As the Genres Turn
(or Genre Bending for Beginners)
by Tracy Leigh Brown
Once upon a time, long, long ago the advice for writers was “Write what you love.” Since then the advice has morphed into, “Know your market.” But my advice to the beginning writer is, “Find your voice.”
I’ve been a member of a small critique group for four years now and each of us began writing in a particular sub-genre. For my critique partner Regan Black, it was romantic comedy. That is good for a laugh now that she has published two very dark, paranormal futuristic women’s adventure/romances, Justice Incarnate and Invasion of Justice. In person she is very funny so our little group was confident she had the voice for romantic comedy. That was until the day we all read the first chapter of what was to become Justice Incarnate. I would dare say that from the first paragraph of that first draft of that first chapter we all knew that Regan had found her voice.
Case number two of our critique group is Caren Helms. She finalled in the Maggie four years ago with a time-travel romance. She switched to contemporary series romance. Then she moved to what the publishers like to call Hen Lit or Mom Lit and she started when few people were writing these. The result for that manuscript was a final in the Get Your Stiletto in the Door con-test and a final in this year’s Golden Hearts for Mainstream with Romantic Elements. She’s a terrific writer and has been all along but now she has found her voice.
My own writing career has had more turns and twists than a roller coaster at Six Flags. I began with contemporary series romance and won first place in the short version of that category in the Duel on the Delta four years ago. From there I explored genres and submitted a fantasy manuscript to Luna and a series of three red-hot novellas to Brava. I had never been truly fulfilled in any of my writing until I stepped out on faith, literally, and began a contemporary inspirational women’s fiction manuscript.
I entered that inspirational with some romantic elements in four writing contests. I finalled in three of those four contests. Of those finals, I won first place in one and third place in another. My critique partners will tell you that my success is directly linked to finding my voice. I give creditto my creator for this creativity; however I have to agree even as I wrote it I knew that something about this manuscript sang.
I’m
not talking about the voice crying out in the wilderness, a
voice-over, the voice of reason,
or the inside voice versus the outside voice. I’m talking
about finding that elusive place where your
writing triumphs over slip-shod grammar and lackluster secondary
characters to keep the reader’s interest. The frustrating part is
that finding it may require quite a bit of experimentation on your
part.
So where does that leave the writer who hasn’t found their voice? Well, start off writing what you love, and writing what is marketable. Pull the books off your “keeper” shelf at home and read them with a fresh eye trying to catch the author’s voice. Submit your writing to contests, to your critique partners, to editors when you catch their attention with your query or pitch. Until you can trust your own instincts, it certainly doesn’t hurt to rely on others’ expertise. They will let you know when you’ve found that voice.
Technically proficient manuscripts once sold easily in the marketplace. If you honed your craft, did your homework, and mastered the skills taught in reference books or conference workshops, then you had a pretty good chance of selling. Those days are over because the competition gets better every day.
In order to grab an editor’s attention and then pass the review board, your writing has to hit them on a gut level. Some of you out there have heard one publisher say that if you’re sending them a sexy manuscript it will have to be really sexy. A sad story needs to be heart wrenching, tear-jerking, really, really sad. They’re sifting through hundreds of manuscripts a week and searching for only the really, really “fill in the blank” stuff.
So what if it takes some genre bending or blending to find where your writing goes from good to really, really good. Stepping out on a limb, or even stepping out on faith may be just what you need to do in order to find your voice. The result will definitely be to take you to another level as a writer and if success and contracts follow then all the better.
Tracy Leigh Brown has been writing for five years, “day-lighting” as an insurance agent, wife, and mother of a not-yet-surly teenage daughter. This year she’s won and finalled in several contests with her current WIP, an inspirational ‘G.R.I.T.S’ – lit contemporary. If you’re unaware of this new genre of fiction, then bless your heart, you must not be a girl raised in the South.
