Goodreads asked Ross Howell Jr.:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Ross Howell Jr. Looking back, I'm grateful for the instruction I received in the forms of the short story and novel. Usually we were studying literary fiction forms, which makes perfect sense, because that way I was introduced to the great literature of the world. But students who aspire to writing would benefit, I believe, by also studying genre. What is your genre? That's one of the first questions a writer will be asked by an agent, publisher, or bookstore. In my case, it's historical fiction. Are there special demands in writing a thriller? A mystery? Science fiction? Had I been better prepared for organizing, managing, and filtering research, I believe I could have produced my first historical novel much more efficiently. I think we writers resist the idea of learning about genre, because we don't like the idea of being pigeonholed.

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