I was going to title this post “Seven Genres I’ll Never Write”, but I decided that was unnecessarily rash. For one thing, I’ve been known to tackle a particular genre that feels alien just for the challenge of it. Also, I really don’t know how my tastes, or the market, will change. I don’t normally tend to be much influenced by the current trends or the latest hot selling themes, but it’s always possible that I’ll have a killer idea I just can’t resist.
So
here’s a list of the genres I haven’t tried yet. I won’t try to
predict the future.
Sports
romance
As I
noted in an earlier Saturday Seven post, I’m almost completely
uninterested in any sort of team or organized sports. The closest
I’ve come to a “sports” story was Crossed
Hearts, a MM tale set at a competitive Scrabble tournament.
Western
romance
For
some readers, and authors, cowboys have an enduring appeal, but they
generally leave me cold. I’m a born-and-bred Easterner, for one
thing. I’ve traveled through the American West, but I don’t know
it well and actually don’t feel that comfortable in those dusty,
arid, wide open spaces.
Then
there’s the smell. Whenever I try to imagine a sexy cowboy, I start
thinking about what he’d smell like after riding a horse all day,
or rounding up the cattle, or mucking out the barns... The question
of olfactory stimuli becomes particularly off-putting when I think
about historical Western tales. Back in the days of the Wild West,
baths were at best a monthly activity!
Zombie romance
Vampires,
yes. Shifters, sure. Ghosts, tentacled monsters, even Big Foot might
make their way into one of my stories. But zombies? As characters?
I’ve written a bit of erotic horror, but I can’t imagine how I
could make zombies appealing. Again, decomposing bodies are going to
reek, and bad smells put me in a very bad mood.
I guess
I could imagine writing a scifi romance set in the context of a
zombie apocalypse, though that’s been done so often I think I’d
be bored. I will say that I’d be deeply impressed by an author who
managed to create a sympathetic, non-disgusting zombie protagonist.
Secret
baby romance
I’ve
never written a pregnant heroine, let alone a classic (dare I use
that term?) secret baby romance. This is partly due to the fact that
I personally don’t have children (other than my fur babies) and
have never been pregnant. I came of age after the advent of the Pill,
so I’ve always had control of my fertility. I think the whole topic
is less central for me than for many women.
I
certainly can imagine writing a story where the conflict involved
pregnancy, but I haven’t done so yet.
In
fact, as far as I can recall, only two of my many heroines have
children, Ruby Jones in Wild
About That Thing, and Beatrice, the Victorian woman with the
secret life in my novel Miranda’s
Masks.
Regency
romance
I love
historical fiction. I love to read it, and I’d love to write more
of it than I do—though
to be honest I’m sometimes too lazy to do the research this would
require. Still, I’ve written a few historical tales, set in the
Middle Ages, in Elizabethan
times, in the Victorian period and in the
Gilded Age at the turn of the twentieth century. Somehow,
though, I’ve never had the slightest inclination to write a Regency
story, despite their popularity.
One
factor is my unfamiliarity with the period. However, I have to say
that in general, I have not found the Regencies I’ve read to be all
that interesting. I guess I prefer ordinary, everyday people to the
dukes and earls that seem to populate this sub-genre.
Military
romance
This is
another really popular sub-genre that doesn’t ring my bell at all.
I grew up during the Vietnam war, and I’m certain that colored my
view of the armed forces. Everyone I knew would do anything they
could to avoid military service.
Futanari
romance
In case you’re not familiar with the term, futanari
refers to individuals who have the sexual characteristics of both
genders. There’s a popular niche genre for erotica and erotic
romance featuring such characters. Sally Bend’s Bending
the Bookshelf blog reviews many of them.
I’ve never read any of this genre, let alone written
any. However, I’ll be frank; I’m tempted, if only because I
really like mixing things up in my stories.
So—let
me ask you, my readers: are there any of these genres that you’d
like
to see me try? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. I’ll
randomly draw the name of one reader who’ll receive his or her
choice of Crossed
Hearts or Wild
About That Thing.
By
the way, be sure to visit the other authors who have Saturday Seven
posts today. You’ll find the full list of links at Long andShort Reviews.
