The result was the only boyfriends I had were ones who I hunted down and trapped. The couple that pursued me didn't last long and left me feeling creeped out even if their only sin was liking me more than I liked them. My husband doesn't know how close I came to bolting based on pure fear/freak-out after he brought up the idea of marriage before I was ready to talk about it. The thing is, I don't believe in soul mates. I believe you chose your love and then love your choice. The whole idea of something 'meant to be' is anathema to me.
And this is why I shouldn't write romance. In fact, I don't think I do write romance after all. Yet again, like with relationships past, I was forcing something to be something it wasn't.
My love stories are way too practical and involve people deciding they want to be together instead of NEEDING to be together. I lack the magic. I like to read romance and enjoy the love-conquers-all story, but I also enjoy science fiction/fantasy. I guess I see true love and dragons under the same light. No wonder I don't write it convincingly.
I am now researching the possibility of marketing my books as literary fiction with strong romantic elements. That's a different set of norms, industry players, etc... I'm starting over (only with several books already written) and have a lot of work ahead of me.
Wish me luck.
3 comments:
Husbands...what can you do? Besides hunting them down and throwing a net over them, you also have to keep them happy. Hard work, darn hard.
You know, it's a big choice to jump ships on your genre, but it's totally doable. You might want to consider really starting from scratch and writing in these other genres. Good luck one way or another, and try to remember that your time writing in romance isn't going to be wasted. You'll use everything you learned when you swap genres.
I think the literary fiction world will love your lavish prose and amazing heroines. You do you, Boo!
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