Mondays about Me
Today I'm going to mix my two worlds. The world about me, and the world that is my writing. Everyone says to write what you know. Well, I don't know a whole lot about romance ... as much as a normal persona I suppose. I dated a lot - I mean A LOT - and I was proposed to 7 times before I stuck with my husband. So Yes, I have had some interesting experiences in the dating/romance world. However, I think most of my experiences were not something I would write about as romantic. Tragic, yes; sadly delusional at times, yes; some romance, yes; and some heartbreak, yes.
So where do I draw from to get the romance I write about? Well, it helps that my sister introduced me to romance when I was a teenager. The lovely, clean but exciting world of regency romance. (And trust me, we had to convince my Dad over and over again that I was reading books in the era and same level of cleanliness as Pride and Prejudice because he was not sure he was ok with his daughters reading romance novels.) I ate those books up like I was starving! I loved them. Read everything I could get my hands on. Even now that is my favorite genre to read - though I do branch out a bit and read other genres as well.
So here is my interesting conundrum. The other night I had a dream ... It was an awesome dream! It was a perfect story plot laid out right in front of me with good guys, bad guys, background, situations, hero flaws, downfalls, and of course the resolution! I was ecstatic. I got out of bed at 4 AM and ran to type it all up at my computer. The only thing is .... it was completely paranormal genre. I don't write paranormal and I've rarely read paranormal. So I'm about to jump into something new. One of two things will happen - either it will turn out amazing and I will have found a new level of writing talent I didn't know I possessed. Or I'll succumb to a crumpled, crying mess when I realize that my amazing idea is not going to fit my style. I'm really hoping for the first :)
What is you're writing style and have you ever branched out from it into other genres? How did it work for you?
My editor describes my novels as contemporary literary fiction which is how you describe something that does not fit into a genre box. My WIP feels like romance, but very hard edged, realistic romance as opposed to Mills and Boon. My first novel was a futuristic thriller. I'm told that the best way to sell books is to write in a particular genre and write series rather than single books, but I can't be that prescriptive about my art. I think that genre is much less important than themes and characters. If you've got a paranormal novel to write then write it Rebecca.
ReplyDeleteThanks DA Cairns! I think that's exactly what I intend to do :)
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