This past Saturday, my local RWA chapter celebrated its 10th anniversary. That’s 10 years in which I’ve been seriously writing and submitting. In that time, I’ve written 18 full manuscripts and partials for a couple others. Hopefully, my writing has improved over that time. Judging on my results from contests as well as editors, I think it has. Now just to get that elusive sale. The types of stories I’ve written have changed from that first story on paper. I began with a Western historical, moved into contemporary, then quickly into romantic suspense. In the past couple of years, I’ve added women’s fiction, paranormal and young adult stories.
My reading habits have changed over the years too. When I first started reading romance in high school, I read historicals all the time. At that time, American-set stories were popular, including those set during the Civil War. Now, the historicals being published are mainly set in England or Scotland, and you never see the American Civil War as a setting. I don’t particularly miss the Civil War books, though I read some good ones, but I do wish there were more American-set historicals being published, particularly Westerns. I was happy when Stacey Kayne sold several westerns within the past year. Maybe they’re on the upswing.
In addition to historicals, though, I’ve discovered I love to read paranormal romance, urban fantasy and young adult. There are a number of excellent contemporary romance authors too. Romance has evolved to the point where there is a sub-genre for everyone, no matter what kinds of stories you enjoy reading.
So what about you? Are there types of stories no longer being published that you miss? Have your reading tastes evolved over the years? If you’re a writer, have the types of stories you’re writing changed as well?
April 26th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Hi, Trish! Thanks for visiting my blog today!
My writing hasn’t changed much over the years. I’ve done contemp. romance, and then women’s fiction. But my WF had romance in it. I just can’t seem to get away from it.
I love to read just about everything. When I started reading, it was mostly Harlequin Romance (in college). Then I didn’t read much for a few years. When I started back, it was with historical and paranormal romance. Then I discovered women’s fiction and have mostly read that over the last few years. I also read the longer romance novels (love romcom) and inspirational romance/women’s fiction.
I just love to read when I find the time!
Also, I’m amazed at the number of complete manuscripts you have! I just know you’ll have that first big sale soon, then you’ll be stocked up for future sales.
I can’t wait to hear you’ve sold!
Missy
April 27th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Wow, that’s a lot of words! You are definitely due for a sale. I hope it happens for you soon.
To answer your questions… I think I’m actually seeing more of my kind of stuff being published now than there was when I was a kid. YA fantasy seems to be pretty big right now, and that’s right up my alley. I couldn’t find much when I was younger. The Narnia books, Diane Duane’s So You Want To Be A Wizard?, Pamela Dean.
My reading tastes have evolved, but I think they’ve stepped sideways rather than jumping to new genres altogether. I’ve always liked fantasy, and I’ve always liked romances. But I’ve gone from YA fantasy to traditional fantasy to urban fantasy and back to YA again. Ditto with romances – I went through contemporaries, then historicals (England and Scotland, not the westerns), then paranormals. I don’t really read many romances anymore, though I still look at the new ones as they come out in case something looks interesting to me.
Right now I’m loving YA fantasy.
My first attempts at writing were heavily influenced first by Piers Anthony’s Blue Adept series, and then by Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar books. Then for a while I quit writing altogether. I got back in through Harry Potter fanfiction, and now I’m writing YA fantasy. I’m pretty firmly set in that genre, I think, though I may try my hand at an urban fantasy if the right story presents itself.
April 27th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Thanks, Missy and Laura. Laura, I’m loving this resurgence of YA, particularly the paranormal YA. Have you read Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books? Awesome!
April 28th, 2007 at 10:27 am
I have read Twilight, and I enjoyed it while I was caught up in it. But once I’d finished and had time to let it sink in, there were a few issues that kept nagging at me. Those carried through to the sequel, and I ended up not finishing the second book.
It just seemed to me that the romance was based on a physical reaction to each other that was beyond their control. Especially for the heroine (whose name escapes me at the moment) – she was in thrall to Edward. She was like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle, too dazzled to react to the danger. She didn’t have any real choice except to be attracted to him, because his physiology was designed to entrance her and draw her in. The whole basis of their relationship was predator/prey. If you took away that dynamic, would they have a relationship? I didn’t think so.
With the sequel, I basically stopped reading when the subject of Italy came up. I kept expecting the author to make a point of showing that this relationship was not one that was built to last…but all signs pointed to it lasting. And I really couldn’t get behind that.
It’s a shame because I loved the setting – I’ve a craving now to visit a place like that, where everything is damp and green. And I liked the characters, especially Jasper & his girl (whose name I also forget. My MC is front and center in my mind, and I can’t think of any name but hers right now). I liked the ideas, especially the vampires struggling to overcome their instinctively predatory nature. I liked the language, the slow build, the heft and weight of the story, the way I could sink into it and not even come up for air until hours later. I just couldn’t live with the relationship, really.
May 5th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Hey, Trish. Fellow Wild Card member here. Have you considered submitting to Medallion Press? I know for a fact they are interested in the historical periods others aren’t publishing. In fact, if I remember correctly, they have a civil war and a post WWII novel in their catalog. Just a thought.
I figure if they are willing to publish my historical romance set in Early Reformation Germany, anything goes! I know they believe the historical market is on a strong upswing, and they are looking for material. They are also interested in paranormal.
Good luck.
TJ Bennett