Anyone not pick a genre?

[Marlet]

Seems everyone has a genre (whether or not they are published in any format)...chick lit, fanfic, horror etc. Does anyone NOT pick one? Or even think, "I'm aiming for genre x,y,z but will let it go where ever"?

I know for me I can't do that. I get to hung up on making sure what I'm writing fits. I spend more time searching for qualifications/pre-req.'s for that genre than I do writing. I can't get bogged down with those sorts of details.

I just want to write but it seems you can't. You need to know what slot you fit in (generalized there). Does anyone not pick one in any manner of speaking? Am I asking for trouble there? Seems easier honestly...write, submit, let them pick/guide you to the right genre, publish. Voila!

[Ellen Griswold]

I get what you're saying. Certainly some of my stuff has overlapped several genres. The only problem that I can see is that, to the best of my knowledge (and I am not published so I may be completely wrong), it doesn't really work this way. Both publishers and agents, depending on which you would opt to go for once you have a completed manuscript, really do specialize in certain areas. For instance, you might chose to deal with Company XYZ and they publish across genres, however if you don't specify what type of genre/s it is for, they won't know which individual at their company to forward it to and thus it will get shoved to the side. I almost think of it like sending a completed manuscript to a publisher that still has typos, thinking that it doesn't matter because it will have to be edited anyway. Instead, it sort of sends the message that you were too lazy to fix it.

However, I really do hate the thought of having to write to a certain audience, with certain themes, certain components because what's creative about that?

[allgirls]

I've never even given it a thought

guess I'm a little to Oscar Wilde elite, all that art for the sake of art stuff etc. but I don't think I would enjoy the process as much if I had such limitations on myself at this point.

So I'm writing it...trying not to get bogged down in what the pontential and possibly non-existant publishers might say...not my problem at this point.

My goal is to complete a novel, a beautiful piece of written work. I'll figure the rest out later.

That's not to say I'm not open to some changes(for the better) to fit it into one or the other because I have a feeling it actually does fit into one very easily.

[Aufilia]

I've written things that could cross genres... for example, I have a romantic fantasy short story that has a mystery element to it, so conceivably it could be viewed as romance, fantasy, or possibly even mystery. And I have half a novel in a drawer that could probably go either toward either romantic fantasy or paranormal romance depending on how I structured it... if I ever go back to it.

Otherwise, no, I pretty much aim for writing fantasy or SF. The expectations are different as far as structure, cliches, even how you use POV within different genres, and I think you're probably not doing yourself any favors if you don't pay attention to genre. Maybe it's not necessary to pay much attention in the first draft, but when you're revising and polishing, I think it's best to know how you're going to market a piece when it's done.