True romance

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Wayne K

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I've written a 50K unfinished romance, and the reason it's unfinished is because as I researched this genre I found out that I'm breaking one important rule, and probably a few I'm not aware of.

After much debate on another thread we established that publishers don't want their MCs to be overweight, and I found out that they also don't want their male MCs to be old.

I can live with that.

Is there a market for true romance? Yanno, the kind that really happens to people. I can't find anything about it here. I stink with search.

Has anyone ever written a romance that was based on a true story? In the end that's what I ended up doing. I put my own name in the document search to see if I accidently used Wayne instead of Kyle....five times :D

I think its kinda good, so I'd like to finish it, but unless there's a large market, as an unpublished author, I'd rather get onto something else. Something I have a better shot at being published with

Thank you for any comments :)
 
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Synonym

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Wayne K said:
I've written a 50K unfinished romance, and the reason it's unfinished is because as I researched this genre I found out that I'm breaking one important rule, and probably a few I'm not aware of.

After much debate on another thread we established that publishers don't want their MCs to be overweight, and I found out that they also don't want their male MCs to be old.
Click to expand...

Eff that. I've read stories with both and loved them. If it works well, don't try to sell it as romance or strictly romance. If you need a genre, try women's fiction or literary.

No offense to the romance writers or the industry as a whole, but the cookie-cutter approach just doesn't work for me. I like something a little quirky, more down to earth and there's certainly demand for that.

It all comes down to the magic agent connection. Or even the right pub at the right time.
 

Wayne K

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It can and prolly will be trimmed down though
 

Wayne K

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Synonym said:
Eff that. I've read stories with both and loved them. If it works well, don't try to sell it as romance or strictly romance. If you need a genre, try women's fiction or literary.

No offense to the romance writers or the industry as a whole, but the cookie-cutter approach just doesn't work for me. I like something a little quirky, more down to earth and there's certainly demand for that.

It all comes down to the magic agent connection. Or even the right pub at the right time.
Click to expand...
Now that I think about it, I did feel like I was crossing genres while I was writing it. Thank you, good advice

jennontheisland said:
Epubs are generally more willing to take books that break or ignore genre "rules". And the more sex there is in them, the better they sell.

Check Veinglory's EREC site for numbers (to see if you think the investment effort is worth the possible payoff).
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I'll check it out. If its sex they want, I'll leave it alone.Hell, maybe I'll pitch them my memoir :D
 
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The question of publishability aside because I'm not an expert on that, finishing a novel is important and beneficial practice. Each part of a book requires it's own techniques, and the best way to get good at writing novel endings is to write novel endings. I've seen a lot of people who are good at beginnings because they've done so many, but lousy at endings because they rarely finish anything. So, finish it, because you will be gaining valuable experience.
 
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Wayne K said:
I've written a 50K unfinished romance, and the reason it's unfinished is because . . .
publishers don't want their MCs to be overweight . . .
they also don't want their male MCs to be old.
Click to expand...

The top non-cartoon movies of 2009 are Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hangover, StarTrek, The Blindside, Sherlock Holmes, X-Men Origins, Fast and Furious, and Taken.

The protagonists are not not so much fat women and balding 55-year-old men as the lovely, svelte and young.

This multibillion-dollar snapshot of 'what the public wants' stands over the editor's shoulder and shouts so loud it may be hard for her to see the commercial potential of your manuscript.


Wayne K said:
Is there a market for true romance? Yanno, the kind that really happens to people. I can't find anything about it here.
Click to expand...

I'm not quite sure of what you mean by 'true romance' that 'really happens to people', but there are Contemporaries that deal with serious subjects and present the process of falling in love without hyperbole.

Ask for recommendations of realistic Contemps.


Wayne K said:
Has anyone ever written a romance that was based on a true story?
Click to expand...

They may have done, for all I know. Certainly there must be autobiographical components to many books.

Mostly, though, the pattern of folks' lives does not match the optimal plotting of a genre Romance.
 
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Wayne K

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Thank you guys. My innernets have been broken all day or I would have responded faster.
 
KathleenD

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I have a WIP with older characters. I pitched it to a publisher with a synopsis, and I was told no, but to submit it as a manuscript - but the rejection wasn't because of the age of the characters. (It was a plot thing - "all in the execution, etc.")

And older characters can sell. Say what you want about Bridges of Madison County (and I haven't said much that was good about it) but it sure moved a lot of copies.

As for weight, I've seen some stories where it really worked - but that was when the weight was an integral part of the character. Not an excuse for the character to hate herself, either. Just woven into the day - how clothes fit, how different sexual positions felt, how people looked at her.

Sometimes, though, the character is just fat. That's how she looked in the author's head and it's part of the description just as her hair color is. And that's pretty cool, IMO - the sooner it's just another adjective the better.
 
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You know what? I'd love to see something outside the cookie cutter approach. I troll the shops all the time for interesting books, but nothing looks interesting. I don't have a problem with characters being fat or old as long as they don't spend the whole novel complaining about it. Also, the plot needs to be interesting. If it has to do with something that most women or men would never do, then you can guarantee that I wouldn't read it.

I'd say you could go through an epublisher about romance and see how your book does.
 
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