I'm not the type of person who naturally likes being labelled. I'm agnostic, I'm ambidextrous, I'm... well, lets just say if there are two different ways to do things, I'd inclined to keep my options open. I'm very at home in a world filled with shades of gray.
A lot of the writers earlier on in this week put forward the idea that genre labels are not always a good thing. They made a lot of good points. I sort of agree with a lot of them. On the other hand, I think there is something to be said for putting the right labels on books. Here's why...
A few years ago, when I started writing seriously, I finally decided to quit trying to write what I thought other people wanted to read and to write the stories I wanted to tell.
One problem. A little bit of looking around and I convinced myself that no one would be interested in publishing what I wanted to write. I effectively felt like I was writing in a genre that didn't exist.
The stories were all about the development of a romantic relationship. So my books were obviously romances. Right?
Except all the romance publishers I stumbled across were vanilla and m/f. And even the ones that seemed to consider themselves very naughty had submission guidelines saying they expected three sex scenes in a 60,000 word book - some of my characters have chapters with more than that in them! So, I obviously wasn't writing romance.
More sex than romance? I must be writing erotica then. But the guidelines I found for those submissions didn't want romance, they didn't want happy ever after, they didn't want commitment between the characters and most of them only seemed to want BDSM elements for shock value.
I wrote for over a year in the complete certainty that I was the only person in the world writing the sort of stories I wanted to write - and wanted to read.
And then a stumbled across this strange thing called erotic romance. That was closer to the mark. There were writers there who seemed to enjoy writing stories that had a lot more in common than what I was writing.
A bit more searching and I found out that there were writers in that bunch who wrote Male/male stories too, and some who wrote BDSM as well!
I found my genre label.
I write BDSM erotic romance.
So, yes, right now I just like knowing that I'm writing in a particular genre that exists - that people might want to read what I want to write.
Although I'm not saying that all my stories fit in a neat little box.
I write about all different combinations or orientations and genders. So far I've had Mm, Mf, MfM and Mmm accepted. But I write all the others too. And I've got some stories that included a combination of all different relationships. At the moment, most of my stories seem to be Mm - and that's the character combination I start writing about in the first place, but it does vary somewhat with my mood.
I write about people who live a 24/7 BDSM lifestyle in one book, and people who would never let the kinky side of their life out of the bedroom in another. And I write about character who have the exact opposite view on what's the right way to do things. As long as it's SSC (Safe, sane, consensual) it's all good with me.
I write about different paranormal species too. Vampires and Werewolves are particular favourites at the moment, but I've got a few species I created from scratch in the planning.
I've got series that are classical/fantasy, mystery, suspense, historical and damn near everything else lurking around in my head.
All that's okay, I have no problem with the idea of putting six different sub-genre labels on a book.
Next Monday I'll have three stories on sale.
The Gift is M/m and M/m/m, Contemporary, Paranormal Time travel, Christmas.
Secret Service is M/m, Contemporary, Valentines.
Whispers is M/f, Paranormal, Contemporary, Psychic, Vampire. (In the Night of the Senses Anthology.)
They are in the same genre in that they are all BDSM erotic romances. But that's just about all they have in common.
I'm quite content with that.
I've found my genre. A label on my book saying that I write what I write is fine with me.
Because that's what I consider the genre labels to be. I don't find them limiting. I just think of them as simple statement to the reader that if you read this book, you will find X, Y and Z. Maybe some of those labels loose or gain me readers. I don't know.
But I do know what I write now.
I write BDSM erotic romance, usually with sub-genre descriptions tacked onto the end.
It's a bit of a mouthful, but it's a damn sight better than calling the stories I write stories-no-one-will-ever-want-to-publish :)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Most Erotic Thing I Ever Read
Why do we write in the genre that we chose? Especially in our case, because romance writing and erotica – romance’s slutty sister – are not much respected. Among the literary world, writers like us are hardly regarded as writers at all. We are the infinite number of chimpanzees pecking at infinite typewriters who may accidently turn out the script of Hamlet in the next million years. And if they put your stuff on electronic books rather than paper, sometimes you’re regarded as even more of a loser. Why would anybody choose to do this?
When I walk through a used bookstore, anywhere I go, bookcases, whole walls and aisles are packed with forlorn romance novels who had their moment, now begging to be loved again, like walking through the desperate kennels of the Humane society. I look at them and think – how do you compete with all that? How do you get an audience when people are turning out these books like hamburgers? Roughly 50% of the books sold in the US are romance novels. Whole Canadian forests just massacred to produce romance paperbacks, with cover paintings of shirtless handsome beefcakes oddly devoid of body hair, and chesty maidens with half closed eyes, all “rape and adverbs”, that are here and gone as brief as mayflies.
I don't believe we chose the genre we write in. I think the genre chooses us.
That’s my experience. It’s a calling, like being a country western singer or a Jesuit. It requires a certain kind of horny nature, plus an inner lonesomeness, and a love of words, not necessarily in that order. The question I often wonder about is why most erotica writers appear to be baby boomers like me, rather than horny twenty somethings. My guess is that it takes time to find your voice or for the hormones to settle down long enough to put words to paper, until like Hamlet’s mum “the heyday in the blood is tame and waits upon the judgment”. Why write about it when you could be doing it?
In craft books, they often say write what you know. The problem with most of us is we don’t know very much. So what happens is, we usually write what we read and what we grew up reading as teenagers.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a huge fan of the penny dreadful true crime magazines in the Russia of his day and read them avidly. At some point he decided to try his hand at writing them, but he’s not just anybody, he’s Dostoyevsky, so his attempts at hitting it rich with popular John Grisham crime thrillers turned out to be “The Brothers Karamazov” and “Crime and Punishment”. He couldn't help it.
For the apprentice writer, genre serves a useful purpose, it tells someone like me what I should be studying. I study the masters in my genres. This is true for any art. The Beatles became the Beatles by playing Buddy Holly and Little Richard covers in violent German strip joints night after night for 8 hour long sets where if the crowd didn’t like your sound they threw wooden chairs at you. Ray Bradbury was a fan of carnivals, Flash Gordon Sunday funnies, and whiz-bang science fiction pulps and it was in those magazines he first made his name by imitating his heroes. Me, I study Bradbury, Nikos Kazanzakis, Richard Matheson, Stephen King and a pile of others, old school and new school. I’ve studied Lisabet’s sex scenes meticulously. I study Elmore Leonard’s dialogue. When I find a passage in a story of my chosen genre that knocks me out I hand copy out the passage in a notebook, word for word – note for note – to try to get a feelfor how that person uses language and imagination. I want to get in that writer’s skin when that paragraph was being formed in their head.
One of the most powerful things I ever read was several years ago in an Internet chat room when a young man posted a bewildered story that tonight he’d just had his first sex. It was with an old family friend he’d known all his life, a woman older than his mother. I think the most erotic thing is that thing you never see coming, the thing that just happens all by itself. They were watching TV alone on her living room sofa which they often did; the show wasn’t very interesting and they started talking about birthmarks. I have a birthmark here says the young man. I have one like that over here, says the woman. I’ve got one down here, but its hard to see says the boy. I have one inside here says the woman, lifting up her old bath robe - but you have to look close. A little more mutual showing and looking and that bath robe is getting pretty loose and she says to him “I think we had better stop this now. Unless. Do you think you might like to go in the other room?”
After it was over and he was washing up, the woman - a little panicked herself now - had called out to him from the bed “How do you feel?” He says he said to her “I feel like I just fucked my grandmother.” That knocked the breath out of me. What the hell just happened to us? Are we in trouble? The sense of guilt and awesome wonder mixed together in his written voice surpassed anything I’ve ever read or written. It wasn’t eloquent writing at all. It was bad clumsy writing, something no editor would ever publish. But it was poetry. You felt the freaky truth of it get under your skin. This kid’s life had changed tonight. If in a deadly moment his life ever passes in front of his eyes, that mature woman on the sofa with her bath robe spread open, and her hungry fearful eyes, will surely be in there somewhere.
That was erotica.
C. Sanchez-Garcia
Fiction By C. Sanchez-Garcia
Fiction By C. Sanchez-Garcia
http://csanchezgarcia.blogspot.com
http://ohgetagrip.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com\csanchez_garcia
When I walk through a used bookstore, anywhere I go, bookcases, whole walls and aisles are packed with forlorn romance novels who had their moment, now begging to be loved again, like walking through the desperate kennels of the Humane society. I look at them and think – how do you compete with all that? How do you get an audience when people are turning out these books like hamburgers? Roughly 50% of the books sold in the US are romance novels. Whole Canadian forests just massacred to produce romance paperbacks, with cover paintings of shirtless handsome beefcakes oddly devoid of body hair, and chesty maidens with half closed eyes, all “rape and adverbs”, that are here and gone as brief as mayflies.
I don't believe we chose the genre we write in. I think the genre chooses us.
That’s my experience. It’s a calling, like being a country western singer or a Jesuit. It requires a certain kind of horny nature, plus an inner lonesomeness, and a love of words, not necessarily in that order. The question I often wonder about is why most erotica writers appear to be baby boomers like me, rather than horny twenty somethings. My guess is that it takes time to find your voice or for the hormones to settle down long enough to put words to paper, until like Hamlet’s mum “the heyday in the blood is tame and waits upon the judgment”. Why write about it when you could be doing it?
In craft books, they often say write what you know. The problem with most of us is we don’t know very much. So what happens is, we usually write what we read and what we grew up reading as teenagers.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky was a huge fan of the penny dreadful true crime magazines in the Russia of his day and read them avidly. At some point he decided to try his hand at writing them, but he’s not just anybody, he’s Dostoyevsky, so his attempts at hitting it rich with popular John Grisham crime thrillers turned out to be “The Brothers Karamazov” and “Crime and Punishment”. He couldn't help it.
For the apprentice writer, genre serves a useful purpose, it tells someone like me what I should be studying. I study the masters in my genres. This is true for any art. The Beatles became the Beatles by playing Buddy Holly and Little Richard covers in violent German strip joints night after night for 8 hour long sets where if the crowd didn’t like your sound they threw wooden chairs at you. Ray Bradbury was a fan of carnivals, Flash Gordon Sunday funnies, and whiz-bang science fiction pulps and it was in those magazines he first made his name by imitating his heroes. Me, I study Bradbury, Nikos Kazanzakis, Richard Matheson, Stephen King and a pile of others, old school and new school. I’ve studied Lisabet’s sex scenes meticulously. I study Elmore Leonard’s dialogue. When I find a passage in a story of my chosen genre that knocks me out I hand copy out the passage in a notebook, word for word – note for note – to try to get a feelfor how that person uses language and imagination. I want to get in that writer’s skin when that paragraph was being formed in their head.
One of the most powerful things I ever read was several years ago in an Internet chat room when a young man posted a bewildered story that tonight he’d just had his first sex. It was with an old family friend he’d known all his life, a woman older than his mother. I think the most erotic thing is that thing you never see coming, the thing that just happens all by itself. They were watching TV alone on her living room sofa which they often did; the show wasn’t very interesting and they started talking about birthmarks. I have a birthmark here says the young man. I have one like that over here, says the woman. I’ve got one down here, but its hard to see says the boy. I have one inside here says the woman, lifting up her old bath robe - but you have to look close. A little more mutual showing and looking and that bath robe is getting pretty loose and she says to him “I think we had better stop this now. Unless. Do you think you might like to go in the other room?”
After it was over and he was washing up, the woman - a little panicked herself now - had called out to him from the bed “How do you feel?” He says he said to her “I feel like I just fucked my grandmother.” That knocked the breath out of me. What the hell just happened to us? Are we in trouble? The sense of guilt and awesome wonder mixed together in his written voice surpassed anything I’ve ever read or written. It wasn’t eloquent writing at all. It was bad clumsy writing, something no editor would ever publish. But it was poetry. You felt the freaky truth of it get under your skin. This kid’s life had changed tonight. If in a deadly moment his life ever passes in front of his eyes, that mature woman on the sofa with her bath robe spread open, and her hungry fearful eyes, will surely be in there somewhere.
That was erotica.
C. Sanchez-Garcia
Fiction By C. Sanchez-Garcia
Fiction By C. Sanchez-Garcia
http://csanchezgarcia.blogspot.com
http://ohgetagrip.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com\csanchez_garcia
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
What the heck does genre have to do with it
by Jude Mason
When I first began writing seriously I was asked, what genre are your stories in? My first reaction was, huh? I wrote sex stories. I wrote about people in all walks of life finding different ways to hop into bed/backseat of car, pond, hammock or streetcar to do the nasty. What was this genre thing?
I still feel somewhat like this. I know there's sci-fi, horror, gblt, romance, BDSM, historical and a dozen others, but what did that have to do with me? You mean I'm supposed to put a title on these things and decide on a genre? One genre?
Are you all insane?!
To this day, I rarely stick to one genre. What's the fun in that? Mixing it up, that's what makes it fun. It also just seems to happen. LOL Yes, after years of practice, and working for specific fetish e-zine for three years, I have learned to keep a story in one-ish genre. Sigh. But, honestly, other genres did creep in. I mean you start out writing romance, right? Then, you have the space aliens invade the civilized galazy and ~BAM~ you have science fiction in there. Or, the space captain is gay and you've got gblt along with it. It's just so easy to slip into something else, no matter how you plan things.
I grew up on science fiction and it still has a place in my heart. Bradbury, Heinlein, Burroughs and many more, all recognizable by their last names alone. I loved them and still do. Some of the things I've written I'm sure have a taste of them in it. I hope so, they were amazing artists. But even they strayed into mutli-genre works. Tarzan did meet and fall in love with Jane after all.
Do I think readers want us to stick to one genre? Well, the big NY houses would have us believe so. And they do sell. Although of late, I've heard rumblings that they're not doing as well as they'd like to and seem to be blaming us internet authors and our e-publishing houses. Methinks readers want to spread their wings as well. From the posts I've seen here and elsewhere, it's become pretty evident that readers like to explore as much as we the authors do.
Who'd a thunk it?
True, there are some who read strictly historical romance, and I have no issue with them. What you read in your off time is entirely up to you, and there are writers who love to fill your needs. But, I really do think people are ready for mixed genre books. They crave the escapizm we can give them. E-publishers are always after, something a little different, and the authors are struggling to fill those needs.
Yes, labeling these books isn't always easy. But, what's wrong with having a label that says, 'M/M, Sci-fi, romance' ? That'd be those two space captains I spoke of a second ago. *G* The readers will havea label to help them decide if it's the book their looking for. The publishing house is given an amazing book and the author has been give free rein to explore his or her creativity. I think it's a win win situation here.
But, it's still a hard sell. Too difficult to pigeon hole. Too frustrating for the seller.
Variety truly is the spice of life and I'm afraid if left to my own devices the genres can get pretty scattered. I'll always love BDSM, it's a lovely genre to write in. Femdom is in there too, and I do love a strong man bowing to a strong woman. *G* I'm really fond of m/m and the last few books I've written, both alone and with my co-writer, Jamie Hill, have been in that genre. I could go on with the genres I love to write, but that really could take pages. Paranormal, shapeshifters, historicals, f/f...and so many more. Mix em up, add a dab of another genre and it's got me going. Hopefully, it's got the readers going too.
Anyone have a single genre they like? Is that really a single genre or did one of those naughty sub-genres sneak in? Think about it.
When I first began writing seriously I was asked, what genre are your stories in? My first reaction was, huh? I wrote sex stories. I wrote about people in all walks of life finding different ways to hop into bed/backseat of car, pond, hammock or streetcar to do the nasty. What was this genre thing?
I still feel somewhat like this. I know there's sci-fi, horror, gblt, romance, BDSM, historical and a dozen others, but what did that have to do with me? You mean I'm supposed to put a title on these things and decide on a genre? One genre?
Are you all insane?!
To this day, I rarely stick to one genre. What's the fun in that? Mixing it up, that's what makes it fun. It also just seems to happen. LOL Yes, after years of practice, and working for specific fetish e-zine for three years, I have learned to keep a story in one-ish genre. Sigh. But, honestly, other genres did creep in. I mean you start out writing romance, right? Then, you have the space aliens invade the civilized galazy and ~BAM~ you have science fiction in there. Or, the space captain is gay and you've got gblt along with it. It's just so easy to slip into something else, no matter how you plan things.
I grew up on science fiction and it still has a place in my heart. Bradbury, Heinlein, Burroughs and many more, all recognizable by their last names alone. I loved them and still do. Some of the things I've written I'm sure have a taste of them in it. I hope so, they were amazing artists. But even they strayed into mutli-genre works. Tarzan did meet and fall in love with Jane after all.
Do I think readers want us to stick to one genre? Well, the big NY houses would have us believe so. And they do sell. Although of late, I've heard rumblings that they're not doing as well as they'd like to and seem to be blaming us internet authors and our e-publishing houses. Methinks readers want to spread their wings as well. From the posts I've seen here and elsewhere, it's become pretty evident that readers like to explore as much as we the authors do.
Who'd a thunk it?
True, there are some who read strictly historical romance, and I have no issue with them. What you read in your off time is entirely up to you, and there are writers who love to fill your needs. But, I really do think people are ready for mixed genre books. They crave the escapizm we can give them. E-publishers are always after, something a little different, and the authors are struggling to fill those needs.
Yes, labeling these books isn't always easy. But, what's wrong with having a label that says, 'M/M, Sci-fi, romance' ? That'd be those two space captains I spoke of a second ago. *G* The readers will havea label to help them decide if it's the book their looking for. The publishing house is given an amazing book and the author has been give free rein to explore his or her creativity. I think it's a win win situation here.
But, it's still a hard sell. Too difficult to pigeon hole. Too frustrating for the seller.
Variety truly is the spice of life and I'm afraid if left to my own devices the genres can get pretty scattered. I'll always love BDSM, it's a lovely genre to write in. Femdom is in there too, and I do love a strong man bowing to a strong woman. *G* I'm really fond of m/m and the last few books I've written, both alone and with my co-writer, Jamie Hill, have been in that genre. I could go on with the genres I love to write, but that really could take pages. Paranormal, shapeshifters, historicals, f/f...and so many more. Mix em up, add a dab of another genre and it's got me going. Hopefully, it's got the readers going too.
Anyone have a single genre they like? Is that really a single genre or did one of those naughty sub-genres sneak in? Think about it.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Tramps like us, baby we were born to run
By Detective Sam Nielson
Carrying a badge comes with certain benefits. Jamie had this dumbass blog entry scheduled about ‘my favorite genre’ and I couldn’t freaking stand it.
Select, Copy, Delete.
Takes care of that. I am Jamie’s favorite genre and I’m sure I’m her favorite hero ever. (Nothing wrong with my ego.) I’m taking over the blog because I need to talk.
My name is Sam Nielson and I’m a detective in the New York Police Department. Oh, and in case I forget to mention it, I’m gay. This will make much more sense if you know that. My two best friends and I met in the police academy twenty years ago. If you read my buddy Nick D’Amato’s story, Dancing in the Dark, you know this part. Bear with me, because I tell a much better story than that fuckwad D’Amato.
In those days, cadets weren't as closely supervised. Hell, it was probably me, Nick, and our other pal Gil who caused them to tighten rules at the police academy. Training is one thing, being on the job is totally another. In the NYPD, the policy has always been a don't ask, don't tell kind of thing. A few of my co-workers know I’m gay. They also knew I’m a damned good cop, so it’s really not an issue.
Finding another gay guy at the academy was amazing. Nick and I had some great times. When we met Gil, and got comfortable with each other, the three of us had weekend orgies at a nearby hotel. We were three young studs, able to go at it repeatedly, for hours. Those were the days, my friend.
Eventually, our time at the academy ended. We each went our separate ways, deciding our friendship was more important than lust. Over the years we’ve become closer than any of us dreamed possible. Sometimes our jobs bring us together, but if not, we have a standing date every other Friday night at Houlihan’s, a cop bar in the Bronx.
We were there when I first spotted him. Neatly buzzed black hair, light brown Hispanic skin, muscular body and a face that could launch a thousand hard-ons. Bobby Rodriguez. He was a new transfer to my very own unit, Fort Apache. He knew who I was. I thought I’d seen him somewhere. I’ll never forget him again.
We were assigned a case together right off the bat. I guess I was kind of an asshole. He thought I had problems working with a gay cop, and said he’d ask to be reassigned. My jaw coulda hit the floor. I explained, with a lump in my throat, that the only problem was the hard-on he’d caused from the moment I’d met him. It wasn’t any better, sitting in a car next to him. I was screwed. Or soon would be. Heh heh heh
He surprised me again when we got back to my place. Bobby asked if I liked things a little kinky. I told him I really didn’t know. He asked if I trusted him. I knew the answer to that one—yes. With the swift movement of a trained police officer, Bobby pulled a set of handcuffs from his back pocket and snapped one ring around my wrist. He gazed at me and smiled. "Glad to hear you say that. Because I'd never hurt you—much."
My full story releases today from Phaze Books. Born to Run is book two in the Phaze Rocks: Streets of Fire Series. Oh, in case I forgot to mention it, my friends and I are addicted to Springsteen. His old stuff, circa seventies and eighties. Some things just can’t be improved upon. On the other hand, my new Master, Bobby, has shown me that some things can.
Stay outta trouble,
~ Sam
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Genres? We don't need no stinking genres!
by Lisabet Sarai
Jamie’s topic for this week at Oh Get A Grip asks the question, what’s your favorite genre to write? My reaction is perhaps not so extreme as my title would suggest, but to be honest, I’m rather fed up with the whole concept. The way I see it, genres are primarily a marketing issue. The market slaps a genre label onto your work and puts you in a box.
I don’t like to be cooped up in a box. (Well, not unless my Master put me there!) My writing tends to cross genres. I write M/M, F/F, M/F/M, M/M/F, and pretty much every other combination of genders that you could imagine – in the same book. I have BDSM elements, paranormal elements, cross-cultural elements and historical settings – all bound up together.
My recently released novel Exposure is labeled as “erotic suspense”, and I suppose that is as accurate as any single label would be, but then I worry: will my readers be upset by the F/F scenes? And what about the readers who love lesbian fiction? How will they know they can find it in my book?
Incognito is tagged as “contemporary erotic romance”, yet nearly a third of the book takes place in Victorian Boston. Raw Silk was contracted to its original publisher as “erotica”. Now it’s selling as “erotic romance”. I probably changed no more than 1% of the text. Was that enough to change the genre? Of course not!
I recently pitched a story to one of my publishers, a contribution to a menage anthology. The editor rejected it because it had some male/male interaction, and this anthology was supposed to be restricted to M/F/M only.
Grr! I mean, it’s up to her what she wants to publish, but I can’t help thinking that she has a rather narrow definition of menage.
I understand why publishers want to assign genre labels. It’s a short cut for readers looking for a particular sort of subject matter. You liked the last two werewolf novels you bought? Here, try another one. Or twelve. But perhaps readers might be happier experimenting. As much as I love well-written BDSM, I can’t take a steady diet of it. Am I weird, wanting to have some variety? Wanting to mix it up? (My husband will energetically assert that I am indeed weird, but not for that reason!)
From what I’ve observed in my two and a half years in the ePublishing world, genre labels seem to encourage a distressing level of uniformity. We see piles of shapeshifter books, hundreds of vampire romances. Every week a dozen new volumes set in mystical realms inhabited by beings with magical powers hit the cyber-shelves.
Maybe most readers really are looking for predictability. Not me. When I read, I want to be surprised. Astonished by the author’s original premise. Sucked into places I didn’t expect to go.
Weird, right?
One genre label that drives me crazy is “inter-racial romance”. To me, categorizing a romance based on the race of the protagonists smacks of bigotry and prejudice. Sure, a black woman and a white man (or vice versa) may be more of a turn on for some people than a same-race couple, but to me, using the “inter-racial” label seems to be validating and perpetuating the old myths associated with segregation and slavery.
I’ve been assured by authors who explicitly identify their work as “inter-racial” that this sub-genre sells well. Ah well, I suppose the market rules. As for me, I’ve written stories featuring mixed race lovers, but I’ll never use the word “inter-racial” to try and sell them. Just my feelings.
It suddenly strikes me that my argument against the inter-racial label sounds similar to the complaints some people make about BDSM. It encourages violence against women, they say. It makes cruelty and abuse acceptable and sexy.
Now personally, I know that this is hogwash – at least for the type of BDSM that I write. The BDSM relationships in which my characters are involved are intimate, enjoyable, fulfilling, even healing. I suppose, though, that someone who had never read my work or experienced the potential joy to be found in a D/s relationship might well find BDSM fiction alien and threatening, sick and dangerous.
This, in turn, makes me realize that another purpose of genre labels is to warn readers away from fiction that would make them uncomfortable. I suppose I can understand this, but it still makes me wonder. If they’ve never read BDSM, or FF, or MM, how do they know they won’t like it. Do readers really want the same stories, the same experience, over and over?
Maybe they do. Maybe I’m just weird. Maybe that’s why my writing doesn’t sell better!
What do you think?
Jamie’s topic for this week at Oh Get A Grip asks the question, what’s your favorite genre to write? My reaction is perhaps not so extreme as my title would suggest, but to be honest, I’m rather fed up with the whole concept. The way I see it, genres are primarily a marketing issue. The market slaps a genre label onto your work and puts you in a box.
I don’t like to be cooped up in a box. (Well, not unless my Master put me there!) My writing tends to cross genres. I write M/M, F/F, M/F/M, M/M/F, and pretty much every other combination of genders that you could imagine – in the same book. I have BDSM elements, paranormal elements, cross-cultural elements and historical settings – all bound up together.
My recently released novel Exposure is labeled as “erotic suspense”, and I suppose that is as accurate as any single label would be, but then I worry: will my readers be upset by the F/F scenes? And what about the readers who love lesbian fiction? How will they know they can find it in my book?
Incognito is tagged as “contemporary erotic romance”, yet nearly a third of the book takes place in Victorian Boston. Raw Silk was contracted to its original publisher as “erotica”. Now it’s selling as “erotic romance”. I probably changed no more than 1% of the text. Was that enough to change the genre? Of course not!
I recently pitched a story to one of my publishers, a contribution to a menage anthology. The editor rejected it because it had some male/male interaction, and this anthology was supposed to be restricted to M/F/M only.
Grr! I mean, it’s up to her what she wants to publish, but I can’t help thinking that she has a rather narrow definition of menage.
I understand why publishers want to assign genre labels. It’s a short cut for readers looking for a particular sort of subject matter. You liked the last two werewolf novels you bought? Here, try another one. Or twelve. But perhaps readers might be happier experimenting. As much as I love well-written BDSM, I can’t take a steady diet of it. Am I weird, wanting to have some variety? Wanting to mix it up? (My husband will energetically assert that I am indeed weird, but not for that reason!)
From what I’ve observed in my two and a half years in the ePublishing world, genre labels seem to encourage a distressing level of uniformity. We see piles of shapeshifter books, hundreds of vampire romances. Every week a dozen new volumes set in mystical realms inhabited by beings with magical powers hit the cyber-shelves.
Maybe most readers really are looking for predictability. Not me. When I read, I want to be surprised. Astonished by the author’s original premise. Sucked into places I didn’t expect to go.
Weird, right?
One genre label that drives me crazy is “inter-racial romance”. To me, categorizing a romance based on the race of the protagonists smacks of bigotry and prejudice. Sure, a black woman and a white man (or vice versa) may be more of a turn on for some people than a same-race couple, but to me, using the “inter-racial” label seems to be validating and perpetuating the old myths associated with segregation and slavery.
I’ve been assured by authors who explicitly identify their work as “inter-racial” that this sub-genre sells well. Ah well, I suppose the market rules. As for me, I’ve written stories featuring mixed race lovers, but I’ll never use the word “inter-racial” to try and sell them. Just my feelings.
It suddenly strikes me that my argument against the inter-racial label sounds similar to the complaints some people make about BDSM. It encourages violence against women, they say. It makes cruelty and abuse acceptable and sexy.
Now personally, I know that this is hogwash – at least for the type of BDSM that I write. The BDSM relationships in which my characters are involved are intimate, enjoyable, fulfilling, even healing. I suppose, though, that someone who had never read my work or experienced the potential joy to be found in a D/s relationship might well find BDSM fiction alien and threatening, sick and dangerous.This, in turn, makes me realize that another purpose of genre labels is to warn readers away from fiction that would make them uncomfortable. I suppose I can understand this, but it still makes me wonder. If they’ve never read BDSM, or FF, or MM, how do they know they won’t like it. Do readers really want the same stories, the same experience, over and over?
Maybe they do. Maybe I’m just weird. Maybe that’s why my writing doesn’t sell better!
What do you think?
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Valentine's Day: What's your take?
Please welcome guest author Adrianne Brennan to the Grip!
Every year Valentine's Day passes by and it's never been much of a landmark. Beyond seeing a ton of pink and red cards, boxes of candy in the stores, and diamond commercials insisting upon a colorless rock's significance in a woman's life, I've never really thought much of the holiday.
~ "Where love and magic meet" ~
http://www.adriannebrennan.com
Experience the magic of Blood of the Dark Moon: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/botdm.html
Take a bite out of Blood and Mint Chocolates: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/bamc.html
Dare to take The Oath in my latest fantasy series: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
Every year Valentine's Day passes by and it's never been much of a landmark. Beyond seeing a ton of pink and red cards, boxes of candy in the stores, and diamond commercials insisting upon a colorless rock's significance in a woman's life, I've never really thought much of the holiday. Valentine's Day has become a commercial sell-out. Some couples mark it as one more excuse to celebrate their love and devotion and I see nothing wrong with that. Hey, the more excuses the merrier, right? ;) But on the whole, I also know of some who flat out refuse to celebrate it and they have their reasons.
I think honoring your partner and celebrating love should be done 24/7/365 not attributed to a Hallmark greeting card or a box of candy. When you get something for your partner "just because" versus buying for a commercialized holiday, I believe that to have greater meaning.
It's funny. As an erotic romance writer, I feel like I'm expected to champion the holiday. There's a greater pressure to write and read romance and those who are not single by choice are made to feel miserable on this day. Thankfully I feel that I know better than this; my idea of what constitutes romance probably wouldn't sell, but I understand that what is "ideal" is different for everyone.
Romance to me is putting up with all of the thorns amidst the roses. It's cleaning up after your partner when they get sick. It's keeping chemistry and passion alive while battling day to day stresses and woes. When romance can thrive hand in hand with reality's messes, that to me is real romance.
So regardless of whether or not you choose to celebrate today, do remember this: hug your loved ones and appreciate them for all that they're worth, flaws in all. They are of more value than all of the diamonds in the world.
Love & Magic,
Adrianne
---
http://www.adriannebrennan.com
Experience the magic of Blood of the Dark Moon: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/botdm.html
Take a bite out of Blood and Mint Chocolates: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/bamc.html
Dare to take The Oath in my latest fantasy series: http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
Friday, February 13, 2009
My Crap-Ass Valentine
By Helen E. H. Madden
I am a crap-ass Valentine, by which I mean I suck big time at the whole "get a card, buy a gift for my sweetie" thing. And this year is proving to be no exception. By the time you read this, I will be in my car, hauling ass to Timonium, Maryland, for the Farpoint science fiction convention, where I will be pimping my new book, Future Perfect, from Logical Lust Publications. And of course, the book is being released on Valentine's Day, so buy a copy for your sweetie!
As for my sweetie, my dearest darling husband, what will I be getting him for Valentine's Day? How about a three-day weekend of non-stop fun with our two kids, all expenses paid! Um, expenses paid by him, I should say. Yes, folks, that man of mine will be overjoyed to spend 72 hours straight with the Princess of Pink and Destructo-Pixie (better known as Child #1 and Child #2). He will enjoy HOURS of Disney princess movies, tea parties, crayoning on the walls, fights over which Barbie belongs to which child, and non-stop whining over My Little Pony underpants. Meanwhile, I will be hob-nobbing with these guys, discussing the finer points of science fiction and fantasy literature and movies (plus maybe having a conversation or two about erotica and my new book).
I so suck at Valentine's Day.
And this suckage is not just limited to February 14th. I also suck at my husband's birthday (I gave him a pack of AAA batteries one year), our wedding anniversary (pot-holders make an excellent gift for the man you love - not!), and Father's Day (I gave birth to his demonic offspring!! What more does this man want?!). It doesn't help that all three of these events fall within the same two weeks in June.
Why do I suck at this sort of thing? I love my husband, really, I do! But I'm just not a romantic sort of gal. I don't get the whole frilly, frou-frou flowers and chocolates gig that comes with Valentine's Day. Well okay, I DO get the chocolates. How could anyone not want chocolate? But the whole idea of romance? Eh, it doesn't make much sense to me.
When we were dating, I didn't woo my husband so much as I clubbed him over the head, dragged him back to my dorm room and then screwed him senseless seven times in one night. And when we got engaged, I didn't get all teary-eyed over the fact that he got down on one knee to propose -- I fell asleep (in my defense, he did propose at 3AM and I had been up 22 hours straight by that point).
I'm an erotica writer, so you'd think I would at least pull off another all night lust-fest on these days of romantic import, but alas my burgeoning career (BUY MY BOOK!! PLEASE!!), parental duties (I swear, those kids really are demon spawn!), and extreme schedule (I'll sleep when I'm dead), have taken a slight toll on that aspect of our marriage.
It's sad, ain't it? Over the last 19 years, my husband has held my hand, fixed my computer, driven me to the emergency room six times, held a bucket for me to puke in, and done numerous other countless things to let me know he loves me. And how am I showing my love for him in return this upcoming weekend?
Well, I did dedicate the new book to him. It says...
To Michael, because you can't buy good tech support, you gotta sleep with it and bear its children.
There now, isn't that romantic?
Okay, maybe there's still time for me to get him an iTunes gift card...
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