The beginning of every novel is a contract with the reader. It promises to make you feel certain emotions, or to engage your mind with new ideas. It sets up the conflicts that must be resolved for the ending to feel satisfying.
But readers of different genres speak different languages. They will have different expectations for characters, for plot, for the focus of your narrative. How can you write a contract if you don’t know what language you’re speaking?
This seminar will outline the ways in which a writer implicitly promises certain things at the beginning of a book, and how those promises differ depending on the genre you are writing. It will also tell you how to know what genre your story belongs to, and how to deliver a satisfying experience for your genre readers without falling into genre cliches.