1. Writing in Different Genres
Vincent H. O’Neil
www.vincenthoneil.com
Mystery Horror
Science
Fiction

2. Presentation Outline
• Definitions
• Why write in different genres?
• What’s the same?
• What’s different?
• Familiarize yourself with the genre—but not too much
• Examples
This slide presentation is available online at www.slideshare.net

3. Writing is a Personal Thing
• What works for one writer might not work for
another
• This is a highly creative process, so do it your way
• If you want to write in more than one genre, by all
means do it
• If you don’t want to write on more than one
genre, by all means do that

4. What is a Genre?
• A literary genre is a category of literary
composition. Genres may be determined by
technique, tone, content, or even length.
• The distinctions between genres and categories
are flexible and loosely defined, often with
subgroups.
• Many books contain elements from different
genres.

5. Genre Classifications
• Nonfiction. This is Informational text dealing with
an actual, real-life subject. This genre of literature
offers opinions or conjectures on facts and reality.
This includes biographies, history, essays, speech,
and narrative nonfiction.
• The genre of Fiction can be defined as narrative
literary works whose content is produced by the
imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.
In fiction something is feigned, invented, or
imagined; a made-up story.

6. Examples of Nonfiction
• Narrative Nonfiction is information based on fact
that is presented in a format which tells a story.
• Essays are a short literary composition that
reflects the author’s outlook or point.
• A Biography is a written account of another
person’s life.
• An Autobiography gives the history of a person’s
life, written or told by that person.

7. Examples of Fiction
• Fantasy is the forming of mental images with
strange or otherworldly settings or characters;
fiction which invites suspension of reality.
• Humor is fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement
which is meant to entertain. This genre of
literature can actually be seen and contained
within all genres.
• Science Fiction is a story based on impact of
potential science, either actual or imagined.

8. Examples of Fiction
• Short Story is fiction of such briefness that is not
able to support any subplots.
• Historical Fiction is a story with fictional
characters and events in a historical setting.
• Horror is fiction in which events evoke a feeling of
dread in both the characters and the reader.
• Mystery is a genre of fiction that deals with the
solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets.

9. Why write in different genres?
• Because you want to
• Because you enjoy reading different genres
• To build different skills as a storyteller
• Again: If you don’t want to do this, DON’T
This presentation will be focused on fiction

10. What’s the Same?
• You’re not a writer—you’re a storyteller
• No matter what genre you write in, it’s important to
tell a story that holds the reader’s attention
• A compelling story filled with engaging characters that
leaves the reader feeling that the time was well spent
• Make the reader feel he or she is experiencing the
same things as the characters
• When all else fails, tell the story

11. What’s Different?
• The characteristics of different genres will
sometimes suggest elements that the story should
contain
• For example, a mystery usually deals with the
solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets
while science fiction and fantasy often require the
creation of settings, capabilities, or beings that do
not exist
• Some genres elicit a reaction from the reader, as
in stories of horror and suspense

12. Familiarize yourself with the genre
• Read books from that genre
• Take note of elements that seem related to that
genre
• Research the genre
• Get a feel for some of the things that might be
considered “no-no’s”
• Once you’re familiar with the genre, feel free to
break any “rules” you’ve encountered

13. Example: Murder Mysteries
• A mystery usually deals with the solution of a
crime or the unraveling of secrets
• Mysteries come in a LOT of different shapes and
sizes (cozy, noir, hard-boiled, police procedural,
etc.)
• A “Whodunnit” challenges the reader to figure out
what happened / who committed the crime, so:
• Play fair with the reader
• Provide sufficient clues
• Avoid outright “red herrings”
• Introduce the perpetrator before the end of the story

14. Murder in Exile
• Written as an entry to the St. Martin’s Press
“Malice Domestic” writing competition
• The competition specified some loose
guidelines that helped shape the plot:
• Amateur sleuth with no police contacts
• Very little violence
• Re-read Fer De Lance by Rex Stout to get the
tone
• Re-read Thinner by Stephen King because
that main character was an amateur put in
the position of having to conduct his own
investigation

15. Murder in Exile
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Private Investigating
by Steven Kerry Brown
• Requirements for licensing as a PI meant my main
character could not be a PI
• Other jobs / roles in the investigations community
suggested the main character could be a fact-checker
or background-checker
• The investigation suggested first person singular (who
does the main character talk to?)
Frank Cole, a bankrupted software designer, is a
background checker for local insurance outfits and
law offices near the town of Exile, Florida

16. Death Troupe
• Inspired by a skit at a mystery writers’
convention
• Required a lot of research, beginning with the
basics
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Amateur
Theatricals by John Kenrick
• All the way up to the memoirs of major
directors
• Great value in learning how actors develop
characters, how playwrights create plots,
how directors shape story arcs, and how set
and costume designers integrate colors,
lighting, and imagery

17. Death Troupe
• Brainstorming using different kinds of
murder mystery theater
• Techniques of audience involvement,
including an option to choose a character
to be the perpetrator (multiple endings)
• Wanted this to be a book that explores
the creative process
In the snow-covered Adirondack town of
Schuyler Mills, playwright Jack Glynn may
be writing the script for his own murder

18. Example: Sci-Fi and Fantasy
• Science Fiction is a story based on
impact of potential science, either
actual or imagined.
• Fantasy is the forming of mental
images with strange or otherworldly
settings or characters; fiction which
invites suspension of reality.
• Science fiction and Fantasy often
require the creation of settings,
capabilities, or beings that do not
exist

19. Glory Main
• Always wanted to write a military science
fiction story
• Intrigued by the notion of being
marooned with almost nothing—no
water, no food, no weapons
• Drew on personal experience of arduous
walks with little sleep and very little food
in the US Army’s Ranger School
• Re-read Armor by John Steakley for
combat sequences
• Re-read Stephen King’s The Long Walk
for descriptions of forced marches

20. Glory Main
Space Travel: A Writer's Guide to the Science of
Interplanetary and Interstellar Travel by Ben Bova
• Excellent overview of the many considerations when
writing science fiction
• Lots of examples
• Great advice such as making sure what you’re
writing isn’t completely impossible (and even then
it’s all in how you write it)
Four strangers awake to find themselves
marooned on an unidentified planet with no
water, no food, no weapons—and plenty of
enemies

21. Example: Horror and Suspense
• Horror is fiction in which events evoke
a feeling of dread in both the
characters and the reader.
• According to Alfred Hitchcock,
suspense bears no relationship to fear.
Instead, it is the state of waiting for
something to happen. (The Talented
Mr. Ripley)
• In both horror and suspense, the story
is meant to elicit a sensation from the
reader.

22. Interlands
• Stephen King’s The Shining inspired me to write
• Raised in New England, roomed in supposedly
haunted barracks at West Point, and living near
Providence
• Riding the train to Boston, noticed how much
dense, overgrown territory surrounds the tracks
• Re-read Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower to learn
about different settlements that lived and died
near Plymouth in early colonial times
• Re-read The Best of HP Lovecraft for the feel of a
main character who is intellectual and obsessed

23. Interlands
Feeling of dread experienced by the main
character and the reader:
• Dangerous, spooky setting of the woods that
border the train tracks
• Search for a missing stone obelisk once
worshiped by a colonial-era cult that perished
at its feet
• Competition from shady characters
• Main character slowly being confronted by
increasingly less deniable supernatural
phenomena
• Secrets regarding the obelisk and the cult
slowly uncovered through research and
investigation

24. Interlands
New England setting
• Story based in colonial history
• Set in the Fall, approaching Halloween
• Forests changing with the seasons
• Haunted Hayride sequence
• Providence Waterfire sequence
• Providence colleges, libraries, and school of design
Graduate student Angie Morse is searching the
woods around Providence, Rhode Island for a lost
stone obelisk once worshiped by a colonial-era cult
that perished at its feet. Pray she doesn’t find it.

25. For Your Consideration
• Writing in different genres can help you grow as a
storyteller
• Writing in different genres can open up new
audiences to all of your work
• Writing in different genres can be helpful if one of
your genres temporarily loses popularity
www.vincenthoneil.com