Genre is the universe your story lives in. Embracing your genre will strengthen your novel by creating boundaries that help you write and edit, sharpen your story from the big story question down to your individual sentences, and guide you to readers who will devour your book and then tell their friends about it.

No matter what genre you are writing, your story is ultimately about the specific struggles of your characters.

Refining your protagonist’s goals and conflicts to reflect both their internal and external struggles will fortify your story—and make your novel stand out among the masses.

Your story might ultimately revolve around your protagonist, but there would be no story without antagonistic forces throwing your protagonist’s life into turmoil.

They say every antagonist is the protagonist of their own story. Deeply understanding their goals, motivations and steps to achieve their plans will uplevel your book from the big plot points down to your on-the-page details.

Whether you are a pantser or a plotter, understanding how your protagonist reacts to the challenges presented to them and how these reactions frame your story will help you develop an unputdownable book.

Breaking story structure into four acts, each bookended by major points in your protagonist’s journey, will clarify and deepen your novel, no matter what genre you are writing.

Scenes are the actual units that make up your story. With a clear grasp of scene structure and the steps needed to ensure your scenes move the story forward, you will master the medium of genre fiction.