If you made it through last week’s Unlicensed-Professional Advice, then you have successfully made it to the section where I will discuss the importance of knowing and selecting a genre for your writing.

The simplest choice, albeit the wrong choice, is not choosing a genre at all. If you start writing without a specific or main idea that encompasses the words you compose, readers of your work will be lost figuring out exactly what they are reading. More to the point, if you do not have a defined genre potential readers will more likely pass over your work because it does not present them with any prior information to what they will be spending their time on.

Defining a genre upon the onset of your work also promotes focus. Focus is paramount to a narrative. If your narrative starts as a romance, veers into sci-fi, then ends up as a western, will a reader comprehend or even remember what he or she read? My answer is, no. But, if you are confident in a story that involves a number of genres, then make it happen; this is Unlicensed-Professional Advice.

The most rewarding aspect of choosing a genre is that you will become better at writing your story. A centralized story helps a writer define the characters within their work better. The characters react far more believable, to the world around them. Conversely, if there isn’t a defined genre, a writer will have characters who seem to have no identity and react oddly because the narrative lacks the preverbal pool of substance.

Simply put, do not confuse your audience, keep your story focused and just choose a genre!