What is the Hardest Genre to Write?

[HappyHamburglar101]

People who lack the skill to write a story of a certain genre may have the writing skills of a master when writing another genre. Considering this, what is your weakness and what genre do you excel in?​

 

[DeOwl]

I would say writing a mystery story that is actually mysterious to read in general.

As for the hardest thing to write good, I think that would be action scenes that make sense when reeading and not just make believe

 

[MarekSusicky]

Detective horror.

I just... can't.

 

[ignova]

I think everything is equally hard, because everything is relative, and our standards of what is 'good' are set by everything that came before. We're not being measured againt an objective standard, but against whatever has been previously possible.

So it might seem easy to write a story about a band of misfits coming together to defeat a great evil, but it's actually hard to make it good, because our expectations for that kind of story are now very high.

(Too early in the day for this?)

 

[DireBadger]

Romance.

Not 'bodice ripper' style romance, but 'hallmark movie' romance that can actually last more than a single book.
At least, in my experience.

 

[Xcalibur_Xc]

litrpg. Keeping those endless records of the stats, skills, cooldown, quests, items, inventory, exp, which monster gives how much gold, items or exp and many more. It's nightmare.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

This likely varies from author to author. I have some trouble with straight-up mysteries and standard romance stories, for example, and honestly am not sure whether I handle action well or not, but won a (very minor) award for a horror story once, and a humor piece got at least one class at my college to discuss it for about three times longer than it took me to write due to a philosophical twist to it.
For me, fantasy, especially "high" or "dark" fantasy, is the easiest, followed closely by the conglomeration of everything that is the modern superhero story (equal parts mythology, adventure, fantasy, science fiction, romance, slice of life, and sometimes even horror).
Straight up science fiction may be the toughest for me, as I tend to revert to pulp tropes or pull in fantasy elements whenever I try, though my Western/Sci-fi/Isekai story will at least justify it ... eventually.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

The hardest genre to write is finished novels.

 

[beast_regards]

Successful and well-liked one.

 

[AddieJP3]

For me it's fantasy and mystery. I like to just jump into a story and wing my way through the rest, but with fantasy and mystery, it requires So. Much. Planning. And I don't always have the motivation to think so creatively. It's also time consuming, having to plan out every intricate detail, because the characters' worlds are so much different than mine, and I'm too lazy to craft new customs ?. The book I'm writing currently entails some mystery, so it's going to be a long ride for me.
I prefer writing flat-out fiction, dystopian, and tragedy. ??

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I think it is a toss up between slice-of-life and romance(not raunchy romance, real romance). Romance is difficult because there needs to be a semblance of realism that is very difficult to emulate in fiction without prior experience or knowledge. It I also very difficult to properly introduce interesting plot points that feel natural in a lot of cases. Slice-of-life is difficult because a lot of the times it is too dry of a read that it gets dropped or devolves into something not slice-of-life.

 

[Iri.Mosaic]

Lovecraftian horror, I find. To truly get to that cosmic dread, you need to walk a fine line between abstraction and grounding. You need to be thorough, but without overexplaining. You need to be evocative, but you cannot be too expressive. Can just as easily come across as melodramatic or dull if you overdo, or underdo, anything.

Honorable mention goes to psychological horror, for similar reasons. Don't want to give the reader everything, but you need to give them something!

 

[DireBadger]

litrpg. Keeping those endless records of the stats, skills, cooldown, quests, items, inventory, exp, which monster gives how much gold, items or exp and many more. It's nightmare.

I would sort of like to understand this point of view. I mean, you sort of have to keep track of that sort of thing anyway in action, adventure, or fantasy literature... I actually LIKE litRPG because keeping that information in a ready-to-use form helps prevent some major plot holes, WTF changes, and superman-erasing-memories moments.

Even in my non-litrpg books, I will often keep a character stat sheet just so I remember what my character's abilities and limitations are, even if it never makes it into the book text... it helps keep things organized and consistent.

 

[Deleted member 266]

"Slow burn" novels

 

[Clo]

My strengths: slow-burn, introspective, speculative fiction. Ideally full of gender feels or existential dread and questions about the human condition.

My weakest: non-fiction, action-heavy, or smut.
Non-fiction is difficult to me because I prefer to tell story via parables or metaphors.
Action-heavy is hard because I constantly want to go deeper in the character's head, and middle of battle doesnt let you do thag much.
Smut is hard because I have no experience and I don't relate at all. I can read it, but I would struggle to write about it.

I think I am good at LitRPGs because I am a game designer and I've played games for decades, so I know a lot of systems.

I also find it much easier to tell stories about real things and people through game mechanics. Class changing from Warrior to Paladin is shorthand for character growth, etc.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I am good at SoL and pretty bad at most other things. My biggest strength is delivery.

 

[ElijahRyne]

People who lack the skill to write a story of a certain genre may have the writing skills of a master when writing another genre. Considering this, what is your weakness and what genre do you excel in?​

Horror, Mystery, and Thriller are what I am good at, what I am bad at is practically everything else. Oh I am also bad at consistently writing.

 

[Navillus]

For what I am bad at I'd say Romance and for what I am good at honestly I'm not sure-nya.

 

[Agentt]

Clown core. Whatever story you want to write, it becomes much harder when you choose the setting to be a circus.

 

[StoneInky]

This likely varies from author to author. I have some trouble with straight-up mysteries and standard romance stories, for example, and honestly am not sure whether I handle action well or not, but won a (very minor) award for a horror story once, and a humor piece got at least one class at my college to discuss it for about three times longer than it took me to write due to a philosophical twist to it.
For me, fantasy, especially "high" or "dark" fantasy, is the easiest, followed closely by the conglomeration of everything that is the modern superhero story (equal parts mythology, adventure, fantasy, science fiction, romance, slice of life, and sometimes even horror).
Straight up science fiction may be the toughest for me, as I tend to revert to pulp tropes or pull in fantasy elements whenever I try, though my Western/Sci-fi/Isekai story will at least justify it ... eventually.

Same with me! Fantasy is the easiest, because I can make up whatever the hell I want, as long as it stays interesting. And it's even easier if it has dark or horror elements, since then I don't even have to edit when things get confusing; get a scary enough atmosphere, and the confusion will simply become part of the fear. Same with comedy; you can use it to kinda gloss past some things you don't know how to write, and it also helps readers not take any mistakes too seriously. (Though you do have to take care not to go overboard.)

As for romance, I'm currently writing a romance novel (I regret it), and am going crazy trying to progress the relationship naturally. Personally, it's to the point that I now consider romance to be the most difficult of all genres. Romance is all about pacing. And Pacing. Is. Hard.

I'll like to add that historical is also pretty hard, since there's so much to keep in mind if you want to keep things accurate and descriptive. Sci-fi and standard mystery is like that too, but at least with those genres, you don't risk offending people.