Sometimes I feel like if I hear the word “genre” one more time, my head will explode. I know it’s a legitimate word about a legitimate thing, but it’s so frustrating sometimes to try to figure out where my book fits. I’ve worked on my latest book for many months. During that time, I’ve tried my best to figure out what genre to put it in. Because, you know, you HAVE to. It has to go somewhere. So, is it… Horror? Paranormal? Paranormal romance? Thriller? Murder mystery? Supernatural thriller? Ack! I really hope my beta readers will be able to help me with this, because this is the first time I’ve never had a clue.
So now we segue into pen names and new directions…which also involves genre. I can’t get away from this word! Anyway, almost two years ago, I started what I was going to call a Christian Romance. And I was going to write this book under my real name instead of my pen name. I wanted something I could actually let my church friends read. I abandoned that idea after only writing about 15% of it because I was afraid it would take time away from my Lauralynn Elliott books. Today, I was thinking about a couple of things. First, I wonder if I should abandon the idea of writing Christian Romance and write “Sweet Romance”. I think there might be a bigger readership if that’s how I market it. I could get the Christian romance readers because they know there won’t be graphic sex in it, but also maybe get readers that don’t necessarily want to read books with the word Christian in them. I would have to rework a little bit in this book so it won’t sound so “judgy” in places. The second issue is the fact that it could push back publication of my other books. I’ve never been able to write two books at the same time. But I know others that do it, so it CAN be done. If I set aside certain times or certain days for each of the books, maybe I could pull it off. And it might be helpful if I’m stuck on one to be able to work on the other.
So what do you all think? How do you feel about genres? Have you ever had problems figuring out where your books fit? Do you write in different genres? Do you use more than one pen name?
lauralynnelliott.com 
Well I’ve recently made something of a switch, moving from hardcore, action-packed paranormal romance to contemporary romance. I had thought about putting out the contemporary stuff under another name, but…eh. Too much trouble. This is what I want to work on, and my readership will grow and change with it. Everything I write will be romance in some guise or other, and I think, for me, that’s the clincher. I can’t say that I’ve ever had trouble figuring out where my books fit–each subset of romance has pretty specific “rules” as it were. My mom would prefer I wrote sweeter stuff, no sex, no swearing. But that’s not me. And it’s not what I read. She’s not my target audience, and every time she says “why don’t you write blah”, it annoys me. You don’t like it, don’t read it, but don’t tell me what to write. But that’s a side bar. I tend to have multiple projects in the planning stages at once, but I rarely am actively WRITING more than one at a time. I find it hard to shift voices between things.
The only reason for me to even change pen names is the church thing. My husband is a deacon, and I don’t want to cause trouble for him. 🙂 But I would love to write some things that I could let those friends read.
I’ve written short stories during other writing, but that’s all. I think the only way to know whether or not I can do it is to just try and see. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t, but at least I would know. I have one writer friend who writes three or four books at a time! I wonder if maybe it would work if I work on one book on Mon-Tues, take off Wed, work on the other on Thurs-Sat, then take off Sunday. Hmm.
My mother would love for me to write things she could pass around at church. A number of people have said I should write children’s books. Why? because I have a child and I look like a sweet person? Because all the middle school kids are taller than I am? I mean, where else does that come from, because I don’t think it comes from having a conversation with me. I actually have tried to turn my mind to things I could share with my daughter at this stage, but ultimately I’ve come to understand that’s not who I am as a writer. I have issues inside me I want to talk about and my own experience that guides my expression. I could try, I could probably pull off something, but I don’t like it and it wouldn’t be as good as when I write from my heart. That’s the nature of art.
Christian Romance is a specific subgenre that’s as much about what it is as what it isn’t. Yeah, the Christian characters don’t sleep around, cuss, or get wasted. But there’s also generally a component about a character’s relationship with God that’s an integral part of the story. I guess what I’m saying is that marketing something as Christian Romance is more than just dressing it up in church clothes.
If you have a sweet romance in you that you want to write, I say just write it. If there’s anyone I know who’s not afraid to venture into other areas, it’s you. You can decide about what name to put on it after it’s finished. Kait told me about one successful indie who suggested starting a number of different series and just putting stuff out there and letting sales dictate your writing priorities. An interesting idea (although my brain is obnoxious and doesn’t take orders).
I wouldn’t worry too much about writing to a genre. Plenty of people are doing that. If you want to do something that’s half one thing and half another thing, you might find that no one else is and there’s a readership that’s been waiting for it. Now we have that freedom to make that happen. As long as people know what to expect when they dive into the book, that’s probably what’s most important.
Gee I hope that was coherent. My brain feels messy.
That would be Lindsay Buroker. She’s dipping her toes in fantasy, urban fantasy, steampunk, and I’m not sure what all else. And she’s done quite well. Was able to quit her day job a while back. I LOVE her steampunk series.
Yes, it was very coherent. The first part of the Christian Romance I started did have a little to do with the shero’s relationship with God, but it was more about her relationship with the eventual hero. I could very easily re-word parts of it and take it out of the Christian Romance genre and put it in the Sweet Romance genre, although that’s not REALLY a genre as far as I can tell. What really gets me is that sometimes the retailers don’t have the genres I want to say something is. I’ve never seen Sweet Romance on Amazon or Smashwords, unless I just wasn’t looking for that.
I actually had thought about writing at least one book in that genre and seeing what sales are like. If they really suck, why go that direction? But then I would have only that one book with my real name (or other pen name if I so choose). So maybe try a couple? I don’t know. I’m not really afraid to jump into something different, I just want it to be worth my time and effort. I’ve already ventured into light horror. The Gnome was fun to write, but doesn’t sell that well. If this one I’m working on doesn’t do well, I probably won’t do any more horror. My next book after this is going to be another paranormal romance, but not vampires or ghosts this time. 🙂
This is a hard one for both what to label your book and what to do about pen names and Christian or sweet romance.
Regarding the book you’re editing, I guess I would go with the genre that is the largest portion of the book. Or maybe blend the top two. I know this is tricky. It’s hard to pin every book into a little square peg. Maybe something to try is to pick out keywords to describe your book. Those might help position where your book is.
I had tried pen names in the past but slipped on one (made a pen name’s blog post in my real name) so everyone found out. With the other, I was more careful, but I realized I didn’t want to be an erotic romance writer. I’m happier being where I currently am. So I dropped the pen name.
In your situation, I can understand using a pen name. I would be tempted to do the pen name so that you can let your church friends know. They might enjoy reading your book. And I don’t think it needs to be Christian romance to appeal to them. I can see a sweet romance would be just as appealing to them. At the conference I went to in November, they recommended against using pen names, but honestly, I think there are good reasons to use them. If you want to keep your pen name a secret from the church, just remember that when you’re in WordPress to log in as the right author. 😀
As for sweet romance, I’ve seen authors who just categorize their books as historical or contemporary romance and then put “This sweet romance is X words long.” in the description. Or some have put (A Sweet Romance) next to the title. I think as long as you do that, you should be fine. And those romances are doing really well in sales. There’s a definite market for it.
I also think you can mention God in a sweet romance, but I guess the deciding factor on labeling it a Christian romance is how important the characters’ faith is to the plot. If it’s secondary, I’d go with sweet. If it’s primary, I’d go with Christian romance.
Just my opinion. 😀
That’s all very good advice, Ruth. I’ve commented on my own Facebook post with the wrong name because I was flipping back and forth between FB accounts. I think Rose was the only one who saw it because she had commented right before I had. LOL
I’m really shocked that it was recommended at the conference not to use a pen name. It could protect you and your family against stalkers and help separate your work life from your family life. I really don’t see a down side. I think it’s just personal preference.
FYI, pen names aren’t that great a protection against stalkers. Anybody who knows where to dig can find out who people are because of all the electronic paper trails we have to use to pay for stuff and so on. I chose a pen name because there’s another writer out there with my real name who’d nabbed up all the internet real estate, and also because people frequently misspell my last name. I wanted something shorter and easier to remember. I think it’s definitely more a personal preference.
I guess we all do leave a lot of paper trails, and anyone could find us if they are persistent enough. I don’t imagine anyone would be that interested in me. LOL. Of course, you know the main reason I use a pen name is to “hide” from certain people. 🙂
Ugh. Genre. I’ve always been a genre writer; I grew up on fantasy and science fiction, but “genre” was a four-letter word in the world of literary academia and I remember spending five years of my education feeling somewhat ashamed of what I truly loved. I still lean toward calling most of my stuff “Magical Realism” because the fantasy blanket doesn’t seem to really fit all that well, but I’ve since embraced the idea that genre is just a conformity that we should strive to break. I have absolutely no intention of sticking to any particular genre, because I have absolutely no desire to write just one genre.
I’ve also never been very quiet on my dislike of pen names (or, I guess I should say an author taking on a second pen name…L.S. Engler is close to my real name, but not entirely), but I’ve never been shy about what I’m writing it and who’s reading it. Once your best friend’s dad brings up the graphic sex scene in that book you wrote that he read, you’re pretty okay with everything else after that…
Granted, I’m still pretty new to all of this, but it’s been a while since I’ve decided that I never want to be defined by any particular aspect of my writing or be pigeonholed by others’ expectations.
Why would you feel even somewhat ashamed of what you love? We all have different tastes, and that’s what makes us all so unique and interesting. My biggest problem with genre is that you HAVE to put your book in some genre. The dilemma is figuring out where it fits so you can tell Amazon and other retailers where it goes. I think using as many key words as they allow helps books be searchable in several genres.
The beauty of being indie is that you can write whatever you want and change it up any time you like. No one tells you “Hey, you have to stick to one genre!” Of course, Michael Crichton certainly didn’t stick to one genre. He wrote more eclectically than any author I can think of.
I don’t know if I’ve ever read a “Christian Romance book”. Unless the book was clearly labelled, I probably wouldn’t know the difference.
I haven’t used a pen name yet, but maybe I would if I started a new genre.
I’ve read a couple, but I wasn’t really into them a lot. There’s usually a lot of stuff that makes you cry. LOL. I DO know someone who writes Christian romance books (I’m looking at you, Ruth) that actually have sex in them, but it’s always within marriage. If I do pursue this “sweet romance” genre, I will definitely write under a different name so I could share my books with church friends. My mom is so proud of me being an author, she likes to tell people, and that makes me uncomfortable. I already have one person from her church that is a friend on Facebook. But this way, she can tell anyone she likes. 🙂
I agree with you – Genre = BLAH! But it’s a necessity, mores the pity. For readers and writers and publishers. My book has sexual tension and kissing, nothing more. Not because of religion, more because writing about more is a work in progress. I respect all good romance writers, it’s the most difficult area for me to tackle. For me, I’d go with Sweet as apposed to Christian. Christian romance makes me think of midnight trysts in church yards or people trying to kiss through a rubber body suit. Don’t judge me! 😛
Happy Christmas to you and your family Lauralynn. X
shahwharton.com
Oh, you’ve got me laughing about the rubber body suit. LOL. I am definitely leaning toward the sweet romance.
About your book having only sexual tension and kissing. I’m beginning to prefer that in reading. After awhile, all the sex scenes start sounding the same to me, and I find myself skimming through them. One exception is a novella I’m reading now. For some reason, the way the author built up everything, the sex scenes are actually hot instead of boring. I’m trying to figure out what’s different in this book.