In this episode of Unpublished, Angela and Daniel dig into one of the biggest questions facing any writer trying to publish a novel: where does your story actually fit? As Angela continues drafting Eros et Flamingo, she talks through moving from outlining and planning into the messy, surprising, emotionally intense process of writing the first chapters.

This episode explores genre from both the reader side and the publishing side, including the difference between commercial fiction, romance, upmarket fiction, book club fiction, women’s fiction, and literary fiction. Angela breaks down why understanding your genre matters for story structure, audience, marketing, literary agents, query letters, and comparable titles, also known as comps.

Along the way, Angela and Daniel talk about writing a manuscript from scratch, letting an outline change once the story starts to grow, writing emotional stakes, building a doomed love story, learning from fan fiction, reading inside and outside your genre, and why every writer should understand the business of publishing before entering the query trenches.

Angela also reflects on the lessons she learned from querying The God of the Dead too early, how those lessons are shaping Eros et Flamingo, and why reading, research, and genre awareness are helping her build a stronger, stickier, more marketable story from the beginning.

Whether you are writing your first novel, preparing to query literary agents, trying to find comps, moving from fan fiction to original fiction, or figuring out whether your book is commercial, upmarket, or literary, this episode is about learning the rules of the publishing world without losing the emotional spark that made you want to write the book in the first place.