GENRES have more to do with how your story works
than any other element, any other idea, plot device, character archetype, beat sheet, methodology, or prescribed structure by far. Whether you’re writing for movies, TV, or novels, the game is won or lost in genres.
% of credits each course gets you to diploma
To learn more…
The 1st rule of the entertainment business worldwide for film, television, and novels is that it doesn’t buy movie stars, directors, or writers.
It buys and sells genres.
Genres are different kinds of plot, like Crime, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Detective, and Love.
They are also really good stories, the all-stars of the story world. They are so popular that 99% of all stories produced and published in the world come from about 12 major genres. Clearly, if you want to sell your work, you have to write what the studios and publishing houses want to buy.
The biggest advantage genres give you is that each one is a plot system that has already been worked out, with 10 to 15 unique plot beats that must be in your story. If these plot beats are not present, the story will not sell.
Lesson: getting into the top 1% of writers is all about mastering and then executing your genres in a great story unique to your story brand.
Using the power of the computer, you can hit the genre beats of your genres and twist them better than the top 1% of writers working in your forms. Because that’s your true competition.
The 2nd rule of the entertainment business is that it’s looking for stories that mix 2 to 4 genres, because that gives the story maximum plot density, which is what readers now demand.
Truby’s Genre Classes are designed to give you all the professional techniques and story beats you need to write a successful story in that form.
In these courses, you will learn hundreds of professional techniques that will allow you to compete with the best:
Want to know the best genres
for your story idea?
The trick to winning the genre story game is to choose the right genres for your particular premise. Get it wrong and you have a disaster on your hands with months of hard work wasted.
Get it right and you’re on your way to creating a great story that has the best chance of selling and building your original story brand.
For an in-depth breakdown of what’s in each Genre Class, click on the title of the genre.
