Circumstances have recently demanded that I spend a lot of time around normal people. That is, non-writers. I’d forgotten how often “So, what do you do?” comes up in conversation. Society does tend to label people largely by their vocation. After all, that’s how surnames started: Tom the Baker, Elizabeth the Ta(y)lor, Jim the Butcher. (I can only suppose my ancestors must have been rather merciful.)
Every time I’ve made a transition in my life, there’s always been an awkward adjustment period where I stumble over how to answer the question “What do you do?” I know they mean, “What do you do for a living?” But often that’s the least interesting thing about a person. Think about the accountant who crunches numbers all day, and is the star of his community theater troupe in the evening. The teacher who spends her weekend parasailing. The waiter who is paying the bills with his tips while he works on his Great American Novel. (Here, I could go off on a tangent about multi-dimensional characters, but I’ll just consider that point made, and keep to the subject at hand: me.)
Anyway. I’m not reticent about the fact that I’m a writer (for a living) but I don’t always bring it up, because the next questions is, “What do you write?” meaning “Anything I might have heard of?” If not, there’s always that awkward, apologetic moment while they try to decide if they’re a bad reader or you’re a bad writer. Fortunately, I have an out on that, because unless they’re a young adult or a teen librarian, there’s no reason they should know my books.
So the conversation goes like this:
Them: What do you write?
Me: Supernatural mystery novels for young adults of all ages.
Them: *blank look*
Me: Kind of a cross between Nancy Drew and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Them: *doubtful look*
Me: Fantasy novels for teenagers.
Them, inevitably: Oh! Like Twilight.
Me: *sigh* Yes. Like Twilight. (Hey, I’m not knocking it, but love the books or hate them, YA authors sometimes get weary of all conversational roads leading to Forks, WA.)
Now, I spend 90% of my time around other writers and other book-related people, like book bloggers and librarians. And by “90% of my time” I mean, “on the Internet.”
But as writers and book people, we do the same thing. In any gathering of writers, the opening conversational gambit is always: “What do you write?” At the luncheon tables, in the bar, elevator or bathroom. It’s our writerly blood type. Romantic suspense, hardboiled thrillers, cozy mysteries, space opera… You can write more than one, even in the same book (or three, like my supernatural mysteries for young adults). But one of the markers of an experienced writer (or possibly just experience conference attendee) working at selling her book is the ability to quickly sum up what she writes.
That doesn’t mean your work needs to be pigeonholed, any more than the accountant starring as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof on his weekends. It just means that you need to know the ingredients and be able to articulate them when introducing yourself in a query letter, at a book signing or event, or when your doting grandmother introduces you (to all her doctors and nurses, bless her heart) as “my granddaughter, the author.”
So, can you? It’s more than where your book will go on the shelves. You should be able to put your finger on what you’re trying to accomplish. If it’s a gothic mystery with elements of alien abduction and a twist on the secret baby romance trope, you should know that. Identifying the elements will help you parse out the conventions you need to honor, and the cliches you need to turn on their ears. It will keep you focused on the story you plan to tell (even if you’re not an outliner) and keep you from following the White Rabbit of whimsical ideas that take your novel off course. (If it’s a quest novel, you have to stay on your quest.)
So… what do YOU write?
