Mixing Genres? In-Depth Worldbuilding? How to Manage Reader Expectations–Guest Post by Jami Gold

Squee! So, while I'm traveling from to Colorado today to begin an Immersion Class with Margie Lawson, I am totally excited - once again - for another awesome guest post about world-building! And this one comes to us with some insight into mixing genres and reader expectations! This is something I know everyone can relate to and has possibly struggled with at one point or another in their writing career.

So without further ado, I’d like to introduce our guest blogger today, Jami Gold! Jami is one of the very first bloggers I had the pleasure of meeting when I first ventured into to blogosphere/Twitterverse. There are many, many, many amazing things that I can say about Jami, but I shall limit myself to only this: If you are not following her blog – in which a new post is up every Tuesday and Thursday – you should be. I couldn’t tell you how many story-saving, save-the-character, thought-provoking, inspiring, fun posts I’ve had the pleasure of reading and learning from by this amazing author. Her blog is a must-read in my world (as in I pull up her site at 8am every Tuesday and Thursday morning at work. Religiously. Seriously.)! Jami was also recently given the honor as a Writing Hero by The Bookshelf Muse blog (another must-read blog, by the way), and it was well deserved!

I do hope you enjoy her post as much as I do!

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Mixing Genres? In-Depth Worldbuilding? How to Manage Reader Expectations
 
Thanks for having me here, Melinda! Today I want to talk about worldbuilding, genre, and expectations.
 
When we read a vampire book, we have certain expectations about the rules of the world. At the very least, we expect there'll be blood involved.
 
The same goes with werewolf stories (where we expect shape shifting), dragon stories (where we expect flames), and mermaid stories (where we expect tail fins). We also see this in other genres, such as romantic suspense, where we expect a bad guy to chase the characters, or thrillers, where we expect the good guy to save the world from the bad guy.
 
Some readers have very particular expectations about certain genres or story worlds. If we read a book without the expected elements, we might be disappointed and possibly give the story a bad review.
 
So how do writers balance coming up with unique stories and yet fulfill reader expectations? And how can writers come up with new worlds or mix genres and still give readers the best understanding of what they’ll find in the story so they're not dissatisfied?
 
1: Start with the Right Labels

We can partly head off issues by making sure we’re using the right labels in the description of our story. When we’re dealing with the publishing industry—sending queries to agents or editors—we have to use their labels because they want to know what shelf the story would sit on in a bookstore. These descriptions are very broad: romance, science fiction/fantasy, mystery, fiction, nonfiction.
 
However, when we’re writing a description blurb for our story (whether for the body of our query/pitch, synopsis, or a back-of-the-book description), we can use whatever labels we want. Our goal should be to give readers a sense of the type of story it is—and possibly, what type of story it’s not.
 
We want to attract readers who want to read that kind of story. And the first place we can head off disappointment is before the reader ever opens the book, by using the right labels in the description.

2: Use Worldbuilding to Direct Reader Expectations

The other main technique we can use to manage reader expectations is within the story itself. The details we select for our worldbuilding, the aspects we focus on, the “rules” we explain, all help to lead the reader down a path of understanding our unique story world.
 
Just as Stephenie Meyer convinced her readers that in her world vampires sparkled, we can convince readers that our vampire (werewolf, dragon, mermaid, kidnapper, terrorist, etc.) rules are a bit different from usual as well. The opening line of George Orwell’s 1984 (“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”) told us this world was different from ours. They still had clocks, but they “bonged” thirteen times.
 
Word choice (one of my opening lines includes the words “hornet’s snuggery”), internalization (thoughts reflecting that the point-of-view character is not human), setting details (starship bridge), etc. can all be used to give readers the heads up that the story world is not the same as the world around them. The story world should be hinted at as soon as possible to anchor the reader. If you’ve seen the movie From Dusk Till Dawn, you know how disconcerting it can be to have the normal world yanked out from under us halfway through the movie.
 
By using small building blocks of worldbuilding details, we can gradually build up a strong sense of this world for the reader. And even if our story veers left when the reader expected it to veer right, if the new direction makes sense for what the reader knows of this story world, they’ll be more likely to accept it.
 
A Case Study with a Mixed Genre Story

I’ve been struggling with this issue for my novella. I originally described my story as a dystopian romance with steampunk elements. However, some readers—who love the idea of steampunk—latched onto that aspect and were disappointed by the fact that “steampunk elements” meant the steam engine technology wasn’t the main focus of the story. Also, some readers thought the story premise was too dark for a romance.
 
Er, yeah, the world the heroine lives in is misogynistic to the extreme with sexual slavery and alluded-to rapes, so those readers have a point. But it has a happily ever after ending. Yay! Um, so how do I get that across?
 
I’ll probably mess with the description more in the future, but I’m currently thinking of this story as a post-apocalyptic fairytale. Disney has trained us to think of fairytales as colorful and musical, but the original fairytales were often quite dark. I’ve lost count of how many of the Grimm fairytales end with the main characters eaten alive by a wolf and (if they’re lucky) cut out from their stomach. As for the romance aspect, the storyline is quite Cinderella-ish—without the shoes. *smile*
 
Does that work? I honestly don’t know yet—I didn’t run the idea by anyone before this post. However, I think a description of “post-apocalyptic fairytale” does a better job of capturing the tone of the story. As far as what genre label I’d use in a query, one editor suggested I look at science fiction publishers.
 
Coming up with the right labels and worldbuilding details isn’t an exact science by any means, but being aware of how our choices influence the expectations of readers can help us experiment until we find the right approach.
 
Do you write stories that mix genres? Do you struggle with how to describe your stories? Can you think of worldbuilding details you’ve read that helped immerse you into a story world? What hasn’t worked for you? What do you think of “post-apocalyptic fairytale” for a description? What type of story would you expect from that?
 

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After dancing with the Devil in the pale moonlight—and accidentally tripping him—Jami Gold moved to Arizona and decided to become a writer, where she could put her talent for making up stuff to good use. Fortunately, her muse, an arrogant male who delights in making her sound as insane as possible, rewards her with unique and rich story ideas. Fueled by chocolate, she writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy tales that range from dark to humorous, but one thing remains the same: Normal need not apply. Just ask her family—and zombie cat.
Find Jami at her blog, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and Goodreads.
 

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Melinda here! Similar to last week’s post on worldbuilding by Teresa Frohock, I had one of those moments where it was like, “Hmm…. well no wonder I got those types of comments back!” Similar to Jami, I had one of those moments where I ‘marketed’ my story as a paranormal romance. But come to find out, it’s not that at all. It’s actually an urban fantasy with romantic elements. And that makes a world of difference! Because when I told someone paranormal romance at first, they then wanted to compare my book, and my main character, to the Sookie Stackhouse books, and that’s not at all what my story’s like, nor my main character. So I had to go back and tell them, “Well, it’s more like A Discovery of Witches meets Black Dagger Brotherhood meets 1984…but with a dragon and a few other creatures.” So now I know how I should classify the story for agents and the publishing world, and what I need to do to ensure I’m not misguiding and possibly disappointing my readers. ;)

I really do hope that you take advantage of this opportunity to pick Jami’s brain! She’s such a watering hole of writerly information!

Your Character is Your Story’s World: Characters Build The World–Guest post by Teresa Frohock

I am so very excited to have Teresa Frohock on the blog today! Not only is she an amazing author and incredibly kind person, we have actually met in person…and she lives less than hour away from me. Just to give you a quick breakdown of our meeting, Teresa stopped by my great-grandmother’s wake back in March to support my great aunt (who she worked with in the library of a local community college). My mother actually told Teresa that I was a writer as well, and thus the writerly conversation began! I asked if she was self-pubbed or traditional, and needless to say, my mother gave me a confused look. It got even funnier when I told Teresa that at the time, I was on my eight-or-so round of edits. Teresa gave me one of those understanding nods – which I totally fell in love with her for – while my mother, God love her, gave up and greeted the next person in the receiving line. *giggle*
 
But what Teresa said during our first mini conversation night is what intrigued me. When I asked about her book, she said they were waiting on book #2 due to the religious themes in Miserere: An Autumn Tale. Naturally, I wanted to check that one out. Anything that pushes the boundaries of religion is something I’m totally up for because having an open mind is what it’s all about, right? 
 
AND IT WAS AMAZING. Miserere: An Autumn Tale is dark fantasy at its best! And because of her fearlessness with religion/belief systems AND her incredible Woerld building, I asked her to stop by today and give a quick lesson on both of these topics!
 

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Your Character is Your Story’s World: Characters Build The World

 
I would like to thank Melinda for having me here today. It’s always such fun to find new blogs and meet new people, especially with someone like Melinda.
 
Melinda asked me to talk a little about world building and how to use belief systems in your work. World building should move on two levels: the big picture (the culture itself, the history of that particular society, customs, etc.) and the smaller, more intimate picture of how the characters fit into this giant scheme of reality. Rather than replicate the big picture advice that is already out there, I thought I might discuss the smaller picture of character building within the world, primarily because world building and character building are inexorably intertwined.
 
Your protagonist, for all practical purposes, is your story’s world. Everything revolves around that one individual, and that individual’s actions are usually governed by their environment. When I get ideas for stories, my inspiration begins with a character. Sometimes I have a face and a name, sometimes just a face, but I always begin with the individual, and I construct a character biography.
 
The character biography is really where I begin world building. I consider the type of relationship that my character had with his/her parents. Then I consider whether that type of relationship is normal for the culture. From there I launch into questions about how the specific character fits within this particular world. For example a few such questions would look like this:

• Is the protagonist loved, scorned, witty, dull, royal, or poor? Is there a middle class and if so, how did it come into place? Does this individual accept the circumstances of his/her birth within the society’s constructs?
• What kind of music do people listen to? Does my character like this kind of music?
• Can everyone read? If so, what kind of books does my character enjoy? What types of literature or art is important to this person?
• What was the darkest, most horrible thing that ever happened to that individual and by contrast, what was the most wonderful thing that ever happened?
• What about the character’s moral compass? How do these morals fit in with society as whole?

 
Lucian was immersed in religion as a child, so having faith and discussions of God were as normal to him as breathing. Rachael and Lindsay were from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries respectively. Neither of them lived in a society immersed in religion, so they approach the concept of God from an entirely different angle. How each of them interprets the events on Woerld will be slightly dissimilar given their respective backgrounds.
 
As you can see, by answering some of these questions, you bring the more intimate aspects of your world right to your character’s doorstep. I do this for each of my characters. Once I’ve achieved the foundation, then I start fleshing out the big picture by answering questions about the world and society as a whole.
 
When I constructed Woerld, I relied heavily on the questions posed in Patricia C. Wrede’s excellent series of posts on world building at the SFWA blog (The World; Physical and Historical Features; Magic and Magicians; Peoples and Customs; and Social Organization). The questions in these posts focused me on the big picture that grew from my small foundation. I kept up with everything and maintained a series sheet with dates and character biographies, which of course, leads me back to the characters.
 
Never lose sight of the fact that the story is about a personal journey of some kind. Let your world enhance your characters and their actions, but don’t let your world building overwhelm the story.
 
Then be fearless. I think that is the hardest part. If you decide to use an existing religion, take the time to understand the core concepts of that religion. You can’t possibly comprehend what rules to break until you appreciate why those doctrines exist in the first place. Become familiar not just with rituals, but why those rituals exist, and what they mean to the adherents of a particular faith.
 
And finally, don’t forget to give yourself flexibility too. Stories change, they flow and sometimes take unexpected routes, don’t be afraid to modify details as you go along. Nothing is ever written in stone until you reach these magic words: THE END.
 

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Raised in a small town in North Carolina, Teresa Frohock learned to escape to other worlds through the fiction collection of her local library. Teresa is the author of the dark fantasy, Miserere: An Autumn Tale. She has long been accused of telling stories, which is a southern colloquialism for lying.
 
You can find out how to contact Teresa on her website.

Miserere: An Autumn Tale 

Exiled exorcist Lucian Negru deserted his lover in Hell in exchange for saving his sister Catarina's soul, but Catarina doesn't want salvation. She wants Lucian to help her fulfill her dark covenant with the Fallen Angels by using his power to open the Hell Gates. Catarina intends to lead the Fallen's hordes out of Hell and into the parallel dimension of Woerld, Heaven's frontline of defense between Earth and Hell.

When Lucian refuses to help his sister, she imprisons and cripples him, but Lucian learns that Rachael, the lover he betrayed and abandoned in Hell, is dying from a demonic possession. Determined to rescue Rachael from the demon he unleashed on her soul, Lucian flees his sister, but Catarina's wrath isn't so easy to escape.

In the end, she will force him once more to choose between losing Rachael or opening the Hell Gates so the Fallen's hordes may overrun Earth, their last obstacle before reaching Heaven's Gates.

Miserere: An Autumn Tale is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Indiebound.

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Melinda here!

Okay, so I have to say that when I first read this post, I had one of the biggest ‘A-Ha!’ moments ever! As in, “No wonder that particular character wasn’t working in this story!” I was trying to make this new character – one that popped into my head a few months ago – into this world that I had built up in my head. What I really should’ve done is scrap the world I thought she would’ve lived in and created my world by beginning with the questions Teresa’s listed above. Maybe then I wouldn’t have this knot on my head from pounding it against the wall. ;0)

So how do you approach world building? Do you begin with character or world building? Do you let the world enhance your characters? Does your world building possibly overshadow the characters themselves? Are you flexible? Do you listen to what the story calls for?

Please feel free to ask Teresa any question you’d like! She’ll be available starting on Monday. She’s always uber kind and helpful and more than willing to answer any craft question you throw at her. *smile*