Finding My Niche In The World of Novels

One of the toughest things for me in pursuing a writing career is being one of approximately 3 people in the known universe who don't want to write (or read) romance novels of any genre.

On the whole, as a would-be reader of fiction, I most often find myself dissatisfied because writers don't pursue in depth any relationships other than romantic ones.  I want something more.  And that is a very large part of what drives me to write.

Since I don't want to write what is most common, romance, that leads naturally to the next question---so what DO I want to write? And because my take on things is outside the norm, how can I put that unique perspective to work with my stories?

That got me to thinking about favorite TV shows I watched growing up, as well as favorite books.  If you were to ask me off the cuff what I enjoy most in television, I would tell you that I love buddy-centric shows.  Simon & Simon (ok, they had to be buddies, they were brothers. LOL!), Starsky & Hutch, Riptide, etc etc.  My favorite novel, Zane Grey's Forlorn River, knocks my socks off because of the friendship between Ben Ide and the former outlaw Nevada.

BUT...I also love shows/books that feature the "lone hero" concept.  MacGyver, Hawaii Five-0 (the original in this case), Gunsmoke (yes, each has a supporting cast, but the lead character stands head and shoulders [in James Arness' case, literally] above the rest.

So I have a running list of 18 different novel/novella ideas that I want to develop. Naturally, I decided I ought to review that list of 18 titles and see if they leaned more toward buddy-centered fiction or something else.  And as I reviewed the story concepts (some more well developed than others), I found myself surprised by the results:

10 story concepts featuring primarily the Lone Hero
5 story concepts featuring buddies
3 story concepts that were romance (yep--you heard that right.  Romance)

Of those 18 titles:
10 were historical genre
6 fall roughly into contemporary suspense
2 contemporary women's fiction

How very interesting, both from a writing and psychological perspective.

I then decided to take those 18 titles or story concepts, and rank them in the order they interested me.  I was also quite fascinated to learn that the first 5-6 I chose as a priority were about evenly spattered between Lone Hero, Buddy, or Romance.

How weird is that?

It gives me much to think over.  Now that the moving hoo-ha is over and life is beginning to settle down into what passes for normal for me (the constant, wearying drama of the day job aside), I need to get back to writing again.  So I need to have this philosophical battle with myself, get it over with, and pick a project to work on next.

All the philosophical debate in the world is useless to me if I don't produce manuscripts.  THAT is what it is all about.

Why NOT Non-Romance?

This question is for both readers AND writers.

We all know the eternal popularity of romance focused novels, whether the commercial romance books such as those put out by Harlequin or the many other genres and styles of writing of whom a primary element is the romance.

Please DON'T extol me with the many reasons why you love romance. I get it. And I am very pleased that so many enjoy reading about this age old relationship that goes back to the dawn of time. I am also very pleased that you have so many books to choose from. There's nothing like having access to all the books you could possibly want to read. It's awesome!

What I do want to know is why writers don't write more NON-romance books and why more readers don't read them? Perhaps I should take a moment and give some definitions:

In the publishing world and among readers, they may differentiate between "romance novel", "love story" and however many other definitions there may be.

I define romance as:
1. Any book for which the major or minor theme is about the love relationship between a man and a woman, whether it be a book where the man and the woman are waiting to "get together" in the end or it is a story of a married couple finding love again after going through some trials of life.
2. To put it more simply--a romance novel to me is any novel for whom I pick up and read the back cover blurb and it mentions romance in any way, shape or form.

I would sincerely like to know why it is that more people don't write non-romance novels and why most readers won't read non-romance novels. Our lives are comprised of so many different kinds of relationships. We are brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends, mentors, acquaintances, employers, employees, etc etc.

Is it because:
1. Writers don't think it's economically sound to write non-romance fiction?
2. Other types of relationships are boring comparatively speaking and don't have the same depth of value that the romantic relationship has?
3. Is writing/reading about non-romance relationships not considered an "escape" read?
4. Is it too hard to come up with story ideas that are non-romance focused?

RE: #1: From my standpoint, there is a LOT of validity to this. As a reader seeking but not finding many non-romance historicals in CBA fiction (I don't know if this is a problem in the general market or not), I think there is extreme pressure to write books with romance threads. From a business standpoint it makes sense--that's where virtually all the readers are. And writers obviously want to make money.

RE: #2: I have no idea what writers and readers think about this. Or even if it even comes up in their minds. I get the impression, due to lack of non-romance titles, that other relationship types seem more boring to the average reader.

#2 is possibly the stickiest reason to address--I can see some argument coming---writers are perfectly capable of weaving stories that are romance but that also address other relationship issues. I absolutely agree. My all time favorite book is Zane Grey's Forlorn River, and there is no question that Zane Grey was known as a writer of the romantic western. But the reason Forlorn River is so awesome is because of the FRIENDSHIP found in its pages, NOT the romance. But the point is--he did BOTH. And yes, even today it is successfully done (i.e. Nancy Turner's These Is My Words, which I have read 3 times, has a beautiful romance in it, but there was a lot more going on in the arena of relationships). But I think the numbers are much smaller, at least to me.

RE: #3: Again, I don't know what the writer/reader is thinking. I can only assume that non-romance books are not quite the escape fiction that romance is (there are exceptions in genres that traditionally don't seem to focus on the romance angle as much, say thrillers).

RE: #4: I wonder if there isn't a good deal of validity to this for a couple reasons:

1. Of all the relationships, certainly romance can be applied in the broadest scope and is hampered least by time, location, and other factors. Certainly more than say, employer/employee, or perhaps even fathers and sons, etc.

2. Since, across the ages, romance, the very nature of our continuing the species, is so hard-wired into our brains, it is difficult for people to NOT think about it and most people wouldn't want to. Even I find myself wondering if some story needs a tiny element of romance, but then I question myself---is it because, like Pavlov's dog, I've been trained to think "everybody wants romance" or is it because the story truly needs it?

So what is my point in writing this post? My point is, I desire to read a form of fiction that is extremely difficult to find--non-romance historical. I talk to other people who wish there was more of a non-romance offering (not necessarily just historical), but this inevitably small segment of the market just doesn't get any traction.

So by blogging about it, I'm hopeful of identifying others who might wish for some non-romance historical fiction and perhaps we can brainstorm together how to connect writers and readers of this fiction.

Fresh Ways To Describe Characters

The subject recently came up of how difficult it sometimes is to find fresh ways to describe your characters. How many ways can you describe blonde hair, or a short beard, someone who is tall, or short?

It is difficult at times. But not impossible. I think the main reason we often struggle with this is not that "we've seen it all before" but because we are so rushed that it short circuits our creativity. I know it does mine. I try to find writing time in the morning but sometimes I'll be panicking inside thinking "Oh no! I only have 20 minutes before I have to leave to go do A, B, and C." I'm so busy being stressed about my to-do's that well-deep creativity is squashed. Just like we can't be distracted and have genuine heart-felt time with the Lord, we also need concentration time for our writing.

It is also good to make your description do double duty---both offer a bit of physical description and tell something about your character at the same time.

Here's an example. I usually end up re-reading Zane Grey's Forlorn River once a year or so, and am in the process of doing that now.

In a scene in this book, one man describes another man this way:

"that pasty-faced potato-head on a whip handle!"

ROTFL!!! There is absolutely no doubt in the reader's mind either about the physical image of this man nor the speaker's opinion of him. And in just a handful of words.

It makes me smile so much when I read it, I can't help but imagine that Mr. Grey smiled as he wrote it. 8-)

So we can find fresh ways to describe our characters, and do double duty too.

Who's Who In The Western Fiction of Zane Grey

Every four months or so, I take a hankering to check out some books on writing. Maybe there is some particular technique I need help on. Or, like today, somehow I feel like there is some little nugget of wisdom out there just waiting for me to find it in the books of writers who have been at it a while. Plus I just needed a shot in the arm to keep me going--to keep toiling away on my books.

I did come home with a stack of books on writing. I'm looking forward to skimming them for those wisdom nuggets. But I wanted to write about another discovery I made today.

As has been mentioned here many times, Zane Grey is my favorite author, his novel Forlorn River being my favorite book of all time--the ultimate piece of buddy fiction, (some might disagree because there is also a strong romance thread throughout.)

Zane Grey was also quite a prolific author--I do not know exact numbers but he probably authored somewhere along the lines of 70 novels, plus his non-fiction work.

While browsing the library stacks today, I came across a number of Zane Grey related books. One of which just knocked my socks off. The title is Who's Who In The Western Fiction of Zane Grey by John Donahue.

Here's the Amazon link:

http://tinyurl.com/2ad884n

In essence, this book is a character dictionary of the many characters that have populated Zane Grey's novels. For example, you can look up the two main characters of Forlorn River, Ben Ide and Nevada, and find a one page summary of who they are and what their story was. How cool is that?

I mean think of it---Zane Grey was so prolific, sold so many millions of books, his writing has withstood the test of many decades (despite the claims of the modern ADHD society)--so popular that his works have been honored with a dictionary of his characters!

Can any writer honestly say that they wouldn't love to be so well known, so prolific, and so enduring that their body of work garnered an entire character compendium? We writers espouse a lot of grand reasons why we write--to get society to ponder some issue, to entertain, etc etc. We don't like to admit we have ego. But it's there.

And I think having the blood, sweat and tears of your years and years of writing and toil honored with a character compendium is about the coolest thing ever. Zane Grey died in 1939, some 69 years prior to this book's publication. But I hope he would be pleased. Though if he were alive, I wonder if he would think something along the lines of "That's nice but don't bother me. I have more books to write." Who knows?

I have no way of knowing if I will publish 1 book much less 70. But the one thing I do know is that no matter what stories I write or where they end up--whether on a bookstore shelf or just in the hands of a friend, I pray that I will create memorable characters too.

And my trip to the library today achieved its purpose. I came home with a nugget of wisdom and a shot of hope. When you're writing touches the hearts of people, it will be honored, whether in present time or time to come.