By:
Pat Verducci
This
weekend I went to see CRIMSON PEAK. Yes, I love Guillermo del Toro, and yes, I
was looking forward to being scared. The trailer looked amazing and was clearly
selling a genre I love– Gothic Horror. Mia Wasikowska with a long blond flowing
wig, wearing a white nightgown with gossamer sleeves, runs through a house of
hell carrying a candelabra and screaming.
For
me, it doesn’t get much better than that.
Part
of the deliciousness of loving a particular genre is the expectation of seeing
all the elements and conventions that come with this kind of story. With Gothic
Horror, we expect many of the things I just mentioned. A young virgin, coming
to a dark and creepy haunted house. Ghosts. A romance. Dread. In fact, during
the period that gothic books peaked in popularity, they were called “Pleasing
Terrors.” The genre combines the sensations of romantic pleasure with total
abject fear (paging Dr. Freud!)
Whether
you’re writing a novel or screenplay, it’s important to know your genre. Even
if you’re writing a quirky story that defies most conventions, don’t kid
yourself. You’re in the “quirky indie” genre.
Here
are some things to consider as you write your book or movie…
Know
your genre. If
it’s clearly chick lit, or a romantic comedy, or action adventure, great, it’s
clear cut. If it’s harder to pin down, think about it. Does it combine elements
of different genres? If so, which genres does it touch?
Figure
out the conventions of your genre.
. .
.
To
read the rest of the post, click here:
~*~
If
you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they
are again:
- The Eight Sequences - The Script Lab http://ow.ly/VtywN #writetip
- Good Writers, Bad Books: A NaNoWriMo Debrief - Reedsy http://ow.ly/VtWDK
- 6 Tips for Finding a Cover Artist | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/VtWM5
- Struggling to Get Published? You're Not Alone. http://ow.ly/VtWSe
- 4 Painless Steps To Making The Most Of Networking - Writer's Edit http://ow.ly/VtWZP
- The 1st Act: How to Write Beginnings — stop talking — Medium http://ow.ly/VtX7L
- What You Can Learn By Reading 1 Star Reviews of... - The Dancing Writer's Advice http://ow.ly/VtXgk
- 31 Women Writers On The Advice They Would Give Their Younger Selves | Thought Catalog http://ow.ly/VtXqY
- The Ugly Work of Writing | The Art of Stories http://ow.ly/VtXxd
- How to Write 10,000 Words in a Day - InfoBarrel http://ow.ly/VtXDA
- Indie Imprints & self-publishing | Self-Publishing Author Advice from The Alliance of Independent Authors http://ow.ly/VtXL3
- Do You Know Your Genre? | Pat Verducci http://ow.ly/VtXRj
- How Professional Readers Read for Pleasure ‹ Literary Hub http://ow.ly/VtXWU
- Business Musings: Writing to Market | Kristine Kathryn Rusch http://ow.ly/VtY6l
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