This is K. M. Wyland and you are listening to the six hundred, 14th episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast.

I hope you enjoy this week's episode, Genre Tips Part 1, How to write fantasy.

Genre is an important consideration for any writer. Not only can identifying your story's genre and perhaps sub-genre help you create cohesion and resonance

amongst your plot, character, arcs, and theme, it will also be a crucial piece of

information when it comes time to market your story to readers. Today I'm opening a five-part

series examining major fiction genres beginning with how to write fantasy.

Last fall I asked readers on the website to tell me what topics you'd most like to see featured

on the site and here on the podcast.

One that was repeatedly mentioned was that of genre tips.

Now I haven't written much about genre before,

in part because most of the tips and techniques I teach

are not genre specific and can be directly applied or modified to

fit any type of story. Also I do not consider myself a genre expert. There are some

genres I read hardly at all such as horror that I can't comment on.

There are other genres, such as romance, that are so specialized that their guidelines are often much more specific than for other genres.

And there are simply many genres such as mystery that although I may read or watch them,

I do not personally write them and therefore don't have a great depth of experience or knowledge about their inner workings.

That said, because genre is an inevitably important topic for writers to consider.

And because so many of you asked for my take,

I thought it would be fun to go on a whirlwind tour

of five major genres, fantasy, romance, historical, mystery, and literary. In each installment, I will be looking

at unique considerations for the Big Three, plot, character, and theme, as well as any particular pitfalls or pointers

...