The Importance of Picking a Genre

Some authors start with a full and rounded vision of the genre they write.  Others struggle.  I fall into the second pool.  As a young reader, I read two very distinct genres of fiction:  romance and horror.  I loved them both and often wished the two would meet, marry and live happily ever after.  As a writer, I vowed to bring the two genres together.  In my award-winning dark paranormal romances, I do just that.  However, this love story of genres does not necessarily have a HEA and my career has been filled with challenges.  Why?  Because merging genres often leads to diluting and mixed-message marketing.

Start with the book’s cover.  What is the main genre of the book?  Does the cover have a couple in a passionate clench or are there images of carnage and destruction?  Many readers choose the book by the cover and if the images promise a love story and deliver Walking Dead, you’ll have some unhappy readers.  The problem is, how to put a cover on the book that says “Read me!  I have time travel, elves, and demons in my Regency ballroom” without also saying, “I don’t know what in the hell I write so I’ve created a masterpiece of genre soup”?

Before you even deal with the cover challenge, you have to write the book, though.  A romance written while the hero and heroine are on the run from monsters, evil, demons [insert your beast of choice here] is a tricky endeavor.  You must tell this tale with high stakes.  The above mentioned foe must be believable, scary as hell, and fearsome.  Yet somewhere in between battles and chills, you have to create a credible, sustainable romance that has depth and emotion.  It’s no easy feat packing I love you into a ticking-clock, on-the-run, thriller.

These are just a couple of reasons why picking a genre is so important and picking a main genre is essential.  If you are writing for the romance reader, that main genre must be the romance.  Period.  Whatever else goes in the book, the central story must be a love story.  If, at the end of the book, you could go back, remove the romance and have it end the same way, it’s not a romance.  (Period, double exclamation point.)  The escalating tension and emotional stakes must drive the story to its end.  Only a few can divide genres down the middle with success.  The best example I can give you of a story that does this is The Terminator.  It’s action packed, it’s science fiction, it’s time travel and, at the core, it’s a love story.  If Reece hadn’t traveled through time, Sarah Connor wouldn’t have survived the night.  Reece sacrificed his own life because he’d loved Sarah from afar and felt compelled to meet her in the flesh…even when he knew he’d die trying.  Oh, and there’s a Terminator trying to kill them.

Mixing genres can be done and can be done well.  I’ve built a career on it.  What I’ve learned is that you need to prioritize the genres you have in the book in order to keep your reader from thinking it’s a leftover goulash.  Absolutely, put in more ingredients in than your romance, but remember, at some point you’ll have to boil this book down to a blurb, a tag line and an elevator pitch.  If you’ve writing a high concept Tolkienesk fantasy with a Silence of the Lamb FBI heroine and a demon slaying hero in a M/M/F erotic romance, you’re going to have your work cut out for you.  I’m not saying it can be done.  I’m not even saying it wouldn’t be good.

What I am saying, is this:  make sure YOU know what genre you’re writing and if you have multiple genres, make sure you know which is the most important to the story you’re telling.
 New York Times bestselling author Erin Quinn writes dark paranormal romance for the thinking reader. Her books have been called “riveting,” “brilliantly plotted” and “beautifully written” and have won, placed or showed in the Booksellers Best, WILLA Award for Historical fiction, the Orange Rose, Readers Crown, Golden Quill, Best Books, and Award of Excellence and Holt Medallion. Go to www.erinquinnbooks.com for more information or follow Erin on Facebook or Twitter @ErinQuinnAuthor

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Erin is offering up a digital copy of  The Five Deaths of Roxanne Love.

Here is a look at Roxanne’s story

*****

The Five Deaths of Roxanne Love

Beyond #1

She Cheated Death…

Roxanne Love isn’t human. At least not entirely. She tries to fit in but can’t conceal her ability to defy death—not from the world, not from heaven’s darkest creatures, and not from the Reaper determined to destroy her. Now Roxanne is on the run, her only ally a compelling, dangerous detective with secrets of his own. Against her will, she’s drawn to his quiet strength and heated touch. But can she trust him with the truth?

…Until She Felt Death’s Kiss.

Incognito as guilt-ridden cop Santo Castillo, the Reaper’s plan is simple: get close to Roxanne, uncover the secret of her immortality, and cut it at the source. Yet with his borrowed body come emotions the Reaper hadn’t expected. Now nothing is clear but his conflicted desire to protect the woman he came to kill. As destiny forces them to face an enemy hell-bent on using Roxanne to wipe out all of mankind, she and Santo must choose between love…and salvation.

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