Chapter Three covers your target demographic, or the people you wish to connect with through your writing. Your intended audience will affect everything you do in your story. Here, we will go over age groups, gender and sexuality, culture, and ethnicity. Note that historical settings don’t really fit in with a target demographic, but I will list that category here because the same need for research applies.
3a: Age Groups:
The age group you’re writing for will directly affect your vocabulary, sentence structure, subject matter, and writing style. Will you be writing children’s fiction, preteen fiction, young-adult fiction, or adult fiction? We’ll cover the basics of those here.
3a1: Children’s Fiction:
Children’s fiction is a catchall term that can also include preteen fiction, but for the purposes of this book, I’m talking about young children who may or may not know how to read simple words. Books for very young children are generally picture books without chapters.
Your style, dialogue, and vocabulary must be clear and simple when writing children’s fiction. Children of this age are still developing their language skills, so don’t use big words they can’t understand unless the meaning of those words is made clear. A page may have only a few words plus artwork, although some books may have an entire short paragraph on a page along with a picture. Some picture books may even use sophisticated vocabulary because they are meant to be read aloud by adults.
Note that children’s fiction isn’t limited to books for very young children who can’t yet read. This category also includes early readers, which are written for children who are beginning to read independently.
3a2: Preteen Fiction:
Preteen fiction, as mentioned above, is mainly for children ranging in age from eight to twelve. This category can include chapter books and middle-grade fiction. Chapter books are usually shorter and simpler, while middle-grade fiction can have longer chapters, more developed and complex characters, and more complicated plots.
Your style, dialogue, and vocabulary should still be fairly simple, but you can use more complex language than you would use in children’s fiction. Readers in this age range can usually handle chapters, developing subplots, and characters with more depth, but you still shouldn’t make the story so complicated that the reader gets lost. Trust me, there are plenty of adults who get lost in complicated stories, so understand who your audience is when it comes to preteen fiction.
Still, you shouldn’t overlook preteen fiction as an author. Writing for this age range can help you round out your skills, and you may come to enjoy writing for the youngsters. Some illustrations here and there won’t hurt, either, especially in shorter chapter books.
3a3: Young-Adult Fiction:
The age range for young-adult fiction can vary depending on who is defining it, but for the purposes of this book, young-adult fiction is generally written for readers ages thirteen to nineteen. A large number of popular book series are young adult, and many adults still like to read young-adult books, so this is definitely a popular category to work with.
Your style, dialogue, and vocabulary will be more complex than in preteen fiction, but don’t make it so complex that your readers have no idea what you’re talking about. Avoid using technical terms unless you explain them first, and use them sparingly if you can help it.
Plots in young-adult fiction can be complicated, though you should probably spread really complicated plots over a series of books rather than cramming them into one single book. There’s nothing like breathing room.
Expletives (cuss words), mature themes, romance, violence, and sexual subject matter may appear in young-adult fiction, but you need to know the age range you are actually writing for. A story aimed at thirteen-year-olds is not the same as a story aimed at eighteen-year-olds. If you include mature content, make sure it belongs in the story, fits the intended audience, and does not exist merely to shock the reader. Romance is common in young-adult fiction, but outright explicit sex scenes are a big-time no if you are writing for the younger end of the category.
3a4: Adult Fiction:
Adult fiction is typically reserved for ages eighteen and up. Adult fiction can include almost anything in the plot and dialogue, though that does not mean you should write anything and everything just because you can. Disturbing subject matter should be handled carefully, especially when dealing with abuse, exploitation, or sexual violence. I shouldn’t have to say this, because it should be common sense, but I have to say it anyway: don’t use adult fiction as an excuse to be a monster.
If you’re using technical terms, your demographic will be limited, but odds are, you’ll still have a demographic, because there are adults out there who’ll know what you’re talking about, even if most people don’t. Still, when it comes to technical terms, you may have to explain the terms first, though you shouldn’t explain them in a way that feels dumbed down. Adult readers do not like being made to feel stupid.
Expletives and sex scenes are often portrayed in adult books, but you don’t have to follow that example. However, unless expletives and sex scenes serve the story, they can become a gimmick and nothing more. You can have any genre with any subject, though the best fiction doesn’t need to rely on a gimmick to be popular. Nevertheless, you are the writer, so remember your demographic. You can needlessly offend people and then lose readers because of it.
Oftentimes in adult fiction, extreme violence and gore are portrayed in detail. This is fine as long as it serves the story and as long as your readers know what they’re getting into beforehand. Considering that I write a lot of horror, I know quite well how this works.
3b: Gender and Sexuality:
Gender and sexual orientation can affect the kinds of characters, relationships, situations, and themes that appeal to particular readers. For the purposes of this guide, we will discuss fiction aimed primarily at men, fiction aimed primarily at women, gay fiction, and lesbian fiction.
These categories can and will overlap. Gay men are still men, lesbians are still women, and plenty of readers enjoy stories outside their own demographic. You can also write fiction that targets everyone. You can be universally inclusive if you wish.
3b1: Men’s Fiction:
Men’s fiction often involves action, intrigue, adventure, war, and general men’s themes, such as living a hard or rugged life. Fiction marketed toward men often emphasizes action, conflict, danger, competition, survival, and the struggle to overcome difficult odds. Typically, male readers may identify with the struggles of other men, and they may idolize the main characters in the books they read.
These are stereotypes, of course, so feel free to branch out when writing men’s fiction. The default rule is to go for it, so if you feel you can reach male readers with something that isn’t typical of men’s fiction, then do it.
Popular men’s genres include: mystery, thriller, crime, classics, military, western, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comedy.
3b2: Women’s Fiction:
In general, women read more fiction than men, so female readers are an important audience to understand. Fiction marketed toward women often emphasizes relationships, emotional stakes, personal growth, family, romance, community, identity, and complicated social situations. This does not mean women dislike action, danger, mystery, crime, horror, fantasy, or adventure. It simply means that women’s fiction often places more weight on character relationships and emotional consequences.
These are stereotypes, of course, so feel free to branch out when reaching female readers. Women may identify with or place themselves in the position of the women in the stories they read, but this is also a general tendency rather than a law. You will have to experiment when writing for either gender.
Popular women’s genres include: mystery, thriller, crime, romance, horror, fantasy, religious, and general fiction. Sometimes, women will prefer a subgenre rather than the genre as a whole, such as steampunk within science fiction or romantasy, which blends romance and fantasy.
Note that men may be less likely to read books marketed as women’s fiction, while women often read books marketed toward both men and women. However, these are market tendencies, not commandments carved in stone. The default rule still applies: understand your audience, but don’t be afraid to branch out. You’re not Moses.
3b3: Gay Fiction:
Gay fiction concentrates on gay themes, situations, relationships, identity, and experience. Sometimes a book may be placed in the “Gay” category simply because the main character is gay, but the core of gay fiction revolves around gay themes. If your main character is gay, but your book is an action story with little focus on gay identity, relationships, or experience, then it may not actually be gay fiction in the thematic sense, though it may still be labeled that way. The same goes for any genre with a gay main character.
3b4: Lesbian Fiction:
As with gay fiction, lesbian fiction concentrates on lesbian themes, situations, relationships, identity, and experience. Just because your main character is a lesbian does not automatically make your book lesbian fiction in the thematic sense. Your book must revolve around lesbian themes for that label to truly fit, but if you do have a lesbian main character, your book will probably be listed in an LGBTQ+ category anyway.
Remember, a character’s sexuality may be part of who that character is, but if it does not affect the plot, themes, relationships, or intended audience of the story, then it is mostly a character identifier rather than the central focus of the fiction.
3c: Culture:
A cultural work is a story that centers on a particular culture, society, way of life, or set of customs. This may involve a culture outside of your own, but it can also involve a culture within your own country. For example, if you live in the United States, a book set in India where the characters engage in Indian culture would fall into this category. If you live in Japan, a book set in the United States where the characters engage in American culture would also fall into this category. However, culture does not always mean foreign culture. Regional cultures, religious cultures, professional cultures, and subcultures can also matter in fiction.
We’ll include period pieces here as well, even though they are really more about historical setting than target demographics. If you’re writing a book set in ancient Rome, a western set in the 1800s, one set in revolutionary-period France, or one taking place in Peru during the time of the ancient Incas, it’s a period piece. A period piece is a story taking place outside of our own time, within a real historical period. This is also known as historical fiction.
3c1: Cultural Works:
If you are writing about a culture you don’t belong to or don’t understand well, proceed with caution. That doesn’t mean you’re forbidden from writing about it, but it does mean you need to follow the number one rule, and the number one rule is: make sure you do it right! Don’t look like an idiot by doing a cultural piece on a culture you did not thoroughly research. Research, research, research! Whatever you do, don’t make assumptions or write based on stereotypes. This is a seriously bad idea, and you’ll offend an untold number of people if you do this.
Aside from that warning, when a cultural piece is done right, you may reach readers outside of the culture in question, simply because the culture may be fascinating to those outside of it. You may also reach readers inside that culture, especially if they feel the work treats them with respect and accuracy. Cultural works can easily fall into a genre of their own, but we’ll get to genres soon enough.
3c2: Period Pieces:
If you’re writing historical fiction, the number one rule is the same as writing a cultural piece: make sure you do it right. You don’t have to be a historian to write historical fiction, but you do need to thoroughly research the period before you write anything. Don’t look like a fool by writing something that contradicts known historical reality, unless you’re writing alternate history, but we’ll get into that later when we talk about genre.
Aside from that warning, period pieces can do very well and often fall within recognizable genres, such as westerns or war novels. If you want to write these, then use the default rule: Go for it! However, just do the research first. That’s all I’m asking.
3d: Ethnicity:
I won’t go into too much detail about ethnic works. An ethnic work concentrates on a particular ethnicity, ethnic community, or ethnic experience. For example, in the United States, fiction centered on African American characters, communities, or experiences may fall into this category. In Japan, fiction centered on Korean Japanese characters, communities, or experiences may fall into this category. In Greece, fiction centered on Armenian Greek characters, communities, or experiences may fall into this category.
An ethnic work is centered around or steeped in the ethnicity in question. If you are writing about an ethnicity you do not belong to or do not understand well, yet again proceed with caution. Without knowing the people, history, culture, struggles, and experiences involved, you can easily offend people and lose readers. If you are going to write an ethnic work, then remember to do thorough research on the subject matter before you write a single word.
With that warning in mind, ethnic works may be specifically targeted toward the ethnicity in question, but they can also reach readers outside that ethnicity. As with cultural works, the important thing is to treat the subject with respect, accuracy, and understanding.
The Quick and Easy Guide to Writing Genre Fiction Copyright 1st ed. © 2022 Matthew L. Marlott
TQ&EGtWGF: Chapter 3…Your Target Demographic Copyright © 2026 bloodytwine.com Matthew L. Marlott
The image for Chapter 3 of TQ&EGtWGF was generated by artificial intelligence courtesy of OpenAI.