Genre Types

There are various crime fiction types within the genre. It's a wide platform and the best selling genre of the day. Which ones do you like best?

• The police procedure is as realistic to policing as the author can make it, whilst applying poetic licence to suit the plot. Authors writing in this genre will most probably have spent time with the police, will certainly have asked for guidance from the authorities, and the central characters are often in the police force. It's quite complex in places and takes a specialist skill to do it well. The central character will often deal with more than once case at a time - just as the real police have to.
• The medical thriller is a hospital based suspense story, with a crime linked to the characters there.
• The forensic thriller is an ever popular option these days, following pathologists and other medical experts working with victims of unexplained deaths.
• Modern Private Investigators are usually former police men or security experts, and often alone, hired by individuals to find someone, or solve a mystery/crime that the authorities have either forgotten about or can't handle.
• The legal thriller is often a court-based novel, where the action is largely inside the court room, but could possibly incorporate flashbacks to scenes of crime etc. Authors of this type of novel will, hopefully, have studied the legal world carefully.
• Cosy mysteries often have amateur detectives, ordinary people thrown into an extraordinary situation. A good example of this is Agatha Christie's 'Miss Marple'.  The modern day author of these kinds of novels must have a character who is well placed to come across crimes, and will have access to lots of people. Usually they are small towns or villages, where people tend to know each other better than urban dwellers of the city.
• The military thriller is usually based around MI5, Mi6, American CIA or FBI etc. Professional spies and action packed tales. James Bond is the best example of these, or Tom Clancy's 'Jack Ryan'.

If you're starting a career in writing, read widely and decide early on what type of book you want to write. Remember, this could make all the difference when you submit your work to publishers/agents.