Genre guides
Genre conventions are reader expectations written down. Knowing them is not the same as obeying them, but breaking one by accident and breaking one on purpose produce very different reviews.
These guides cover what each genre's readers reliably expect, typical lengths and structures, and the consistency problems each genre creates more of.
11 articles
What Published Fiction Does, by Genre
Thousands of published novels measured and cut by genre, length, era and spelling standard, with every sample size printed.
How to Write a Thriller
The reader knowing more than the protagonist is the strongest engine in the genre.
How to Write Historical Fiction
Research widely, deploy narrowly. Nobody thinks about how their own clothes fasten.
How to Write Science Fiction
Given this change, what else would be different? Most flat science fiction never asked.
How to Write a Romance Novel
Readers know how it ends. The tension is entirely about cost.
How to Write a Mystery Novel
On rereading, everything the reader needed has to have been there.
How to Write a Fantasy Novel
Invent freely, and in exchange the invention behaves the same way every time.
How to Write Epic Fantasy
Every problem in the genre is a consequence of its scale.
How to Write Urban Fantasy
Do ordinary people know? That one choice decides your plot logic and your stakes.
The Novel Kit for Fantasy Authors
Learn how fantasy authors can check invented names, magic, factions, place names, glossary entries and continuity
The Novel Kit for Science Fiction Authors
A practical guide to checking invented technology, organisations, planets, model names, terminology and continuity
Genre guides, on your own manuscript.
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