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.
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.
Each Blockbuster Genre Add-on connects seamlessly to the main program to give you the many techniques, story beats, and precise maps you need to write a professional story in that unique form, while you’re writing it!
• The 8-15 unique story beats found in your form and how to write them
• Special Maps with professional techniques to help you “break” your particular genre story
• 4 added Story Examples in your form with the answer boxes already filled in
• Truby’s complete 1-day class in your genre, in text form, at the click of a button
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.
Take this quiz to figure out the best genres for your story idea:
Here’s a thumbnail description to help you choose the genres that are best for your story ideas.
For an in-depth breakdown of what’s in each genre add-on, click on the title of the genre.
Action is the epic hero, the one who changes a nation, who saves the day, no matter how strong the enemy. The best Action stories have tricky plots, complex characters and a profound effect on the audience.
Comedy is an extremely popular story form. But one reason Comedy is so difficult is that it has at least 8 different structures, each with different story beats. If you approach Comedy as a professional, and learn the advanced techniques of the genre, you can become one of the few writers to work steadily in this popular form.
The battle against crime is the never-ending war in the modern city. Crime is fast, loud, and hip. The cat-and-mouse struggle between those committing crimes and the cops who fight them will always fascinate the worldwide audience.
Detective is about the unending search for truth, the struggle to claw through the facades, lies, and misdirection of the killer. The best Detective stories not only sequence the clues to the crime, they also set up an elaborate smoke screen to fool the detective and the audience.
Fantasy is one of the most popular genres worldwide, and not just with kids. It’s the form that makes the audience feel terrific, where suddenly everything seems possible. Fantasy allows us to break free not just from physical enslavement or professional drudgery but also from a stiffness of the mind and a death of the spirit.
The Horror story can be very predictable. Monster chases, hero flees. But your job is to get inside the form so you can do something more profound that blows people away. The most popular Horror stories take the audience into the realm of what is truly horrifying in everyday life.
Love is the only genre where you need two equally well-defined main characters. It has a plot where surprise must come out of intimacy. And it has a plot that should naturally take only ten minutes. But you have to fill at least two hours and make the audience not only see the love but feel it, want it, and demand that it happens.
Writing your Memoir is the single best way to find meaning in your life and share it with others. But it is a surprisingly difficult story form to do well. Using my simple but powerful “10-10-10 System,” you will turn your personal experiences into a compelling life story that everyone wants to read.
Myths show us archetypal characters and life changes that transcend cultures. And the Myth form is the basis of more blockbuster films and novels than any other genre by far. The trick is to use one of the 8 new Myth forms that will change popular storytelling for decades to come.
We love Science Fiction because it is so creative, down to the very last detail of the story world. The best Science Fiction shows social and universal evolution on the grandest scale. You are the sorcerer, predicting and imagining the natural and techno forces enslaving our world right now.
Thriller is one of the most popular genres because it combines the criminality and surprise of Detective with the danger and pressure of Horror. A good Thriller puts the hero in trouble early and never lets up. But Thrillers can be tricky because you have to create a lot of plot in a small space with just a few characters.
Television Comedy, once known as Sitcom, is NOT about stringing together a lot of jokes. It’s a comic short story with a unique structure. If you learn how to create the powerful television Comedy story engine, you can succeed in this highly lucrative form.
Year in, year out, the best dramatic writing in the world is found on television. But this medium has hit shows in all the major genres. A successful writer of TV Drama must know all the beats of every sub-genre, as well as how to break stories as only the top 1% of writers in the business can.