My WIP keeps morphing

nanagain · Dec 28, 2010

It started out as a historical romance set in the 1680's Caribbean with 1 visit to the royal court of King Louis XIV. The time frame and setting are still the same but as I'm re reading it for the 9th time I'm noticing that there seems to be less and less traditional romance to it. The hero and heroine fall in love a few chapters into the book (after she has to deal with an issue caused by her late husband's friends), the sex they have is great (and graphic), and are happily married with kids at the end. What I'm finding throughout the book though is a lot more action than in traditional romances. Things like her getting into a duel (her brother and his friends taught her when they were little) her developing a mental illness caused by her late husband's abuse, him going to war and getting wounded, him killing someone that threatens their marriage and her sanity.

I know that publishers and agents are always looking for fresh story lines but am wondering if my ADHD is taking over and there's too much action changing the story line.

Aside from a peer review how can I tell if I've changed genres?

lbender · Dec 28, 2010

When I write, I have a general idea of where I want to go, how the plot should progress and how it should end. However, I allow the character's actions to flow naturally from their own personalities and situations. While I sometimes have to reel them in if it gets out of hand, I end up with a much more natural flow. I knew before I started writing what the last line of my first novel was going to be, but by the time I reached the end, I had a different character saying it. That's just the way it worked out, and it seemed much more natural to me. By the way, that story ended up with more romance, not less.

As long as your novel flows well, i.e. nothing is out of character or abnormally far-fetched as far as what the people would do, I see no problem. The only place the question of genre comes up is in marketing. Let the agent choose. I have, by the way, read romances that have a lot of action, like Kathleen Woodiwiss's stuff.

Good luck.

Susan Coffin · Dec 28, 2010

Actually, I think it sounds like an exciting story. Perhaps you are being too hard on yourself?

I would say to just write and let the story unfold.

Karen Junker · Dec 28, 2010

I agree that you're probably just overthinking it. It sounds like a great story!
Good luck with it!

richcapo · Dec 29, 2010

Sounds like straight-up romance to me -- romance can have violence in it. Think of all those Fabio pirate books.

_Richard

Ambri · Dec 29, 2010

It sounds a little like the historical saga/ romance. The first thing that came to mind when I was reading your description was Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Granted, she had the time traveling aspect, and a first-person POV (at least for the first one) but in some bookstores, it's shelved in Romance. Write it, edit it, and give it to a few betas; see what genre they think you should pitch it as.

nanagain · Dec 29, 2010

Thanks for the replies I am probably over thinking it some what. Everything seems to flow easily along with nothing suddenly drastically changing the course of the book but I concerned cause I hadn't seen anything quite like it in published works. I had a friend of mine who among her many job titles is a proofreader look it over and she thought it was very different and could be publishable (but couldn't recommend a publisher/agent to try).

One area that worries me is the heroine having a mental illness. I know that society in general assumes the mentally ill are all dangerous when in most of the time they aren't. I think I'm afraid that I'll be rejected because of that. I might just try a beta and see what someone else thinks

AuthorGuy · Dec 29, 2010

My stories also change constantly as I write them. I never outline, I just follow the characters around and see what they do. Many times the ending I envisaged arrives but the meaning of it is very different from what I had in mind. My big problem has always been in synopsizing the stories I write, since I don't have a single unified plotline to follow. But there are publishers, especially the small ones, who are willing to take a chance on the oddballs. As for the mental illness, I know of at least one series where the main character had an OCD, which was part of how she solved things. Or look at Monk, on TV.

serabeara · Jan 7, 2011

As far as mental illness and romance goes Laura Kinsale is one romance author that I can think of that writes main characters who have mental illness. Flowers from the Storm and My Sweet Folly come to mind. Catherine Anderson and Pamela Morsi are another two I can think of with characters who have mental handicaps. Theresa Weir, has a book where the character starts off in a mental hospital. So these kinda things in romance are not unheard of.

I think a story like you are describing would definitely have an audience in the romance market. Sounds like it could be quite the epic if done right.

nanagain · Jan 8, 2011

serabeara said:
I think a story like you are describing would definitely have an audience in the romance market. Sounds like it could be quite the epic if done right.

I wouldn't be too surprised if it turned out to be an epic or a trilogy. More than once when I've read it I thought there was more to the story. The wip starts out when she's 23 and ends when she's 31, happily married and the mother of a little girl. When I read it over I keep getting the feeling I should write about her life before the wip starts (from age 12-age 18) and from when her daughter is an adult being courted by men including the mc's late husband's bastard son. I tried to start the prequel but at the time I was to focused on other things going on in my life to get too far (1 page) before I had to focus on another kid crisis.

My WIP keeps morphing

nanagain

lbender

Susan Coffin

Tell it like it Is

Karen Junker

Live a little. Write a lot.

richcapo

Knight Templar

Ambri

Plotting something

nanagain

AuthorGuy

serabeara

Very Necessary

nanagain