I read this the other day on Pandora about Bobby Darin:
“There’s been considerable discussion about whether
Bobby Darin should be classified as a rock & roll singer, a Vegas
hipster cat, an interpreter of popular standards, or even a
folk-rocker. He was all of these and none of these. Throughout his
career he made a point of not becoming committed to any one style at
the exclusion of others; at the height of his nightclub fame he
incorporated a folk set into his act. When it appeared he could have
gone on indefinitely as a sort of junior version of Frank Sinatra, he would periodically record pop/rock and folk-rock singles whose principal appeal lay outside of the adult pop market . . . It may be most accurate to say that Darin was, above all, a singer
who wanted to do a lot of things, rather than make his mark as a
particular stylist. That may have cost him some points as far as making
it to the very top of certain genres, but also makes his work more
versatile than almost any other vocalist of his era.”
Psst–If you find this post interesting and think others might as well, would you mind taking a minute to stumble it? It would mean a lot to me.
I’ve never been a fan of genres. I understand their marketing value, of course. But I’ve always felt that they limit both the writer and the reader. Although the market demands I label my writing as something or other, I don’t really consider myself as writing for any particular genre. I write what comes out of me, and only after it’s finished does it happen to qualify for a genre. Similarly, I don’t read according to genres. I read across all genres, searching not for something that fits a certain template, but something that tells a whopper of a tale and tells it well.
I agree–tell me a good story, unfold the characters and meanings in layers, and I don’t care what genre you use.
I think because of all the emphasis on marketing, we get too caught up in all that. There may be a place for it, but I think we let it dictate our writing rather than letting our writing dictate where on the shelves readers can find our books.