When is romantic suspense not romantic suspense?
Damned if I know. My Carina book, “Learning To Trust,” which
I thought was romantic suspense, was categorised as contemporary romance in
many places. I thought that with dead bodies, bombs and a bit of assassination,
that might qualify it, but in my books the romance is always upfront and
center, the most important part of any story I write, be it paranormal,
contemporary, historical, or indeed, suspense.
What’s more, I’ve won an award for romantic suspense, an
EPPIE (now retitled). It happened in a year when I had a lot of books I wanted
to enter in the EPPIEs, but I didn’t want to enter too many in the same
category, and so have them compete against themselves and perhaps weaken the
vote.
The EPPIEs happened when writers entered their books for
awards, and chose the categories they were entered into. Then the books were
sent to readers, who judged them, giving each book points, and that included
relevance in the category they were entered in.
I had a paranormal, and several historicals that year,
including two Richard and Rose books, the series that made my name. I could
never choose between them, and I didn’t want to, so I decided to take a chance
and enter them into different categories.
“Harley Street” was a book that started with a murder, which
then factored into Richard and Rose’s lives in an alarming way, and spread over
the remaining books in the series, only finally resolved in the upcoming “Lisbon.”
But there was this murder, so I figured I could get away with entering it in
the Romantic Suspense category.
And blow me down, that was the book that won. Historical mystery
is an unusual and fascinating subgenre, and mine was even more specific,
because it was a romance novel, or a novel featuring a very strong romance.
So what do I know? “Learning to Trust” was, I felt, an
important step for me into another genre, but not everyone thought so, probably
because the romance is the thing, rather than the suspense. I still love the book,
and I’m still thrilled that it got into a publishing house like Carina. But it
was really hard for me to write. The issues are dark and gritty, and writing a
romance with that in mind was harder than usual. However, some of my
paranormals are also suspense books, featuring secret agents, murders and other
good things. But paranormal suspense is a genre I’ve just made up. Bloody good,
though. I’d read a paranormal suspense in a heartbeat. Hey, aren’t the Harry
Dresden books paranormal suspense?
As I said, damned if I know. I’ll let the experts decide in
future.
Lynne Connolly
5 comments:
No matter how you categorize them, Lynne, you write a good story and that's all that matters!
Figuring this stuff out can be a nightmare :)
Yep, best for what somebody else figure it out. Even saying a book is romance is becoming difficult. Views on romance have changed drastically in the past 10 and 15 years. Even defining that can be difficult.
I can't categorize half the books I read, let alone my own. I understand "why" books have to be labled for marketing/shelving purposes, but most of the time I think the "experts" are wrong.
I also have a hard time categorizing. I guess it's all about the balance of one element versus the other. But the lines have blurred lately and I think most readers enjoy a blend of genres.
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