AIUI the scenario with Jim Butcher and Dresden Files was that he was _trying_ to write some "genre hack" novel, and succeeded despite himself: https://www.tor.com/2008/07/25/sdccjimbutcherinterview/

"... struggled mightily until deciding (out of frustration) to reverse course and follow Chester’s rigorous writing techniques to the letter, doing all the plot outlining and character background sheets and so on that the English literature folks often scoff at as the workmanlike tools of genre hacks."