Editing Genre Fiction: Why Being a Nerd is the Best Thing You Can Do

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You are an editor. Or, well, at least a writer, if you’re visiting this page. Even if you don’t consider yourself an editor in the professional sense, everyone is made to edit their own work to some extent. Even if you do intend to hire help at some point in the process, there’s always some preliminary work to do, whether it be global or line by painstaking line. We must decide which darlings to kill, so to speak, to make our pieces work.

This process differs slightly when it comes to genre fiction. In case you don’t know, genre fiction is comprised of generally plot-driven work that complies with certain conventions. Popular examples of this are fantasy, romance, science fiction, and horror. Each of these genres has its own list of acceptable tropes that only make sense within the bounds of its own stories. In order to edit genre fiction in a meaningful way, you need to have a working knowledge of these tropes. Sure, you could look up lists and do research in a traditional and academic manner. But I promise you, there’s a much more fun way to go about it…

Dive headfirst into whatever genre you’re editing. You need to nerd out. Consume every book, movie, video game, and TV show in your path. You’re editing a book that takes place during the zombie apocalypse? Read World War Z. Watch 28 Days Later. Play The Last of Us. Watch The Walking Dead. Editing a gothic vampire novel? Read Dracula. Watch Interview with the Vampire. Play Castlevania. You get the gist. Researching tropes won’t tell you how they work in practice. Knowing logically that vampires can’t go out in the sun doesn’t tell you how those restrictions can impact a plot line or intrapersonal conflict. That knowledge can only come from a depth of experience with media in whatever genre you’re focused on.

Writers have heard time and time again: “Reading makes you a better writer.” With a little bit of tweaking, this age-old mantra applies perfectly to my point. Mindfully consuming media will make you a better editor. Knowing how each individual trope and convention works within the whole will make you better equipped to call out when parts of a piece aren’t working. If you’re lucky, you’ll even develop a passion for your genre that’ll inspire you, either to write your own work or to get involved in that genre’s fan base. Regardless, you’ll leave the experience a better editor than when you came in.