Pick a Genre, Any Genre

Although I'm still waiting for my Genesis feedback, I did get my Touched By Love feedback this week, and that was really exciting. And educational. As I read through the comments, I realized I have a long way to go! But it was a little bit of a relief, too. Huh?

Now that I've proven to myself that I'm not going to be one of these writer prodigies that come out of nowhere with their first breakout novel...the pressure's off. :) I'm going to hone my craft just like the rest of authors everywhere do.

But as I read through my feedback, I realized that part of my problem is that I need to pick a genre. YIKES! I love chick lit (uh...oops...I believe the appropriate category is "women's fiction" now) and love to write in first person. I love romance, as well. And the book I entered in all the contests was labeled a romantic suspense, as there definitely was a suspenseful thread. However, I wrote the heroine's POV in first, the hero's and villain's in third. I've seen books written like this and enjoyed them, mainly because I felt so close to the main character.

My epiphany is this: I was trying to write chick lit as romantic suspense. I'm not going to say this isn't possible. I'm sure somebody somewhere did it. Oh, I know one! Gayle Roper's Fatal Deduction was written this way. First person heroine, everyone else in third. Loved the book and blogged about it here. But maybe this doesn't work for me. I like my plot line, so I'm going to keep with the romantic suspense...but I'm seriously considering going to third for this book. The rest of my women's fiction can be in first.

The difference was in the voice of the heroine. I like first because I can vicariously put myself, my thoughts, my feelings, in the manuscript with ease. It's like I imagined the story happening to me. Way cool. But I'm snarky, sarcastic, and sometimes even formal in how I think, which might not transalte well into the voice of a heroine in a romantic suspense in first (in fact, I'd say it did not translate well based on the comments). But this type of voice works great in chick lit!

So what's a girl to do? I'll be rethinking this question over the summer, for sure.

Q4U: Anyone else had a problem like this? If so, did you feel you had to stick to one genre to work it out, or were you able to combine your genres satisfactorily? Lemme know!