A gentleman in the SMFS group this morning asked how a horror market could be a mystery market which made me think about how all the pigeon-holing of genre has made things more difficult for both writers and readers.
For many mystery/crime writers there are only three markets for their mystery fiction, Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock and Woman's World. These are the top drawer, highest paying, professional markets for short mystery fiction. That is a very narrow view of what mystery fiction can be.
I've been reading some of the old Hitchcock anthologies and they are filled with stories that blur the lines into both horror and sci-fi and they're considered classic mystery stories. So, why the change? Why have we taken a more narrow view of what constitutes mystery fiction?
Stories with serial killers, stalkers, home invasions, and hostage situations can all find homes within the horror venues. Many of the horror markets are begging for this type of story, they're tired of the hacker/slasher stories filled with blood and gore. They want those pulse-pounding stories that mystery/crime writers are so good at crafting.
If you take a look at any genre, from literary to fantasy, you'll usually find a crime of some type at the heart of the story. And it doesn't have to be murder, it can be any incident that changes the life of your character, something that makes them rethink how they're living their lives, changes the way they do things, and even turns them from prey to predator.
So, here's the question for today. Do you think outside the genre box when you're looking for a market for your shorts or do you keep the market search pinpointed strictly to the genre you're writing? And, if you find a market outside of your genre fence, do you consider tweaking your story just enough to make it fit into the new market?
5 comments:
Here's Irony: as a reader, I appreciate stories the blur the lines. Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman's Union is a mystery...but it won SF's Hugo award b/c it is an alternate history...even though the story itself has zero SF trappings. As a writer, I tend to "write to the market" since a straight mystery is more likely to be bought/published by an editor who doesn't know me (yet). But someday, I'll just write whatever the heck I feel like and find the market for it.
"Do you think outside the genre box when you're looking for a market for your shorts or do you keep the market search pinpointed strictly to the genre you're writing?"
This question presumes that we write, then search for a market. For many of the stories I've sold I identified the market before writing or while writing. So the stories were written to fit a particular market's requirements.
At the same time, instead of just looking at a publication's list of what they will accept I also examine their requirements to determine what they do not specifically exclude. In this way I've sold quite a bit of crime fiction to markets that do not self-identify as markets for crime fiction.
The stories I've written without specific markets in mind tend to take longer to sell, and, yes, in these cases I'll submit far and wide, looking inside the box, outside the box, and in the material that makes up the box until I find suitable homes for the stories.
I have to admit I often insert a crime into a story that was more about troubled people as I first wrote it. I just had my husband read one that ended up with an attempt to blackmail the protagonist. My husband's comment was he enjoyed the first part more. The blackmail scheme worked okay but it was marked the end of an exploration of a troubled marriage. I can't write for AHMM and EQMM because their stories are not like this. And I can't write for many of the zines because they don't care much for stories about troubled marriages. So maybe I need to go back to the lit outlets and live in the vacuum of never being read.
I tend to write what I want and then seek out a market, and I always look for the more fringe genre markets because that's where a lot of my stuff fits.
I remember that, Scott! Poe is another writer who is claimed by the mystery community but I consider his stories more horror than mystery.
I sometimes think you're the exception to the rule, Michael, and I really admire that you can pick a market and mold a story from scratch to fit it. I have such a vauge idea when I start writing, that a market is the farthest thing from my mind. I'm usually about half way through before I start to consider where I might send the story when I'm finished. And looking at what they don't exclude is a great idea!
Maybe you should start with the blackmail, Patti, and make that the problem in the marriage, rather than tack it on at the end. Being blackmailed could bring their troubles to a boil.
It's always nice to know where your work fits, Charles. I tend to write all over the place.
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