My first introduction to romance novels when I was a teen was through historical romances written by Kathleen Woodiwiss, Shirlee
Busbee, Johanna Lindsey, Jude Devereaux. So when I decided to try my
hand a writing the type of book I loved to read, it was only natural to
write historicals.
When
I first started writing, I can't tell you how many times it was
impressed upon me to pick a sub-grenre of Romance and stick with it. It
didn't matter that I had ideas for stories that easily fell into
paranormal, suspense, contemporary, or historical categories. I was told
time and again I would lose readers if I jumped from one sub-genre to
another. Pick the one I loved best and write those types of books.
For
a long time that's what I did, but then other characters started
populating my head, telling me their stories that would in no way fall
into the historical romance realm. I've written one contemporary, am
finishing a second, and have jotted a good number of notes on a third.
While I love writing in the modern era, I still love writing historicals
too. In fact I hope to start writing Finch's story soon. (Finch is a
secondary character in An Unexpected Gift.)
Then
I start thinking about that "rule" again and wonder if I'm doing the
right thing. But then I think about writers such as Maya Banks who
writes historical, suspense, and erotica. While I don't consider myself
in the same league, she's a great example of being successful in
multiple sub-genres.
As a reader and/or writer, how do you feel about authors who write in multiple sub-genres of romance? Like it? Don't? Why?
