Wanda M. Morris: A Good Story Can Be Told in Any Genre

[This article first appeared in the March/April 2023 issue of Writer's Digest.]

I recently did an interview after the publication of my second book, Anywhere You Run. The interviewer was quite nice, and the questions posed were insightful. But just before the end of the discussion, the interviewer made a comment that stopped me in my tracks: “Your writing is so good, you could write literary fiction.” There it was. The phantom monster of my mystery/thriller writing career. The belief that writers of genre novels cannot write what is usually considered serious writing—literary fiction. As if genre fiction is a second-class citizen to literary fiction.

I came to write mysteries and thrillers for two reasons. First, I simply love the genre. I love the idea of figuring out a puzzle along with the protagonist of the story. But I also write mysteries and thrillers because it offers me the chance to explore themes of hope and redemption through the inhumanity of criminal behavior. I enjoy delving into the human psyche and how it motivates people—who otherwise may be kind, decent, and intelligent—to do things that amass pain and trauma on another person. But examining these issues doesn’t mean that writers of such stories cannot tell them with depth and prose that is beautiful and evocative. A good story can be told in any genre, and one is not necessarily superior over the other. Truthfully, I have read some literary fiction that lulled me into a semi-comatose state, and I’ve read some mysteries and crime fiction that elevated my idea of an intellectual narrative.

I once heard a writer say the difference between writing literary and writing in genres is that literary fiction is told in third-person POV. This is an arbitrary distinction that has no real meaning. My first book, All Her Little Secrets, was contemporary in its setting and told in first-person with dual timelines. Anywhere You Run, was historically set, and told in multiple POVs, including one character’s story told in close third-person POV. For me, POV depends on which character can best tell the story, whether that’s a protagonist on the run from a dangerous criminal or one who must fight for a seat at the executive table. Points of view and narrative structure should reflect and enhance the storytelling experience, not determine the validity of the genre.

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I write in what is typically coined the thriller genre. But I love stories that spill across genres as well. A traditional mystery that spills into paranormal or a thriller that spins into a tale of horror. I like to meld and exploit the tropes of different genres into my stories. In All Her Little Secrets, I wrote about the devastating consequences that ensue when a woman discovers her boss dead and refuses to call the authorities in an effort to keep her own secrets hidden. In telling that story, I could not help but spill over into what is typically known as women’s fiction, covering such topics as gender discrimination, reproductive rights, and adultery. In Anywhere You Run, I wrote about two sisters with secrets to hide caught up in a cat-and-mouse chase across the country with a man bearing dark secrets of his own. And that thriller was set in 1964. Again, a blending of two genres—thriller and historical—in one novel. Possibly three, when you consider the issues of women’s rights and “good girl” feminism that are also explored in the book.

When stereotypes are removed, writing across genres offers an additional layer of complexity and richness to a story that is welcomed by readers of both literary and genre fiction.