Okay, let’s clear up a few things right now, right at the beginning. I do not, repeat do NOT, write romance. Some of my friends and readers describe it that way, but I guarantee there are some romance readers who are a little peeved that my novels and novellas are being labeled “romance.” Let me tell you why:
- I don’t “dip into” the hero’s head. Most of my narrators are not omniscient, even in the limited sense. They stay close, very close, to my protagonist’s. Why? Well, let’s save that for another blog post, shall we? I have much to say on the subject.
- While I like to write about romantic entanglements, I don’t want that to be the only focus of my stories. For instance, in Tangled Web, Katie was not only struggling with her hidden lust/love of her dear old friend Johnny, she also came to the realization that she was denying her true passions, and she had to resolve that problem. Granted, some of my stories have more complicated plots than others, but I don’t ever want to be tied down to just a romantic plot.
- I don’t want the ending to be known before we get there. Let’s face it: we love romance novels because we know that—no matter what happens—the guy and the girl will get together at the end. But I don’t always need that to happen with my books, and I don’t want us to know before we get there. (That said, my guy and girl do get together 99.9 percent of the time, but isn’t it a lot more exciting to not know for sure until the end?)
So…I like to label my fiction as women’s fiction. It’s not erotic, either, because let’s face—there’s just not enough sex. I don’t shy away from it, but, again, I don’t want to force it for its own sake. So let’s just call my novels and novellas “steamy women’s fiction” and leave it at that. If you have any other ideas for a label, feel free to let me know!
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