Genre Conventions Quotes

...I've never understood the logic that says a work doesn't need to be judged on the quality of its writing or characters simply because its genre. On the other hand, I've also never understood the logic of excusing a work from the need to tell a story worth telling about people worth knowing simply because the author writes pretty language or has some insights to offer. ~ Glen Hirshberg

There are two ways to write a werewolf novel - you can examine the genre conventions, or you can say, 'What would it be like if I were a werewolf?' ~ Glen Duncan

I had chosen to play the detective - and if there is one thing that unites all the detectives I've ever read about, it's their inherent loneliness. The suspects know each other. They may well be family or friends. But the detective is always the outsider. He asks the necessary questions but he doesn't actually form a relationship with anyone. He doesn't trust them, and they in turn are afraid of him. It's a relationship based entirely on deception and it's one that, ultimately, goes nowhere. Once the killer has been identified, the detective leaves and is never seen again. In fact, everyone is glad to see the back of him. ~ Anthony Horowitz

In a whodunnit, when a detective hears that Sir Somebody Smith has been stabbed thirty-six times on a train or decapitated, they accept it as a quite natural occurrence. They pack their bags and head off to ask questions, collect clues, ultimately to make an arrest. But I wasn't a detective. I was an editor - and, until a week ago, not a single one of my acquaintances had managed to die in an unusual and violent manner. Apart from my own parents and Alan, I hardly knew anyone who had died at all. It's strange when you think about it. There are hundreds and hundreds of murders in books and television. It would be hard for narrative fiction to survive without them. And yet there are almost none in real life, unless you happen to live in the wrong area. Why is it that we have such a need for murder mystery and what is it that attracts us - the crime or the solution? Do we have some primal need of bloodshed because our own lives are so safe, so comfortable? I made a mental note to check out Alan's sales figures in San Pedro Sula in Honduras (the murder capital of the world). It might be that they didn't read him at all. ~ Anthony Horowitz

I've watched every episode of Poirot and Midsomer Murders on TV. I never guess the ending and I can't wait for the moment when the detective gathers all the suspects in the room and, like a magician conjuring silk scarves out of the air, makes the whole thing make sense. ~ Anthony Horowitz

The problem lies not with genre but with formula, which consists of seeing genre conventions as restrictions rather than mere guidelines, ends in themselves rather than possibilities. ~ David Corbett

In general, we store away our experiences and make use of timeworn phrases - nice, ready-made, reassuring stylizations that give us a sense of colloquial normality. But in this way, either knowingly or unknowingly, we reject everything that, to be said fully, would require effort and a torturous search for words. Honest writing forces itself to find words for those parts of our experience that are hidden and silent. On one hand, a good story, or, rather, the kind of story I like best, narrates an experience - for example, friendship - following specific conventions that render it recognizable and riveting; on the other hand, it sporadically reveals the magma running beneath the pillars of convention. The fate of a story that tends toward truth by pushing stylizations to their limit depends on the extent to which the reader really wants to face up to herself. ~ Elena Ferrante

To me, as a musician, there aren't any boundaries genre-wise as far as what can you listen to to inspire you. ~ John Legend

No one stepping for the first time into a room made of books can know instinctively how to behave, what is expected, what is promised, what is allowed. One may be overcome by horror
at the cluster or the vastness, the stillness, the mocking reminder of everything one doesn't know, the surveillance
and some of that overwhelming feeling may cling on, even after the rituals and conventions are learned, the geography mapped, and the natives found friendly. ~ Alberto Manguel

I think the genre of comics sometimes overtakes the medium, and people assume that they are kind of frivolous. If you have a good, strong story teller, they can be as affecting as any character in literature. Period. ~ Chip Kidd

Only idiots or snobs ever really thought less of 'genre books' of course. There are stupid books and there are smart books. There are well-written books and badly written books. There are fun books and boring books. All of these distinctions are vastly more important than the distinction between the literary and the non-literary. ~ Stephen Marche

It is my writing dilemma. The world of spying is my genre. My struggle is to demystify, to de-romanticise the spook world, but at the same time harness it as a good story. ~ John Le Carre

As for me horror is the genre which makes my life more interesting, mysteries my life to be something like a riddle which people go and hard go outside...But the music build my personality! ~ Deyth Banger

I've just always loved really good projects. The things that draw me into a new project have very little to do with genre and have more to do with the characters I'll be playing, the people I'll get to work with and things like that. ~ Jewel Staite

All conventions are very enjoyable. The more variety you do, the better. ~ Jeremy Bulloch

Now chart music is a genre all of its own and it's slipped away from what I understand pop music as. It's pretty difficult to take; it clogs up the airwaves. ~ Johnny Marr

The movement for women's liberation was about an emotional transformation, an explosion, a feeling all over the country that things must be different, and ideas about how they should be. I think fiction can capture that kind of thing better than other genres because in fiction you can explore the feelings of your characters - the before and the after. ~ Alix Kates Shulman

It's really not the genre for me, or the venue, it's the writing. ~ Kathy Najimy

I'm a voracious reader, and I like to explore all sorts of writing without prejudice and without paying any attention to labels, conventions or silly critical fads. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon

When you're talking about Tim Burton, you're talking about a guy that has such a visual sense, an aesthetic, a storytelling style. It's like he's got his own genre. ~ Jackie Earle Haley

I would agree with you that there's 90% imitation and 10% innovation. That's true of any genre. ~ DJ Shadow

Genre-spanning is the effort to make the live show interesting. It's also a great way to challenge yourself as a writer. ~ Jason Mraz

Eventually I would like to touch all the genres. I would like to do some detective stories, and I want to do a Western. I would want to do humorous Westerns. ~ Sergio Aragones

The town formerly known as St. Louis is now 'Defiance.' The scope of the show and game is going to be massive because you have the people who love the genre of gaming who love sci-fi; they're in bed together, normally. ~ Tony Curran

I think it was the sense that Turn is a spy thriller, and that's a genre that really fascinates me, in general. ~ Jamie Bell

'Menace II Society' itself was a groundbreaking film. It's definitely going to go in the vaults of classics in all of cinema. The Hughes Brothers created an incredible project. Just gave the world something a little different than what we had seen in previous films in that same genre. ~ Larenz Tate

I think you need humour and a sense of fun, which is what I try to bring to my books to leaven the danger and action. The ones that really transcend the genre always have a great laugh in them, such as 'Fright Night,' 'Lost Boys,' 'American Werewolf in London' - just to name a few. ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon

Not knowing all of the conventions of beauty, he [Tom Thomson] found it all beautiful. ~ A. Y. Jackson

I didn't really distinguish between genre and not-genre as a kid, until I made the transition to adult fantasy via Terry Brooks. ~ Marie Brennan

My novels are in the literature section as opposed to the romance section of bookstores because they're not romance novels. If I tried to have them published as romances, they'd be rejected. I write dramatic fiction; a further sub-genre would classify them as love stories. ~ Nicholas Sparks

But-! I say! The common conventions of humanity-'
'Are all very well for common people. ~ H.G.Wells

I think that hip-hop has done what it was supposed to have done, which is it defied all the laws of what is statistically a music genre and what statistically is not a music genre. Because it wasn't supposed to be here. ~ Monie Love

We only have one future, and it will be made of our dreams, if we have the courage to challenge convention. ~ Soichiro Honda

Conventions are like coins, an easy way of dealing with the commerce of relations. ~ Freya Stark

While the romance genre has expanded so much over the years, in an odd way it's also narrowed, with too many people trying to stick stories into tight, well-defined marketing niches. It can, admittedly, be a tricky balancing act, but I believe the key is to be able to step back and take a long hard look at what you do well, what makes your work different from other writers, what feels the most natural to you when you're writing. ~ JoAnn Ross

Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger? ~ Elizabeth Bowen

Each genre and part of the Old Testament looks toward Christ and informs us about who he is in some way that the others do not. ~ Timothy Keller

The Muppets have such a great tradition of bringing together all of genres of actors and all ages of actors. ~ Amy Adams

Horror will always be there, it always comes back, it's a familiar genre that some people, not everyone - it's sort of the cinema anchovies. You either like it or you don't. ~ George A. Romero

Because in fantasy perhaps more than in any other genre, the character is rewarded for making the right choices and punished for making the bad.
Ask Boromir. ~ R.A. Salvatore

There is a kind of courtesy in skepticism. It would be an offense against polite conventions to press our doubts too far. ~ George Santayana

I always find myself pulled back into the fantasy genre, and I can't really explain it. ~ Nick Willing

I don't like to put tags on my music. I leave that to others. Seems like some people see me as the founder of "space disco", although that's a bit weird since there were lots of music from the late 70s and early 80s that easily fits into this genre. I can understand why we need genres, but I don't feel comfortable using any on my own music. ~ Hans-Peter Lindstrom

A common sense of humour and a love of music is really important, as I love all types of music. You name me any genre, and I can give you a list of artists I adore. ~ Adam Rodriguez

We now had three girls and one testosterone-pumped guy bird that spent every walking minute doing of of three things: pursuing sex, having sex or crowing boastfully about the sex he had just scored. Jenny observed that roosters are what men would be if left to their own devices, with no social conventions to rein in their baser instincts, and I couldn't disagree. I had to admit, I kind of admired the lucky bastard. ~ John Grogan

I like conventions. I like meeting and greeting. I'm perched on that edge where I'm getting more attention than I quite know what to do with, though. ~ Laurell K. Hamilton

I definitely gravitate towards quality genre projects and genre of any kind whether it's science fiction, horror or really anything. I'm just drawn to quality. I don't think 'Darkness Falls' is horror; there isn't any gore by any stretch of the imagination. ~ Emma Caulfield

It is proclaimed by the great leaders of that party, by its political conventions, by its ministers of the Gospel, and by every other means they have of giving currency and importance to the declaration, that it is its mission to abolish slavery in the Union. ~ John H. Reagan

Whatever your favorite genre is, you can probably trace your love for it back to one single book that really moved you. ~ David Farland

My genre-hopping has caused problems with marketing and sales departments over the years, because they need to know where to position a book with the booksellers. ~ F. Paul Wilson