In Today’s Journal
* Genre Envy
* The Novel
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Genre Envy
One fact that quickly becomes apparent to those who let go of the myths, take the leap, and begin writing into the dark is that a good story is a good story regardless of genre.
In fact, unless we’re writing in a particular, genre-specific series or saga, we seldom have any clue which genre label to slap on a work until after it’s finished.
Why? Because when we start with a character who has a a problem in a setting, we don’t have a clue where the story’s going or what’s going to happen next, much less whether it’s a romance or a mystery or an action-adventure thriller, etc. And frankly, we don’t care.
You can write in any genre that interests you. Case in point, I currently write in these genres:
- Thriller (Blackwell Ops series and internal sagas)
- Action-Adventure (Nick Spalding series, novellas, and one-off novels)
- Period and Modern Westerns (Wes Crowley saga and other westerns)
- Science Fiction and Science Fantasy (Journey Home saga and other SF novels)
- Mystery, Crime, Pulp Detective and PI (Stern Talbot series and other novels)
- Horror (two novels, one a sequel to the other)
- Magic Realism (one novel and several short stories)
I can write across several genres because again, a good story is a good story, regardless of genre.
I listed my genres above partly to illustrate what’s possible, but also as a way to help unclog my mind as I plan to revamp my own StoneThread Publishing website and then, probably, my online discount store.
Remember what I wrote yesterday about always moving forward?
Between now and the end of 2027, I plan to integrate BookFunnel into my publisher site and make it my online store as well. If I do that, I’ll get rid of the online discount store.
Finally, I also posted this to maybe help those of you who have not yet established a publisher site and/or an online store. Maybe it will keep you from having to redo things someday down the line.
For example, on the publisher site I originally grouped Thriller and Action-Adventure together.
My Blackwell Ops series is primarily action-adventure but they all have the ticking clock of the thriller genre, especially during the assignments detailed in the books.
So I set my action-adventure writings apart on their own page.
I also group Crime and Pulp Detective & PI under the Mystery umbrella, which is valid enough.
That page currently also contains my two Horror novels (the second of which is a next-generation continuation of the first). So I’ll break those two horror novels out of Mystery onto their own page and maybe break out some other stuff.
The period and modern westerns will probably remain where they are, as will the Magic Realism story collections (and one novel).
I’ll probably separate the SFiction & SFantasy into one page for the Journey Home saga and another page for Other SF.
The thing is, most of my novels cross genre definitions and boundaries, so the genres listed above are only the predominant genres for those books. So my revamping efforts will be to regroup them under those predominant genres.
Caveat: In a fairly recent guest post, another writer mentioned keeping her website simple and “not busy.” That’s probably good advice if you can do it.
What matters more to me is ease of navigation for those who are looking for specific things. My websites—all of them—are arranged so the browser/reader can easily find what s/he needs. I keep that in mind when designing a website.
I could easily simplify StoneThread Publishing by only listing menu tabs that read Novels, Books on Writing, Short Stories, and maybe About. But to me, that’s oversimplified, and it causes the reader to have to search harder to find what s/he’s interested in.
In my mind, my “busy” menu enables the reader to browse the menu for genres they’re interested in. Then they can click the genre(s) to find the specific offerings, then the individual book pages, etc.
Of course, as always, you do you.
The Novel
The POV character of the current novel is still giving me fits. He just doesn’t want to share as much of his life as previous POV characters in this series have shared.
So I’ve capitulated. The novel will wrap soon, but on Jack Striker’s terms. It reminds me a little of working with Joe Friday as portrayed by Jack Webb (for those of you who remember): “Just the facts.”
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
5 Things You Need to Include on Your Author Website
The crime of malicious rottenness A bit of fun.
3D Printing, Mixed Reality, and Antimatter Propulsion
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 790
Mentorship Words…………….. 0
Total Nonfiction…………………. 790
Writing of Blackwell Ops 53: Jack Striker | The Next Level
Day 1…… 2035 words. To date………… 2035
Day 2…… 2217 words. To date………… 4252
Day 3…… 3751 words. To date………… 8003
Day 4…… 2218 words. To date………… 10221
Day 5…… 2181 words. To date………… 12402
Day 6…… 1673 words. To date………… 14075
Day 7…… 1972 words. To date………… 16047
Day 8…… 2081 words. To date………… 18128
Day 9…… 2694 words. To date………… 20822
Day 10…. 2712 words. To date………… 23534
Day 11…. 1581 words. To date………… 25115
Day 12…. 1155 words. To date………… 26270
Day 13…. 1951 words. To date………… 28221
Fiction for December……………………… 28221
Fiction for 2025…………………………… 782868
Nonfiction for December.………………… 24420
Nonfiction for 2025………………..……… 289550
2025 consumable words………………… 1064849
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 18
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 36
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 122
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29