I had an ‘oops-moment’ the other day when someone emailed me and asked me to explain what a cozy mystery was.
This is what happens when you get so close to your subject that you don’t adequately explain it.
Cozies are subgenres of the mystery genre. Mystery, actually, is a genre with many subgenres. Cozies are basically traditional mysteries featuring an amateur sleuth. The reader receives the same clues as the sleuth and solves the case alongside her. These mysteries are frequently humorous, character-focused, often (not always) set in small-towns, and are part of a series. You’ll never find explicit descriptions of violence, dark themes, or much profanity in a cozy mystery.
When I talk about what I write, I’m always very specific (which is probably why I don’t even think twice when I use the term ‘cozy’ anymore.) The reason is that when I interact with people in the industry, they’ll ask me different questions based on my answer to “What do you write?” If I say I write cozies, another mystery writer might ask what my hook is (I write a Southern culinary mystery series and a Southern quilting mystery series.) If I said I was a police procedural writer, they might ask where I’d found my forensics research. If I said I wrote thrillers, they might ask if I wrote at all from the killer’s POV.
If I say I write mysteries, it just doesn’t explain much about what I’m actually writing. So I’m usually more specific.
Sometimes I get dinged for being specific. I remember a conversation with an aspiring author I had once. He asked what I wrote. “Traditional mysteries,” I answered. “What do you write?”
He gave a bit of a smirk and said, “What I write can’t easily be defined or pigeonholed.”
I just smiled back, but what I was thinking was, “Well, that’s a problem.”
Because agents, editors, publishers—they have only so many hours in their day, like the rest of us. It sure does help to be able to quickly categorize a manuscript.
And, honestly, the more narrowly you’re able to make that categorization, the better. So maybe you haven’t just written a children’s book. Maybe it’s actually YA. Maybe it’s not just YA—it’s dystopian YA. If you can accurately pinpoint what you’re writing, you’ll know where to direct your queries to agents or editors (because they’re usually fairly specific as to genres they’re looking for). And they’ll read your query and know what specific elements they’re looking for when they read your manuscript—because the elements will be fairly common to that genre.
So, taking cozy mysteries as an example. Any agent or editor worth his or her salt is going to know that a cozy mystery is probably going to be around 75,000 words, won’t have much profanity, won’t have explicit descriptions of the dead body, will have an amateur investigating, and will frequently have some sort of a hook—it will be a culinary cozy, or a gardening cozy, or a crafting cozy. These are things they will be looking for as they read.
If an agent, in particular, gets something across her desk that’s not easily defined—well, what’s she going to do with it? How is she going to sell it to an editor—who is looking for something specific to appeal to a particular reader base.
I think, also, that it’s easier to get your foot in the door if you’re writing genre fiction. There are tons of readers out there for any given popular genre—fantasy, SF, romance, mystery. These are dedicated readers who will read each month’s new releases in their favorite genre (my son is one of these. I just print out the new releases in his favorite genre each month and head to the bookstore.) So you’ve already got a reader base. This helps because, above all, you want to sell books to stay on the shelves.
I’m going to add this addendum to the post because I’ve had some questions on the cross-genre phenomenon. To me, it’s a great opportunity to reach different (more) readers. I think that the problem would be, in a query, if a writer said something like: My book will appeal to fantasy, Sci-Fi, romance, and mystery readers. I think I’d pick the two strongest elements of the novel and put those in the query. Or, just focus on one element: My book is a mystery with a strong romantic subplot. A second challenge is shelf placement, once the book is published. I have a friend who has written books that are cross-genre mystery and romance and it seems like every store has her books in a different place. It can be frustrating to readers who are looking for her books. But this is getting to be less of an issue as everything moves online.
What genre (or subgenre) are you writing or reading?
Excellent post, as always! And, how interesting that we both wrote on “genres” today.
Great post, as always. Both of my WIPs are “cross-genres” – one is urban fantasy/thriller and the other is police procedural/paranormal – so you’ve made me really think about the the importance of the genres I’ll categorize them in when I’m ready to query.
You make an exellent point. It is really important to know one’s genre and know where you’re book will sit on the shelves or what link it can be found under.
Interesting post. It must be a challenge for those cross-over genres to find a slot to fit into.
Elizabeth – You’ve outlined absolutely beautifully the important reasons why it’s a good idea to really be able to define the kind of books one writes. Not only does it help in terms of getting publishers, agents and book lovers interested, but also, it helps in writing. If you’re writing a cosy mystery, you’re going to want to focus more on characters than on the crime scene. If you’re writing a thriller, pacing and timing are crucial, so you’ll want to focus on them. I think the best way to describe my series is “detective fiction.”
What a fantastic post. And a great point you make even from the reader’s perspective. In India, we have only one catagory- Mystery, and for some strange reason even Dan Brown’s latest will go there (and into Bestsellers). Naturally, there was a wide variety there, and since I do not like excessive gore and violence, I stopped reading “Mystery” once the Agatha Christies were done.
Now that you have introduced me to cozies, I am addicted to the genre. Anything that is strictly not a cozy I am not even going to pick up, unless it comes recommended by Margot.
Genres and sub-genres help everyone- writer, agent, editor and reader. Though it is tough on the writer who writes between genres.
I write what the industry calls “romantic suspense” but my books are mystery much more than suspense. In fact, according to the definition of suspense, they’re not suspense at all, but I’m stuck with what the romance powers decided to label ALL sub-genres of mystery that are also romances.
So I know exactly what I write, but there’s no label for it.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Debra–Will be checking out your post…thanks!
Belle Wong–I think it gives a tremendous opportunity to pick up BOTH sets of readers in the two genres.
Heather–It’s really tremendously helpful for everyone related to the industry, I think–including the reader.
A Certain Book–I think I’ll amend my post to add a bit on cross-genre. I think it’s actually a great-opportunity to appeal to more readers…but the challenge is shelf placement. Less important these days, though, considering it’s all going online.
Rayna—I’m so glad to hear you’re reading mysteries again! If there’s a gory book, it has to be a very special novel for me to be able to read it (I did read “Dragon Tattoo,” but I skimmed some passages.
I write science fiction – space opera, but with so many reading my first book outside of science fiction, I’m not sure what other genre it crosses over into.
If a writer doesn’t know what they’re writing, how can an agent sell it? If you’re writing with a view of being traditionally published, you’d better be able to identify what genre you’re writing.
I understand what you mean and I still have a problem defining my mystery. My other book ‘True’ is literary fiction but ‘The Rock Walker’. I would call it a straight-up mystery and I would probably put a few comparisons in ‘somewhat in the style of Louise Penney or Martha Grimes where location and characters are important but the main protagonist is a policewoman. A cozy with a police presence and profanity!
Very helpful post! I write Contemporary Women’s Fiction- with today’s time stamp and brimming with character driven angst:)
Very helpful post – for me AND my daughter (who is writing her paper about cosy mysteries this week) :D
I write sweet Regency romances.
Like Jan above, I have trouble categorizing my first murder mystery, which has the elements of a cozy – amateur sleuth, small town, character-focused, first in a series – but has some explicit violence and a police presence. Thanks for this post that is making me think about how to handle this.
Alex–I read a blog post today by someone who writes space operas…very interesting: http://authorculture.blogspot.com/2011/02/exploring-wonder-of-genre-with-randolph.html
Jan –Maybe: “A police procedural in the style of Louise Penny.” Sounds good to me!
Margot–Very good point. Cozies are definitely more character-driven than some other genres, and can be gently paced. Thrillers may be the exact opposite.
Anne–And in just a second, agents and editors will have a very specific vision of what your story is about and who to sell it to.
Toby–Hmm…maybe ‘detective fiction?’ That can work for amateurs, too. If it’s set in a particular community, you can list that as well–academic detective fiction, for example, for books set at universities.
Terry–Sounds like there needs to be a genre label shake-up there!
Elspeth–That’s what I think, too. Otherwise it makes it look as if the writer isn’t exactly sure what they’ve concocted.
Tamika–Perfectly described!
Dorte–Hope your daughter’s paper goes well! And your cozy!
Wow. Great post. I’m working on a cozy series focused on a group of women who get together to scrapbook. So it has a craft element, as well as recipes. When they get together, there’s always food.
Great explanation of the elements of a cozy. I don’t write cozies exactly, but my novels do contain some cozy elements such as amateur sleuth and no explicit violence or sex..
So, is there a resource out there to help narrow down exactly what’s going down on the document? I currently write Sci-fi/Fantasy, but as you well know, that’s another area that can be boiled further down.
Mollie–With crafts and food, how could you go wrong? :)
Nancy–And those elements are definitely selling well these days.
Gary–There’s this agent post: http://literaticat.blogspot.com/2010/10/big-ol-genre-glossary.html and maybe this post, too: https://layinda.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/pigeonholing-your-manuscript-or-helpful-hints-for-genre-id/
Interesting post. I agree that we need to be clear…and yet, even within “the biz” readers and writers don’t always agree on categories. I usually say I’m writing traditional mysteries, Midnight Ink calls them soft-boiled, and lots of reviews, etc. call them cozies. I like your previous post about working on name recognition–that’s easier!
Kathleen–You’re right about that! I’ve always wondered a little about the genre designations over at MI. Yours seem like cozies/traditionals to me. But working on our name–definitely! :)
I like thinking of the spectrum from soft-boiled to hard-boiled as well, but I think you’re right, it IS a problem if you have no idea where your book would most naturally be shelved. I also think you’re right that tossing in more than two genres, a major and minor like a degree, in your pitch makes the work sounds like messy succotash.
This makes a ton of sense! You have to know who you’re writing for because fans of certain genres expect certain things in the books they enjoy. I’m writing an epic fantasy and though I love being creative with it and putting my own spin on things, I don’t want to stray too much from the genre either!
Great thoughts. I had never thought of the importance of genre labels in that way. So, I suppose the manuscript I’m currently working in isn’t just science fiction, but near-future dystopian science fiction. Thanks for the great post!
Clare2e–I like your description of it! Very much like a succotash with too many ingredients!
Dave–And the description you’ve given me has really provided some insight about what you write. Sci-fi, like mystery, covers a ton of ground…better to be specific.
Margaret–You’ve brought up another excellent point–the *readers*. If I suddenly lost my mind and included a really gory death scene in the next book of my cozy series, readers would really let me know how upset they were–because I wouldn’t have followed through on my promise to the genre. (Not that my editor would let me get as far as the shelf with it!)
Excellent way to say it. It’s one of the more difficult challenges to pitch a project. You need to ‘pigeon hole it’ but sound different enough to stand apart from the mountains of submissions.
P.W.–Unique, but not TOO unique! Yes, it’s definitely a challenge. :)
I have always wanted to write and have a good imagination, but didn’t know what to write. I read all genres of books and get lost on what the genres are.
This is a great article on what a cozy mystery is, and that seems to be where a lot of my story ideas are based.
Well, like Jack always tells me…You aren’t dead yet, so you can do it.