Sub Genres v. Cross Genres

First, a genre is a category of artistic composition. For literature, this tends to be about setting and what the characters are doing.

For example, a Mystery is a setting where someone has done a crime and the characters have to solve it.

A Cross genre is where one takes a genre that exists and is defined by publishers and then crosses it with another genre. For example, Fantasy Mystery would be something such as an elf found a fairy dead, so he has to solve the mystery. Science Fantasy is another cross genre. It's not a sub genre. It's taking Fantasy and Science Fiction and crossing them.

A sub-genre is usually looking specifically at the setting and then defining what the setting is made up of. Setting itself is made up of place, time and theme.

Place can be divided into larger place (Earth, this universe, etc), general place (Country, suburban, Urban) and specific place (Name of the city, town, village, etc).

Time is usually Historical, Modern, Contemporary, Futuristic.

Theme is such things as Dark, Paranormal, Magic Realism, Comic, etc. This is the sensation that people are left with as they are reading the story.

It is true that some sub genres tend to have *some* of the other types of sub genres, however, it does not mean one cannot have Paranormal in the Country (Bram Stoker's Dracula) or Paranormal in the Suburbs (Buffy the vampire Slayer) or Urban in Historical times (Set it in Ancient Rome...) or in a Futuristic place or in an Alternate History. There is nothing mutually exclusive about setting your fantasy in a city and having a different theme and time. There is nothing in the word "Urban" that says you can't make it funny or Dark, or have to be 100% gritty. It's a place. It's not a time period.

I hope that clears things up. One last thing about genres. Genres are used by publishers to market books, so when they classify a book as "Urban" fantasy, they believe the main attraction for that book will be the "Urban" aspect. However, this does not mean it's not also other sub-genres. That's just merely their classification so they can appeal to buyers.

Dialogue

Dialogue is composed of three things to make it good.
1. Reveals something about the character using it.
2. Moves the plot forward.
3. Contains how the character talks and their manerisms (personality).

Writer's Devil's Dictionary

10%- This means .10 times # of pages should not be published in visible public form if one hopes to be paid or "sell out" for a manuscript.

Author- The person who has their name on a published book. Not necessarily who *wrote* the book. In the latter case, often deluded into thinking they wrote the book.

Adjective- Something that adds to the subject.

Advance- the word that's evil for those who like to use the word sell out, but the money that the publisher gives the writer on faith their novel will sell that much.

Adverb- Something that adds to the verb.

Agent-The person who works for you to help you sell your manuscript where they know the market better than you do and take out nasty clauses out of contracts. Then take 15% *after* sales.

Critique- The act of telling someone what you really think of their story in a nice way.

Character- A person that takes action in a story.

Character-driven- The idea that the story comes from the character but really is used by Editors and agents to ask for stronger characters and to confuse newbie and veteran writers everywhere.

Grammar- (Yes -ar) The convention by which a group of power determines the convention of how words should be used and placed.

Manuscript- A selection of paper set to publisher's personal standards with words of a writer's choosing on them set to be published, but is 95% of the time used as an excuse to waste paper pulp. (Percentage may vary with publisher as more prefer to waste electricity and network space.)

Object- The thing being acted on.

Purple Prose- Overwrought prose that brings attention to itself. This often involves misuse of allegories, allusions, personification, imagery and "thesaurus words". This can also include overuse of cliches, adjectives and adverbs. Other indicators are repetition and redundancy. Bad writing can be done without purple prose, but purple prose can help. Common purple prose words: orbs for eyes, azure, cerulean, [gemstone], [wood], [metal], pools (for eyes, likewise, sea and lakes), honey (for saliva), tongue like a snake..., [fancy word]ly.

Plot- the [il]logical order in which characters follow a certain course of action.

Plot-driven- The idea that the story comes from the plot but really is used by Editors and agents to ask for stronger plots and to confuse newbie and veteran writers everywhere.

Podcast- A video or audio file that you view through iTunes or another catcher. Or How iTunes is better than Windows Media Player Reason 1021. There is a community of writers on podcasts and it's considered a new market where one can publish without giving up print rights.

R&R- "I want to be famous." is more well known definition of this.

Read- The interpretation of glyphs with the use of spelling and grammar to interpret meaning.

Review- really means, "I want to be famous" or "praise me" or "please ask me what I want." This is not a critique. See critique.

SASE- Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope. Used to send to editors and agents to receive rejections.

Sell Out- The idea that one is in it for solely the money and not the interest of the reader or art.

Spelling- the predetermined order in which glyphs of the agreed language should come in determined by those in power.

Stet- Keep as is. Not likely to show online, but useful to know.

Story-driven- The idea that the story determines the plot and the characters where the plot and characters work in tandem. Also known as a term that editors and agents will ever adapt.

Subject- The thing that is doing the action.

Verb- The action itself.

WIP- A whip is needed to get this work in progress in shape.

Writer- A person who writes. Also known as the slave or puppet.

Writer's Digest- Makes good kitty litter or even better bird cage lining.

Writer's Market- The best friend of a writer who wants to be published. The enemy of those who like to use the word "Sell out" and "hobby."

No such thing as Character-driven or Plot-driven

There are people who think that there is such a thing as "Character-driven" and "plot-driven". I highly disagree with this view.

I will outline why.

A story is made of

Foundation
remise, plot (character, character development, conflict, events) research/facts, setting/world (place, time, theme), dialogue, narration, Point of View, and that special something called what this story has that makes it different from all other stories.

Mechanical
foreshadowing, themes, author experience, culture

Cosmetic
grammar, spelling, voice, style, word choice, pacing, tone

If the plot is made up of character, and the character drives forward the conflict, which causes character development in a given setting which makes events, then how can it be plot driven or character driven?

Likewise, I've seen brilliant plots shrouded in crappy theming, dialogue, narration, bad point of view, inexperienced authors, bad understanding of culture, and lacking that special kick of something. That is not a good story!

A good story sacrifices plot and characters for the god called story! And forget it if you can't even get the cosmetic things. It makes it painful to read.

Nope, a story should be all that and a bag of chips!

Character-driven is called a character sketch.

So-called Plot-driven is called a list of conflicts, which is also known as a premise.

Character development is made up of:
1. Character discovery (the history of the character previously unknown. Like the biker used to collect Barbie dolls)
2. Character change (temporary changes in the character. For example an angelic character going on a rampage because they feel lost. Out of character things that fit the situation.)
3. Character evolution (permanent changes in the character).

To get the basics of a character one needs their basic known history, their basic personality (positive and negative) and physical traits (also basic.) I'm not the type that likes long questions. I'll pick a basic history trait, one virtue, one flaw, one noticeable physical trait and run with it. This allows the character to grow and surprise me.

What distinguishes characters from each other are their flaws and their choices. This can be best be demonstrated through dialogue and their personal word choice.

To make a story tick though, one needs conflict and not just any conflict, but one that the characters care about and are invested in.

Conflict can either be internal, external or both. The conflict can be part of the main plot or a side plot. The best conflicts overlap each other or are at least foreshadowed.

A story starts at the point in change for the character, or one conflict before it. Any more than that it doesn't work. Layer in your conflict if you choose to start one before this point and have it relate to the main plot in some way, even if it's not apparent in the beginning.

A character, therefore needs an arc of evolution. How are they going to change or resist change?

Cover Art

This is for those of you who want to have fun, but aren't expecting it to go to market.

Here are some basic tips:

1. You can't draw worth a damn? http://www.sxc.hu has some really good stock images. Use stock images, not google because you can get in serious trouble for stealing people's photograph, even if it's just for Nano. Photography is *not* easy. It takes knowledge. They *are* subject to copyright law and having 5,000 dollars sued out of you for what could have cost you nothing or max 1,000 dollars is unpleasant. I wouldn't recommend it. Ignore people who say they won't find out. There is no way to give credit to them on Nanowrimo. If you fall in love with it, then ask permission bracing for a rejection.
2. There are free fonts everywhere! The best fonts are the ones that are LEGIBLE and NON-Cliche. A horror title that's dripping is boring *yawn* Just like you wouldn't write a Mary Sue and marry her to a Gary Stu.

Free programs are GIMP (works on Mac) and PAINT.NET You can get pretty far with both without shelling out for Photoshop. Google should have them. Someone probably will link them for you in post.

Here are some basic rules:
1. Have a dominant subordinate relationship in your art (something is bigger or smaller to something else or a color stands out over another color.)
2. Use basic color schemes. Complimentary, analogous, split complimentary. monochromatic. You can find these on the internet in a snap and select your color scheming that way. You don't have to strictly follow the color scheme, but the *dominant* colors are best chosen this way and will be most pleasing. If you make one color stronger than the rest and then lessen the saturation on the other colors, the more saturated color will stand out. Keep this in mind too. (It's true of lots of saturation and less saturation for one point, but that's harder to pull off well and means you have to *really* know your negative space).
3. DO NOT split your composition in half. I've had this one drilled into my head a few thousand times already. It means you are putting equal importance on everything. You can place things in the center, but don't put it side by side or top and bottom without making one bigger than the other. (See the basics of rule 1). This also goes for splitting things into even thirds. If you're still confused. Just cheat and use the golden mean to place your elements on the cover (That's also wikipedia).
4. Watch spacing between objects. Sometimes the space between elements *including* the edge of the paper can draw attention to themselves.
5. Skip borders unless you know how to use them.

Here are common Type problems people forget and don't follow thinking it doesn't matter.
1. The space between letters should be the *smallest* space on the page. Many people are tempted to put the author name and title as close to the edge as humanly possible. This is bad. BBBBAAADDD. Don't do it. It won't happen in real life because your name could get cut off at the printers and the other reason is because that space destroys the readability of the characters.
2. The space between words should be the next biggest space.
3. The space between lines should be the next biggest space.
4. The space around the paragraphs (as a group) should be the next biggest.
5. There is a trend to write like l i s a t r a c k i n g on Author names... Don't do that... if you must do it like this: l i s a  t r a c k i n g (Two spaces between the given and surname)
You now are sure what her name is.

Depending on how serious you are about it, you can also have someone else look at your cover and assess it for you.

In the end, whatever you design, the publisher won't buy it. So I'd suggest to have fun with it! The most memorable cover I've seen thus far was stick figures with a title written at the top. Still umm.. sticks to me in all of this time 'cause it was so funny and caught my attention. That was over two years ago! I wonder if he ever wrote that book...

Unless you go POD, but then a professional graphic artist should do it. It will cost 1,000 dollars most likely. If you are lucky, 500 dollars only.

This is only a crash course you can stick a large disclaimer here about being an expert, etc. And this is only beginner. I in no way say that these rules *can't* be broken, but you need to know more to be able to do that, just like in writing.