Discovering a genre while (accidentally) writing in it

When friends and family ask me about the plot of my debut novel, The Side Questers, I sometimes find myself getting cagey with the details. Not because I’m embarrassed by its content or quality, but because I can’t help but think the average person would have no interest whatsoever.

After all, it’s a book I wrote for myself: an avid reader of science-fiction and fantasy with a background in scientific research who loves role-playing games. And the story centers on a pair of non-player characters in a virtual game world who reset when they die and dungeon crawl to prove their worth. I had an absolute ball writing it, but even during that process, I couldn’t quiet a tiny voice in my head: No one’s gonna want to read this, right?

And then something happened that shattered this assumption. I described the book to a trusted co-worker who I knew was big into SFF, and he started to rattle off a list of comp titles like they were his grocery list for that week.

“Oh, have you read He Who Fights Monsters? What about Dungeon Crawler Carl? And you gotta check out progression fantasy like Cradle.“

I remember staring at him is disbelief, realizing two things:

1. My book wasn’t special (darn it!)
2. People read books like mine? Even…seek them out?! (yay!)

This was an important moment for my writing journey, not only because it was a sobering reminder of the scale of publishing, but also because it showed me that I’d been reading in a SFF bubble. It wasn’t that books about video game worlds and “leveling up” didn’t exist, it’s just that I wasn’t finding them in the Fantasy section of my local bookstore. They weren’t getting traditionally published.

And as of now, at least, this is still largely the case. The most popular series in LitRPG/Gamelit are mostly self-published (with some notable exceptions), but they’re still finding a large audience, and it’s been fascinating to watch a new sub-genre grow before my very eyes. One that I’d joined as a writer without even realizing it.

After years of wondering if was even possible for The Side Questers to find an audience, I’d found its home. A place to belong. There were other people like me out there who wanted to read stories about video games. And even if I know everyone who reads my book isn’t going to love it (or like it…or even tolerate it), at least I do know that I’m not alone.