone recommend ANYTHING that can help I can't write cause I cant settle on what genre would be better since I found out publishers work in one genre at a time.

There's nothing wrong with having a sub-genre. You can still do fantasy with mystery or whatever else.

You might just want to write your story and determine the genre later, or you can try some writer prompts and build off them.

Thanks but,what do you mean write it then decide the Genre.

Pardon me while I jump in here, considering I know nothing about your novel. But I can see the meaning in the previous user's post and I had encountered a similar problem while writing my own stories. You want to use one dominant line of action but also want this smaller thing. So you just have to write the story with no specific genre in mind. You mix in every element you'd like to and then decide what the dominant genre is. Then you can list it as something like fantastical mystery or whatever phrasing comes to mind.

Reasonable,thanks!

I wanted to write Fantasy but other genres are starting to look interesting such as Mystery and Fiction

If you're writing a make-believe fantasy story, then you're already writing a fiction story. It's not fiction or fantasy; it's fiction and fantasy. Fiction just means a story that isn't true. It's not the same as mystery and fantasy, which are both genres within the category of fiction.

Regarding fantasy and mystery (and all other genres): Don't get caught up in finding the precise, singular label that fits your story. There's no need for that.

Plenty of published novels fall under more than one genre. YA is considered a genre, but lots of books aimed at teens (and thus falling under the YA umbrella) are also mysteries, comedies, horror, dramas, or a combination of several. Not to mention sub-genres and combination genres such as tragicomedy, Gothic romance, horror mysteries, etc. Genres are not usually neat and it's perfectly acceptable for a story to take elements from many. A mystery-fantasy story sounds great, and it's nothing that hasn't been done before.

Write the story you want to write—be it a campy horror story or romantic space opera—and don't worry about this too much. It's really not an issue.

Just putting my two cents in; I say you should just write. Companies will publish your story if it's good and it'll sell. There's no guarantee that you'll get published with your first novel that you submit. If you want to get published, you have to get used to lots and lots of rejection. I wouldn't be too worried about genre, just write a story that people want to read.

Lantz wrote:Well I may have stretched my description.But my trouble is I have had trouble settling on any idea's for a book.I wanted to write Fantasy but other genres are starting to look interesting such as Mystery and Fiction,can anyone recommend ANYTHING that can help I can't write cause I cant settle on what genre would be better since I found out publishers work in one genre at a time.

Others have explained this, but I'm going to elaborate further. Novel is a work of fiction, which means everything in it is not true. It comes from imagination. The setting might be real, the time line might be based on current time line, but the story is not. It is a creation from the mind's.

Opposite of fiction is non-fiction, which comes in the form of articles, reports, interviews, and pieces of that nature. The similarity between all of these type of writings is that they are all true. Articles contain people's opinion, reports is an observation, while interview is, well, interview.

If you are not sure which genre do you want to work with, check your previous writings. Are all your stories fantasy, or are most of them in fantasy? The one you consider your best, is it fantasy or does it belong to another genre? Pick the genre you have been most comfortable with and use it for your novel.

After that, just write. Don't worry if you find errors while you're writing, or if you think you're stepping into another genre. Make finishing the novel as your first goal. In my experience, the hardest part of writing a novel is to finish it.

Once you finish it, you can look back and see which parts do you want to improve and which genre the novel should be. You don't have to pick one genre too; it can be a hybrid of sci-fi and romance or horror and fantasy. Two genres at a time can work; remember that.