Overheard on . . . Romancing the Genres

“What do you write?”
“Contemporary Womens Fiction with strong Romantic and Comedic Elements.”
<pause>
“So, Romance then?”

There are practically as many subgenres in Contemporary Romance as there are contemporary stories written. I have always found it difficult to tell people what I write. For the longest time my answer was Contemporary Romance. Then, at a workshop one time, I learned that my stories fit better into the Genre of Women’s Fiction.

Better… but not perfectly. My writing is a mixture of many different subgenres. Publishers aren’t thrilled by this. They like to know exactly how to market a book, where to sell it and where to shelve it.

From an early age readers are taught to look for books in narrow fields:  Fiction/nonfiction, Fantasy/history/speculative/comedy, etc. (For a thorough list of genres linkhere to Wikipedia )

Do you remember the Dewey Decimal System and the card catalogs? Well nowadays kids use a computer program very like Goodreads to find books. It allows them to search by grade or reading level. They can ‘like’ a book and find others like it. They can even recommend favorite books to their friends (within a closed school system for safety!)

Helping children use this system I discovered something interesting. Since these computer generated searches are based on user preference rather than pre-determined categories, diverse genres appear for a similar topic. For example, search on ‘lion’ and you might get poems about lions, non-fiction books about them, or a myth with a lion in it. While each clearly says what category it falls into, no longer are we locked into seeing topics in only one light.

What does this mean as readers and writers? Because of Goodreads and systems like the above we can begin to use a new language to describe books and our writing.

In April Romancing the Genres gets to spotlight some wonderful Contemporary Authors. I’m sure each of them, like myself, has a different take on this wide genre. So instead of asking them about what they write, ask them what their readers like about their books. You may find your own new way of categorizing your favorite reads.

Many Happy Journeys Inspired by Love -
Deanne
www.deannewilsted.com

Overheard on . . . School Applications

“Describe how your family would contribute to a diverse school environment.”

What better day, than the Martine Luther King Jr. Holiday to consider the important topic of diversity. As a family we are in the process of researching and applying for schools as we put our plans in motion for our move to Seattle this summer. The process of applying has been an eye opener for me. For one thing, it is, for the most part, automated. Compared to my last formal school application process (graduate programs for me), the updated process is much more streamlined. But some things don’t change. And even at the middle school level the applications request essays and answers from parent and child.

As a writer, most of my answers flew onto the pages with little need for revision. But when I came to this question I was stumped. How would our seemingly bread and milk family contribute to a diverse school environment.

My husband and I talked about it. We considered our family backgrounds and roots. We laid out all of the ways that we, as a family, may be different than other families. Ultimately, it all ended up sounding contrived and a bit patronizing. How could we suggest that raising an only child compares to the experience of someone who’s encountered racial prejudice?

Eventually it was our daughter that enlightened us. “Mom, don’t you write about journeys?”

It is true, my tagline is Journeys Inspired by Love. My writing is about what I love, physical journeys, yes- but also journeys of the heart and mind. As a family I want us to explore all sorts of ways of living and being so that these journeys are informed by the diversity of an expanded world view, rather than a narrow one.

One way that we do this is through reading. February on Romancing the Genres brings us all a chance to hear from some great Multi-cultural authors including, B.A. Binns, Terri Molina, and ShobhanBantwal. Exploring their perspectives gives us a chance to expand ours, both as writers and as readers. So my challenge to you this week is to search on multi-cultural fiction at your favorite book site and then pick one of the books to read. Then, report back on what you thought of the book and how it did, or didn’t, send you on your own journey of growth.

Bon Voyage!
Deanne
www.deannewilsted.com