Question(s) about Rom/WF

Biscuithd · Apr 19, 2012

I was hopeful that a few of you might read my little missive and weigh in with your opinions. I'm fairly new to the site and think I identify best with this area.

When I first started to think about writing fiction, I was traveling 2-3 times a week and reading a fair amount of books that were on Borders 3 for $10.00 table. One of the authors had several titles on the table with covers that caught my eye, so I bought them all. At the time I thought they were Romance. They didn't seem terribly different from Harlequin in content. Later I heard that he railed against his books being called Romance. They certainly weren't literature, but held my interest. This author even had a section of his website devoted to "how to write a book like his". I was game to try. I didn't seem that hard. I was wrong...

Fast forward to today. I now understand the difference between Nicholas Sparks books and Romance. I'm still desirous of writing my own book. I've got the story in my head although I think it's more of a Sparks story than a Harlequin. Now I'm wondering, should I force/skew/change my story to more closely mirror a Rom/WF? Since I'm only about 10K words into it, should I care at this point? Shouldn't my biggest concern be getting the story written? Yet I'm concerned that I might wind up with a nice story (seriously, would that be so bad?), but one that doesn't fit any saleable mold.

Ok, I'll stop rambling. Thanks for reading!! All comments are most welcome.

Bis

Bubastes · Apr 19, 2012

Biscuithd said:
Now I'm wondering, should I force/skew/change my story to more closely mirror a Rom/WF? Since I'm only about 10K words into it, should I care at this point? Shouldn't my biggest concern be getting the story written? Yet I'm concerned that I might wind up with a nice story (seriously, would that be so bad?), but one that doesn't fit any saleable mold.

I'm confused by your question -- romance and women's fiction are two different things. Could you clarify?

Also, there's much more to romance than Harlequin. Harlequin is only one slice of the romance pie.

Edited to add: I'd focus on getting the story written. Don't force it to be something it isn't. Women's fiction is such a broad category that your story might fall into it without you even trying. Just have fun writing and see where it takes you.

Biscuithd · Apr 19, 2012

Hi Bubastes,

I appreciate the reply and advice!

To answer your questions, I used the term Rom/WF because that's the name of this area of the Board. And, Harelquin was just the example I used because it's the best known (at least to me).

Last, I'm confused by my questions too

I'm mostly just trying to start a conversation around my areas of uncertainty and hopeing that those on here that have worked through this stuff will feel like sharing.

Bubastes · Apr 19, 2012

Gotcha. Well, if your story focuses primarily on a love relationship between two people and ends with a happily ever after or happy for now, then it's a romance. If not, it might be women's fiction, mainstream, or some other category.

I write both (points to books in my signature) and lean more heavily toward women's fiction. I joke that I write women's fiction because I have trouble writing stories with unambiguously happy endings.

Hildegarde · Apr 19, 2012

Okay - I'll bite - I'm sure others will chime in if I'm off-track.

First - If you have a story you are dying to write, haven't written, and aren't sure where it fits- Just write it. This will be way more trouble on its own than you anticipate. If you interested in getting picked up by a particular line (one of the Harlequin categories, for example), yes, there are specific requirements you need to follow. However, romance as a whole has many, many sub-genres and when you expand to women's fiction the possibilities are almost limitless.

The brief (very brief and simplistic) definition of a romance: A story that focuses primarily on the romantic relationship between the characters and ends with a HEA (happily ever after) or, in contemporary romance, a 'Happy for Now' situation.

If you can take the relationship stuff out of the story and still have a viable book, it isn't a romance. It is something else with "romantic elements." If you don't wind up with the protagonists together and happy at the end, you don't have a romance.

Women's fiction is way broader and harder to define. There's a tiny bit of controversy over this term these days. It goes along the reasoning of, why are books women write about women "women's fiction" and books men write about men "fiction" or even "literature?"

Also, (off topic a bit) - I find NS's shrill railing against his books being labelled 'romance' somewhat demeaning. As though his books aren't just as formulaic. . . .check out this for a laugh:
http://www.cracked.com/funny-4725-nicholas-sparks/

veinglory · Apr 19, 2012

As I understand it, the main thing that makes Sparks' love stories not genre romance is the tendency for them to end with the couple not together.

Bubastes · Apr 19, 2012

veinglory said:
As I understand it, the main thing that makes Sparks' love stories not genre romance is the tendency for them to end with the couple not together.

Nice euphemism.

Hildegarde · Apr 19, 2012

veinglory said:
As I understand it, the main thing that makes Sparks' love stories not genre romance is the tendency for them to end with the couple not together.

Oh, aye -lol - fer sure. It's the subtext of the rant that is annoying!

Brindle Chase · Apr 19, 2012

I personally think Sparks is more concerned about his man-card status by vehemently tantruming that he is NOT a romance author.

I'm a male romance author and not afraid to admit it. I agree his books are disqualified as romances due the lack of HEA endings, but like many "romantic elements" genres, they are very close to being romances. Adamantly railing they are not, despite how close to being romance, kinda makes me wonder what his issue with romance might be?

VoireyLinger · Apr 19, 2012

Whatever his issue, he dodges the romance label quite nicely by killing everyone. I know quite a few guys who write romance and they tend to be a lot more likeable than the guys who sneer at it.

But back to the original post...

Romance the central focus of the story is a building relationship between two people that ends in a happily ever after or happy for now setup, where you can easily imagine the relationship continuing beyond the pages of the book. Women's fiction the romance might be central, a parallel plot, an element or not there at all, and that happy ending isn't required.

Biscuithd · Apr 19, 2012

Wow, thanks for all the replies and information!!

I was pretty sure that my story was a Romance. Now I'm certain! So, thank you for helping me figure that part out.

I've never been the kind of person that was embarrassed by what I read or music I listen to. Although I work with folks that love to trash pretty much everyone's reading.

I have seen from reading this part of the board that there are many many different genres of Romance, so I'll figure that out once I get to the finish line.

I too am perplexed by Sparks. I think I'd "get it" a little more if he were railing against being placed in "any" category. But, there ya go. Like I said before, I wouldn't exactly call it literature, but heck, it sells...a lot. If I created anything that sold like that, you could call it whatever you want.

So, back to me.

Here's what I'm finding that is so cool. The actual process of writing is amazingly fun! If I didn't have a real job and other things that I have to do, I'd write constantly. The part that is disconcerting to me is that my story keeps changing. The characters do things I didn't intend. The story gets longer and twists and turns faster than I can write it. I know I have to rein it in and get the whole thing done in around 100,000 words (that's the limit right?). Does everyone go through this? As of a few days ago, I wrote a synopsis of the book and am determined to stick to what I wrote. I told myself that all the additional stuff that bubbles into my brain can be the basis of a series based on the same characters.

Anyway, thanks again for weighing in. It helps to have some feedback.

Bis

job · Apr 19, 2012

Most important thing is -- you should write the story you love.

Writing is hard, lonely, demanding, uncertain and it pays poorly. The great compensation is you can write what you want.

On the other hand, being practical about this, you want to sell what you write. This means you have to understand the market.

Probably the best place to understand genre is in a bookstore, skimming your way down the racks -- because genre is utterly about where the bookstore shelves the book. This is where you decide whether you're a Romance gal or a Womans Fiction gal -- or possibly a General Fiction gal. And you take note of what house is publishing what kind of story and at what length.

Romance has a huge e-pub and indie sector as well. Some subgenres are almost entirely e-pub. When you have a better idea of where your story is heading, folks here will be able to clue you in to those markets.

ShannonMcEwan · Apr 20, 2012

Biscuithd said:
I told myself that all the additional stuff that bubbles into my brain can be the basis of a series based on the same characters.

Just another thing for you to think about - if you write a number of books using the same hero & heroine (as opposed to linked books, with different hero/heroine pairings), you're probably not writing 'a romance', but rather 'something-or-other with romantic elements'.

Biscuithd said:
..my story keeps changing. The characters do things I didn't intend. The story gets longer and twists and turns faster than I can write it. I know I have to rein it in and get the whole thing done in around 100,000 words (that's the limit right?). Does everyone go through this? As of a few days ago, I wrote a synopsis of the book and am determined to stick to what I wrote.

Different people have different writing processes, going from extremes of 1) hard&fast first draft that later gets hacked on into something coherent, to 2) obsessive pre-planning to get the most coherent first draft possible. It's a personal thing. You won't know what suits you until you've got a bit of experience under your belt - and even then, it can change.

My thoughts on outlining - it can be useful to have a map, but if you find an unexpected roadblock along the way, re-route!

Regardless of what process you use, if you stick it out, there's a pretty good chance that you'll be doing a lot of rewriting before you're done .

Biscuithd · Apr 23, 2012

Thanks again everyone for the replies.

One final from me on Sparks. What I hear from him, as far as why he thinks he's not a Romance author...because his books arn't located in the Romance section of the bookstore. And, that's true. I usually find his books on the cut out table.

celoise · Apr 23, 2012

Hildegarde said:
http://www.cracked.com/funny-4725-nicholas-sparks/

I'm laughing so hard at my desk that a paralegal just came to ask what's the matter!

Biscuithd · Apr 24, 2012

I have an old version of this that I copied into a notebook. Certainly funny, but, in all honesty, it is the exact formula of his books. I'm writing mine to this formula. If it works for him, I ought to be able to squeeze a sale out of the same formula assumig my writing is engaging. Right ???

Bubastes · Apr 24, 2012

Biscuithd said:
I have an old version of this that I copied into a notebook. Certainly funny, but, in all honesty, it is the exact formula of his books. I'm writing mine to this formula. If it works for him, I ought to be able to squeeze a sale out of the same formula assumig my writing is engaging. Right ???

Not necessarily. There are no sure things in publishing.

Don't try to write like Sparks -- only he can do that. Write the best story you can write.

Hildegarde · Apr 24, 2012

celoise said:
I'm laughing so hard at my desk that a paralegal just came to ask what's the matter!

Really, Nick? Really?

Glad you enjoyed!

job · Apr 24, 2012

Biscuithd said:
... assumig my writing is engaging. Right ???

If your writing is sufficiently engaging you can write any story.

Question(s) about Rom/WF

Biscuithd

Bubastes

bananaed

Biscuithd

Bubastes

bananaed

Hildegarde

A newb in the fog

veinglory

volitare nequeo

Bubastes

bananaed

Hildegarde

A newb in the fog

Brindle Chase

Dancing on the edge

VoireyLinger

Angel Wing Fetish

Biscuithd

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript

ShannonMcEwan

Biscuithd

celoise

Truss me I iz lawyor

Biscuithd

Bubastes

bananaed

Hildegarde

A newb in the fog

job

In the end, it's just you and the manuscript