What to Write?
Since I submitted Coffee Magnate to my editor on Monday I’ve been fiddling around with a few different ideas and mostly just hanging out and indulging in post-submission lethargy. Sloth was definitely the order of the week.
Due to the upcoming New Voices contest I’ve been thinking a bit about picking the line you want to write for. Or the sub-genre, if you’re aiming for single titles.
I can’t remember who said it (bad me) but I remember one of the authors saying on a board back before I was published, that if you were aiming for a line at Harlequin you should try to imagine writing thirty books for that line. If you can’t fathom it, it might not be the right line for you!
I remember thinking…excellent! Because I can’t imagine NOT having new Presents ideas. I love the line. I connected with it instantly as a reader. At the time, I had no concept of what ‘voice’ was, or how to identify if mine was suited for something. I wasn’t hooked in with the online writing community in the way I am now, and I confess, I was green as grass.
When I first wrote what was later titled HIS VIRGIN ACQUISITION when I was twenty-one and knew nothing and no one. I hadn’t even heard that great chestnut about imagining writing thirty books for the line. I chose Presents because I loved it. Because I had ideas for it. Because the idea of having my name on a cover for a Presents excited me like nothing else.
I was lucky, in that my voice happened to fit the line I enjoyed the most.
Now, my second favorite line, and my absolute favorite sort of single title…it Historicals. I love them. I glom them I’m not writing. But it would be a struggle for me to write them! I do love deep and dark conflict, which you certainly find in Historicals, but I think I also have a very informal writing voice that really lends itself to contemporary, and a Historical might squish to many of my strengths. I also can’t ever think of ideas for them. I try. And then I get tired and pick up one of Tracy Ann Warren or Eloisa James’s books. Because that’s much more fun than writing my own!
A passion for the line or genre you choose is important, because it’s not necessarily easy to just hop lines or genres once you’re ‘in’ so it’s certainly important to be happy where you are/
I love the deep, dirty angsty stuff, which you all know, but also like to write comedy, which has a small place in my Presents but is definitely something I keep on a tight leash. So, for me, to a certain extent it was about playing to certain strengths so that I could fit the line I wanted.
I decided, going into my MS, what line it would be for, and made sure I fulfilled the promise of that line.
So deciding which direction you want to go in has a lot of factors to it. There’s voice, there’s passion, there’s concept.
So hopefully that helps give you an idea of where you should try to aim your MSs, if you didn’t have one already! 😉
I’ll just be in the corner eating cookies, praying for good news to hit my inbox.
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cheers Maisy…
I went totally the opposite way. I couldn’t find any historicals I wanted to re read (which is my criteria for a good book- they are old friends who turn up welcomed, over and over again).
So, I wrote my own. One soon to be published, next submitted (Nail biting time) and another one finished.
But for R/R ? Presents all the way! But could I write one? Well I tried for new voices last year and it was rubbish. I’ll stick to my Historical with a twist!
A writing mentor of mine (ours?), Heidi Betts was the one to put this in perspective for me. She loves Harlequin Intrigues but writes Desires. I think I fit best into Special Edition, though sometimes I wonder if single title contemporary might be for me too… provided I can hike that word count up. I’m not sure what kind of book cover my name will land on. I drool envisioning my name on an SE blue cover. But maybe, we can do it all. And for longevity in this business, it doesn’t hurt to be multi-talented. Heidi has another paranormal coming out y’know.
And I, for one, would *love* to read a contemporary book w/a comic slant by you!
Joanne, whatever works! There are as many processes as people. 😉
Jessica, the great thing, and Heidi exemplifies this, is that you don’t have to only do one thing. I think if you’re starting in category you need to be committed to staying that category for a while, but after that, expanding can be a really wise career move. Hopefully someday you will see some of my rom coms! 🙂
Late to posting – I always dreamed of Harlequin after my ex’s sister read a piece of a story and said “sounds like a Harlequin”. I read some Presents and knew they weren’t me. Then I found SuperRomance. Been aiming there. But recently, with reading a few and then the Special Edition Holiday contest – I’m thinking I may fit better there because their stories focus on the hero and heroine whereas Supers can have subplots. I don’t write subplots, but that doesn’t mean I can’t write for them, but I’m wondering if I should focus on SE more. So I’m gonna try.
Oh to clarify when I said Presents weren’t me – I meant writing them. I can read them and enjoy them, but that’s it. And that’s okay.