Most people know the genre(s) they love to read and write. I'm a fantasy person at heart, and I tend to just read fantasy lately. Not good, because reading other genres can teach you a great deal about writing! Each genre tends to have a particular "strength" in general. of course it varies author-to-author as well, but these are broad generalizations that can help you improve a certain aspect of your writing.
So broaden your horizons and read out of your preferred genre. You might learn something to help you with your story.
This is an infographic from Tia Nevitt (up top). The original source is at: http://tianevitt.com/infographics/ and linked to in the External Link.
Many of these overlap into other genres, and as I said, just because an author writes mystery doesn't mean their plot is strong. Or ONLY their plot is strong. A fantasy can have a more intricate plot and visceral pov with less worldbuilding. A thriller can be a pageturner, but it can also have plot and strong evil and backstory.
This is purely a generalization, but it does offer helpful insights. If you struggle with worldbuilding in your futuristic scifi, read some fantasy. If your scifi lacks tearjerking, read a christian fic. But if you find a fantasy novel that's got a thriller-quality pageturning aspect, study it! These are just starting points to get you reading out of your genre and broadening your reading horizons.
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