Topic: Genre

Hi Sol,
Since you seem to be online, thought I'd throw another one out there. I notice that in the genre list you have "Young Adult" but not "Middle Grade." The two are really rather different genres, and in addition to my own stuff, I've noticed a couple other pieces on the site that are really Middle Grade but under the Young Adult heading. You might even consider "Middle Grade Fantasy," the genre of the likes of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. It's pretty darn popular these days.
Toodles,
Ron

Quote Post 1

2 Reply by j p lundstrom (edited by j p lundstrom 2015-06-03 20:20:22)

Re: Genre

See? Nobody ever answered Ron's question. Things are already lost in the shuffle. This is the problem I had with the forums on the old site. About two months ago I looked for a discussion of genre to answer a question, but it looks like things have reverted to their old form--messy.

Call me obsessive, but when I have a question about a topic, I'd like to find a forum that addresses that topic, rather than having to search forever, then giving up and posting the question as a new topic. Can't we create a section called "GENRE" (and other general topics, for that matter) where related FAQs are posted? It would save time, and keep us from duplicating effort. And don't tell me to post my question in the appropriate group; my question was "what group does this story belong in?" And I had to leave one group and join another in order to ask the question!

There are already two groups for young adult writing--with another one for middle grades, that's getting ridiculous. How can I hope to keep my membership to just ten groups? I like to write a lot of different things. At least, if we had designated forums, it might be easier to find useful information, without having to bother group members.

Quote Post 2

Re: Genre

j p lundstrom wrote:

See? Nobody ever answered Ron's question. Things are already lost in the shuffle. This is the problem I had with the forums on the old site. About two months ago I looked for a discussion of genre to answer a question, but it looks like things have reverted to their old form--messy.

Call me obsessive, but when I have a question about a topic, I'd like to find a forum that addresses that topic, rather than having to search forever, then giving up and posting the question as a new topic. Can't we create a section called "GENRE" (and other general topics, for that matter) where related FAQs are posted? It would save time, and keep us from duplicating effort. And don't tell me to post my question in the appropriate group; my question was "what group does this story belong in?" And I had to leave one group and join another in order to ask the question!

There are already two groups for young adult writing--with another one for middle grades, that's getting ridiculous. How can I keep to membership in just ten groups? I like to write a lot of different things. At least, if we had categories for the forums, it might be easier to find useful information.

How about grouping the groups under one heading? Like "Writng for the youth market" or "Writing for the mystery market" and so on. Then have the groups listed under those headings and you check which ones you want to join. And it might be time to make group membership unlimited.

It might also be helpful if new postings to the group's were visible longer than a few minutes go give members in different time zones a chance to see them and reply.

Just a thought... big_smile

Quote Post 3

Re: Genre

Speaking of genre, how about magical realism...which is not actually either fantasy or sci-fi.
And yes, the argument for more choices in young reader genres is sound, indeed. I have very different expectations if reading young adult versus grade-school targeted material.

Quote Post 4

5 Reply by j p lundstrom (edited by j p lundstrom 2015-06-04 02:53:41)

Re: Genre

That's not the point. We may, indeed, need more categories for our written work.

My contention is that questions go unanswered, and opinions go unheard because the forums are so disorganized we can't find the information we need. As a result, we open new threads, further confusing the issue. Several times I've looked for information I know I read earlier, but failed to find it again. Things will only get more confused as we continue to open new threads.

If I know I can find what I need under PUBLISHING, for example, or CONTESTS, or GENRE, it will help me in my research.  JP

p.s. I find I'm no longer discussing genre, which is the title of this thread, so I should move to another, if I could only find one.

Quote Post 5

Re: Genre

j p lundstrom wrote:

That's not the point. We may, indeed, need more categories for our written work.

My contention is that questions go unanswered, and opinions go unheard because the forums are so disorganized we can't find the information we need. As a result, we open new threads, further confusing the issue. Several times I've looked for information I know I read earlier, but failed to find it again. Things will only get more confused as we continue to open new threads.

If I know I can find what I need under PUBLISHING, for example, or CONTESTS, or GENRE, it will help me in my research.  JP

p.s. I find I'm no longer discussing genre, which is the title of this thread, so I should move to another, if I could only find one.

That's what I was going for JP. big_smile

Quote Post 6

Re: Genre

Thanks, dags--I understood what you meant. Then I realized I had wandered onto another topic--forums--and moved my discussion there. JP

Quote Post 7