It’s challenging for writers to keep new stories fresh and exciting. When the flesh of a romance is stripped away, the bones that remain pretty much come down to ‘Person A and Person B decide they’re happy together – the end’. It’s the fleshy part that makes each story individual, and the author’s voice determines how that how that’s story is told.
Romance is like a tree with many branches. These branches, or sub-genres, allow authors to delve into realms of romance, like sci-fi, or fantasy, or murder-mystery, or BDSM, or one of the three dozen sub-genre branches, and sometimes it’s just pure romance. Either way, each branch of this tree is remarkable in its own right. One branch is never better than the other. Sure, sometimes we prefer one type of branch, but each and every branch of this tree is valid and important.
It’s what makes the romance tree so special.
And if you want to ever peak over the orchard of book trees, you’ll see there are trees for crime, true fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, YA, comedy, historical… OMG this orchard has a LOT of trees, right?
Over the course of my career, I’ve come to realise that many authors feel they need to stay to one tree, and more specifically, one branch; that they could never climb to another branch of the romance tree. I’ve quite often been told people find it remarkable/crazy/great that I write whatever kind of romance I want. (Full disclaimer: I’ve also been told it’s over-ambitious and maybe I should find a lane and stick to it – but LOL no) And I can honestly say it’s never occurred to me that I shouldn’t write a particular sub-genre.
Telling someone because they’ve only written contemporary so far, therefore they shouldn’t ever write vampires is absurd to me. Or ‘you wrote cowboys, why are now writing about androids?’ It was crazy to me that an author should limit themselves to one kind of sub-genre. Or even entire genres, for that matter.
The choice will always remain with the reader. If they don’t want to read your book about vampires, they don’t have to. But that doesn’t mean you can’t write it. If you reeeeeally want to write about shapeshifters or dragons or cowboys that fall in love, then you totally should. Hell, if you want to write about a shapeshifter and a dragon and a cowboy who fall in love and the three of them live happily ever after, then you absolutely should.
There are no genre-police.
In my opinion, it just means more books. And more books is NEVER a bad thing.
Which brings me to my next release. I have a book coming out later this month called SIR. It delves into the BDSM world (kind of) and it’s primarily D/s/s (or m/m/m). It’s different from anything I’ve written so far. And I know, I say that a lot. Pretty much with every book I release LOL. But at its very heart, it’s a romance. And I guess that’s the one thing that is the same about my books – the romance element. Person A and Person B (and sometimes Person C and D) decide they’re happy together and so, they decide to give this Happy Ever After thing a whirl.
Will SIR be to everyone’s liking? Nope. Will I get told to stay in my lane? Probably.
All any author can do is write the story their characters want written. Due diligence with research and sensitivity are a given, always. But write from whichever branch of the tree you want to write from. And remember, your creativity shouldn’t be curtailed by someone else’s opinion.
And above all, love what you do!
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Some info on my next release – coming soon!
SIR will be out July 25th. No pre-order links. Will be live on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.
Blurb:
Founded over four hundred years ago, Sanctus Infinitus Redemptio, is a private and very elite society where dominance and submission are revered. Steeped in tradition and excellence, every Dominant and every submissive, and their pairing, is selected with great care.
When Hunter Vargo is brought into the Sanctus, his need for strict dominance sees him paired with the wrong Master. But only a short time later, mistreated and his trust broken, he’s recalled, his collar removed. The Grand Master knows it will take a special kind of Dominant to restore the sub’s faith and trust.
Sig Bruckner’s world is perfect. He has a great job, he has high standing within the Sanctus, and he has Levin, the very best submissive. When he’s asked to take on a second sub, a submissive with issues and a rule not to touch him, Sig’s world is turned upside down.
When his Dominance, his patience and self-control is tested, and when Sig’s relationships with both subs is pushed past his limits, everything begins to unravel. Yet Sig knows every good Dom learns from their subs, and he’s no exception. He might not be able to fix everything on his own, but perhaps the three of them together can.
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For more about N.R. Walker you can find her at:
Email:
nrwalker@nrwalker.net
Great article, looking forward to this book. I’ve loved all of your books (so far – lol)!
I’ll never, ever tell any writer to stay in their lane. BUT BDSM and dominance / submission is a trigger for me, so I’ll never, ever touch a book along those themes …