--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Writing a novel that crosses genres is a…" description: "\"Writing a novel that crosses genres is a risk, but one well worth taking.\" — Chet Williamson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41a/chet-williamson-48908_books_writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a_2706107.png" --- # Writing a novel that crosses genres is a risk, but one… ![“Writing a novel that crosses genres is a risk, but one well worth taking.” quote by Chet Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41a/chet-williamson-48908_books_writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a_2706107.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41a/chet-williamson-48908_books_writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a_2706107.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41a/chet-williamson-48908_books_writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a_2706107.png) > “Writing a novel that crosses genres is a risk, but one well worth taking.” [Chet Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Cross‑genre novels are risky but can yield rewarding creativity. **In simple terms:** Cross‑genre writing is risky yet rewarding. Key Takeaway Embrace genre blending creatively. Themes creativity risk innovation Mood excited inspired Type advice creative When to use this quote - publishing strategy - author branding - reader expectations - creative workshops Key Concepts genre theory literary experimentation market reception Questions to Reflect On - What genres complement each other? - How to market a hybrid novel? A Different Perspective Market may resist unfamiliar blends. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Genres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genres/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Risk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/risk/) [Worth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worth/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [If I had stayed purely a horror writer or thriller writer, I might have more of a presence in those particular genres, and I'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/if-i-had-stayed-purely-a-horror-writer-or-thriller-writer-i-might/) [Chet Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/) > [Don't start writing your novel until you know your characters very, very well. What they'd do if they saw somebody shoplifting. What they were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-moggach/don-t-start-writing-your-novel-until-you-know-your-characters-very/) [Deborah Moggach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-moggach/) > [Seven years into writing a novel, I started to lose my mind. My thirty-seventh birthday had just come and gone, the end of 2008…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/akhil-sharma/seven-years-into-writing-a-novel-i-started-to-lose-my-mind-my-thirty/) [Akhil Sharma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/akhil-sharma/) > [To make it interesting and worth doing, writing a novel has to be a leap into the unknown. I have to be unsure if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-palliser/to-make-it-interesting-and-worth-doing-writing-a-novel-has-to-be-a/) [Charles Palliser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-palliser/) > [Writing one's first novel, getting it sold, and shepherding it through the labyrinths of editing, production, marketing, journalism, and social media is an arduous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-di-filippo/writing-one-s-first-novel-getting-it-sold-and-shepherding-it-through/) [Paul Di Filippo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-di-filippo/) > [The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/the-hard-part-about-writing-a-novel-is-finishing-it/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Then I decided I would spend the summer writing a novel. That would fix a lot of people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-plath/then-i-decided-i-would-spend-the-summer-writing-a-novel-that-would/) [Sylvia Plath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-plath/) > [“I'm going to write a novel and get it published. 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Writing a novel for the first time,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-harkness/after-20-years-of-writing-academic-prose-and-lectures-it-seems-very/) [Deborah Harkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-harkness/) > [If you're writing a novel, you're in a room for three or four years. There's not much coming in from the outside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mordecai-richler/if-you-re-writing-a-novel-you-re-in-a-room-for-three-or-four-years/) [Mordecai Richler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mordecai-richler/) > [When you're writing a novel, you spend four years sitting in your basement and a year waiting for the book to come out and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/when-you-re-writing-a-novel-you-spend-four-years-sitting-in-your/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. —W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-wax/there-are-three-rules-for-writing-a-novel-unfortunately-no-one-knows/) [Wendy Wax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-wax/) ## More by Chet Williamson > [“Hope springs eternal in the town of dreams...and so does despair and humiliation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/hope-springs-eternal-in-the-town-of-dreams-and-so-does-despair-and/) [Chet Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/) > [If I had stayed purely a horror writer or thriller writer, I might have more of a presence in those particular genres, and I'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/if-i-had-stayed-purely-a-horror-writer-or-thriller-writer-i-might/) [Chet Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/) > [There's nothing like a headless corpse to bring a touch of excitement into one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/there-s-nothing-like-a-headless-corpse-to-bring-a-touch-of-excitement/) [Chet Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/) > [“Now, Jasper, as a great man once said, 'A brave and steadfast heart can overcome any fear.' So don't worry. I'll be back with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/now-jasper-as-a-great-man-once-said-a-brave-and-steadfast-heart-can/) [Chet Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/) > [Publishers love to compartmentalize, and 'Second Chance' was not an easy novel to define.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/publishers-love-to-compartmentalize-and-second-chance-was-not-an-easy/) [Chet Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/) > [When I read a book, I like to be surprised. I don't want to read the same genre formula that I've read a hundred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/when-i-read-a-book-i-like-to-be-surprised-i-don-t-want-to-read-the/) [Chet Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/) > [“Dark is dark in the darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/dark-is-dark-in-the-darkness/) [Chet Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/) [Explore all 8 Chet Williamson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. 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Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Writing a novel that crosses genres is a risk, but one well worth taking.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Chet Williamson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a-risk-but-one-well-worth/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a-risk-but-one-well-worth/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41a/chet-williamson-48908_books_writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a_2706107.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41a/chet-williamson-48908_books_writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a_2706107.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41a/chet-williamson-48908_books_writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a_2706107.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Writing a novel that crosses genres is a risk, but one well worth taking.” — Chet Williamson", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Chet Williamson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chet-williamson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Writing a novel that crosses genres...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a-risk-but-one-well-worth/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chet-williamson/writing-a-novel-that-crosses-genres-is-a-risk-but-one-well-worth/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```