Good morning all! I wanted to get this done before I went to church this morning and lost half my day away. I was gone over this weekend at a church assembly, which was awesome, but it also means I didn’t write on Saturday. Here’s to hoping I can make up some of the word count today and tomorrow.
I might have been a little overzealous. I decided to tackle a new project between now and NaNoWriMo. It is somewhat related to NaNo, but not entirely. I want to write a companion novella with short stories to the first novel in my police procedural series. Meaning, there’s going to another 40k words added to the “book” from the secondary character’s point of view that is far more on the romantic side. The book itself is not romantic at all, and it wasn’t intended to be. However, a lot of reviewers aren’t happy with that and knocking off stars because of the “lack of romance” in the book.
It puts me in an odd place. I never intended for there to be romance in it. It’s not a romance novel at all, and it was never intended to be a major subplot but just have a touch of it in there. So to constantly be knocked down for something I intentionally didn’t add in because people “think” a novel needs romance when it contains the word “lesbian” in the description really bothers me. Books are books. Whether genre fiction or romance, and frankly, LGBT et al novels are not synonymous with romance. We deserve books about gay heroes and heroines and whatever the gender neutral of that would be who don’t have a romance going on the side. Not everyone is in a relationship and not everyone is in a relationship that takes two minutes to fall completely madly in love and then has the other person become their life. No…that’s not how life works.
Anyway…rant over. I’m writing 40k words before NaNoWriMo, which means that I have to write around 5k words a day, and since I missed yesterday, that means 7.5k today and tomorrow. Oh lordy. AND I want to publish this thing on Amazon by mid-December, which is an also insane goal, I’m aware.
Here’s the update.
1. Write 1667 words a day.
Wed: 725
Thurs: 4955
Fri: 5214
Sat: 0
2. keep up with all blog posts ROW80, WIPpet, Open When and add in 1 extra post a week
So did this! Yay! My extra post this week was “how it all started” concerning how I started writing and why I continued to write. I also wrote the 3 blog posts to be posted in November for my publisher.
3. Edit at least one chapter a week on something.
I self-edited the first story in this new thing I’m doing. I have a slew of edits to do today though, so I’ll finish this goal quickly for the coming week. =P
4. crochet one round of border a week
I did not crochet one round of border. I did, however, crochet two scarves while at assembly. I always bring something to do with my hands when there. It helps me listen better.
Interesting how readers make assumptions based on genre/labels. I say stick to your guns. It’s your book and your story, to be told how you choose. Then again, that will depend on what your final goal is.
I agree. It’s your story. If I read a romance novel, I expect romance – if I don’t, I expect to see interesting relationships between the characters and, however those connections are made, it’s all good. I would be ranting too. These people and their stories are close to your heart, so it’s only natural.
It seems like you’re making excellent progress though, and planning up a storm 🙂 Have a great week.
You too! Thanks for stopping by!
Romance creeps in everywhere, whether you intend it to or not. Best thing you can do is just go with it and see what happens.
Yeah, I’d say you were averaging 1667 words a day. Good job!
Oh theres romance in it. Its bot nor heavily or anywhere near the front of it.
Thanks!
I don’t know why people would be disappointed by the lack of romance. I could understand if you were marketing it as a romance novel, but lots of wonderful books don’t have romance–or only have a touch of it. (Agatha Christie, for example, or Tolkien–awesome books with little or no romance).
Good luck with ROW80 and with NaNo. Sounds like you have set some ambitious goals for yourself!
Yeah. The only thing i can think of is that people see “lesbian” and think romance required.
Thanks!!
Oooh so much progress!! 😀 Well done!
I agree with everyone else, it’s your story, do what you want with it! 🙂
Thanks!!
It’s very weird. To me, lesbian connotes an orientation, an identiy, but not an act Are people maybe not getting that a lesbian is whther or not she’s in a relationship, or even looking for one?
I mean, there have been times in my life when I was single and content. Still, I was straight. If anyone had the potential to shift me INTO a romantic mindset, it as going to have to be a guy, because that’ how I am.
It seems logical that if the book isn’t intended to be a romance, that doesn’t mean your character is any less a lesbian. It just means to me that if someone is going to shift her from that not-romantic place to a romantic one, it’s going to have to be a she rather than a he.
Maybe the bigger problem is the tendency to label people based on the gender they present, and the gender of their potential partners. I think it would be very refreshing to just have people, and, when romance does enter the picture, we get an idea of what floats their particular boat based upon who floats it….
I think it would be a happier world – and I don’t need there to be romance. Not all of life is romance, after all, and it cheapens things a little to act like it’s always got to be part of the picture.
Let those complainers complain….there’s bound to be others who value what you offer, with or without sparks flying.
Thanks. I wholeheartedly agree
Interesting post/rant and comments. I have a tough time writing about intimacy at all. IF there’s romance, it’s really secondary to what motivates my characters. I’m all for love, but somehow that seems most private, even in fiction, though love can be a powerful motivator. When I’m reading a story, I don’t expect romance, whether characters are gay or straight. But your editors may be sensitive to what your fans expect from reading your other books which do have a pretty strong romantic underpull, yes? But pursue your own dreams when your writing is involved. Your readers will still ‘love’ your stories.
No. Most of mt books under this pen name dont have a really strong romantic element. So thats part of why it bothers me. I write genre fiction not romance and i never claimed to write romance.