I write fantasy and science fiction, both for adults and for young adults. My
agent is currently marketing my novels. I update this site quarterly, with
information about me, my fiction, and writing in general. Posts on specific
topics are available on the link in the left column. I update
my blog two or three times a week with my thoughts on publishing, life in
general, and speculative fiction in particular.
I’ve posted a short story on this site, a prequel to my novel Bag of Tricks. The short story is called "Aveline's Price", and it is available under the Free Sample link to the left.
Genre vs. Mainstream
Genre is an interesting thing. As someone who writes a variety of types of stories, I often ponder what to call them. You could think of genre just as a label, a way to mark a book so that bookstores and libraries will know what kind of book it is. But that brings up an interesting point. Many libraries don’t shelve books the same way a bookstore does. Some libraries put all their fiction books (a.k.a. novels) in one section. They do break up their collections based on the reader’s age—children’s books, YA books, and adult books. But within the area reserved for adult fiction, they don’t always try to separate mysteries from “mainstream” novels, or science fiction or fantasy. Tolkien could end right next to Tolstoy. Some libraries do literally put labels on books to alert readers that is fits in a specific genre such as mystery or speculative fiction. Others don’t bother. To some extent, the library is a repository. Once you know what book (the title and the author), you want, the librarians want you to be able to find it without worrying what genre it is.
Bookstores are different; they have customers, not patrons, and they have to be
able to put books where customers can find them—not just the books the customer
already knows about, but any other books the customer might want to buy (i.e.,
books in the same genre). Hence, bookstores have sections for mysteries, for
science fiction and fantasy, and for romance. When you go into a bookstore,
you expect to see each of these groups of books.
But what about books that cross genres? If a love story is set in a far future society, a religious dystopia that never existed, is it a romance, or is it science fiction? If a policeman is investigating a death of a fisherman in the Puget Sound, that’s a mystery, right? But what if the “mystery” is a beautifully-written novel that incorporates themes of love, attraction, racism, fidelity, and betrayal? Is it still a mystery or is it literary fiction? The former instance is my story Kruegger’s World, and I don’t care what you call it if you’re willing to read it. The latter instance describes Snow Falling on Cedars and most people called that book literary fiction, in spite of the mystery at its core.
The meaning of Romance
Originally the word “romance” was spelled with a capital R and meant a secular
story written in a Romance language, like French or Spanish, as opposed a
scholarly work in Latin. Even as late as the 19th Century, the word romance when
applied to fiction didn’t mean a love story, but merely a story with an exotic
setting, an exciting story line, or some other quality that made it not prosaic
and everyday. These days romance means a love story—a story in which a romantic
relationship develops between two people.
Love stories lend themselves to crossing genres. There are all kinds of romances—historical romance, contemporary romance, time travel romance, futuristic romance, paranormal romance, and so on. In each one, the basic framework is the same—two people, one relationship. It has been said that to have a story, you have to have a conflict, and in a love story, the conflict is often the thing that’s keeping the two people apart. In a time travel romance, a modern-day person will have built-in conflict trying to fit into a different time—think of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. In an historical romance, it might be a real war that keeps the lovers apart (Gone with the Wind, anyone?). In a futuristic or paranormal romance, they might be from different worlds or even from two different species!
One reason I like to put love stories in my speculative fiction is that the interaction between two people who care for each other is more constant than most other situations. Who knows what an “office” will be like when we’re all working away in a virtual world? But the reason we’re still reading Jane Austen novels is because love is still love. What woman doesn’t want to find her own Mr. Darcy? The appeal of Pride and Prejudice is timeless, even though almost no one enjoys the lifestyle of a 19th century gentleman, or, thank God, suffers the restrictions of a 19th century gentlewoman’s life.
Pride and Prejudice begins with that famous line: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” To me, it is a truth, universally acknowledged that everyone wants someone to love. I don’t expect—or want—that to change.