Good evening beauties,
My days off work are nearly over, tomorrow I go back, but all good things must come to an end I suppose. That’s alright, I had to go back sometime. And I got a lot done during my extended stay-cation at home. It was nice, relaxing and very productive, not to mention I got to spend a lot more time with you guys, which I will never complain about and I am eternally grateful for!
Today, I thought I’d take you through a small part of my journey into and through writing. By talking about the genres I began writing in and the genres I write today.
So, if I’m being totally honest I started reading more heavily in high school, not before then. Sorry guys, I haven’t always been such an avid/heavy reader. And I have gotten in and out of writing in the past. I am getting back into it more and more recently and there are so many books that I want to read. This high school reading all began mostly with teen romances then I began dabbling in adult romances with more steamy scenes and I enjoyed that.
Then I found fantasy romance and paranormal fantasy romance and that opened up so much more action, adventure and thrill. Once that happened I never looked at plain romance the same. I was constantly looking for something more interesting, more action-packed, something that excited me more.
So naturally, my main writing journey began where I had started reading. With romance, though not with teen romance. Writing my own books really became an interest to me when I started reading adult romances. I was taken with the characters and their love stories. I was attracted to the ever-attractive male characters and the sexy, confident female ones. So I started writing romance, I wanted to create the perfect male character that my readers would fall in love with at one look. I wanted to create a story that would keep them reading, keep them wanting more delicious chemistry even after the last page.
And I succeeded. I finished the rough draft of 5 romance novels, one was a very long, plot-hole-ridden novel and the other four were in a series. I tried editing them, making them better, but I wasn’t a very experienced writer when I finished those novels. So, to say the least, I barely knew what I was doing. And looking back I’m so glad I tried again because those are the worst rough drafts my writing has seen, but they aren’t bad, at least they’re done.
Terrible or not, it’s good. I didn’t publish them, but they taught me how to finish writing a book and a series. They gave me the confidence I needed to keep writing, to keep starting new ideas and to continue with this dream of mine and not instead give up. Because I know I could finish writing them. Once I finished that first rough draft I knew I’d be able to do it again. The first one is always the hardest, but trust me you just have to get through it because once you do, there are so many more waiting to be written that you’ll gain the courage to write.
So I don’t write strictly romance anymore… sorry but not sorry. I love a good romance subplot and I love writing them, incorporating the chemistry of two characters and weaving it throughout a story or series, but because of my journey, if there isn’t something going for the story besides romance, then I tend to get bored. But, that was important for me because I wasn’t meant to write just romance. This brings me to my next point.
Once I realized I didn’t want to write just romance, I began dabbling in other genres. I delved into research. I researched every genre I could think of and what subgenres could be in that genre and so on. I took notes and studied and was totally inspired. My mind filled up with so many new ideas for novels, series, trilogies, the ideas didn’t stop. I started writing them down and trying to fit them into their genres, to see what types of stories I had.
Once I started I couldn't stop. I just wanted to finish writing all those books all at once, but I kept researching, kept writing down my ideas until I ended up with the idea for one of my current WIPs, the idea that slowly became my trilogy. I spent 3 days writing in every spare possible moment. Until at the end of the 3rd day I held the finished manuscript of what would eventually turn into a trilogy of thriller books. It was barely 25K words, but it was the first thing I had written that was not just romance. It was a thriller and it changed things.
Then I began dabbling in fantasy. I love fantasy, I love being immersed in such different and interesting worlds with their own rules. I’ve always loved the idea of writing one of my own one day. However, I didn’t plan it out. I just pantsed the whole thing and it was a very large idea. You can imagine how that went. I had a very rough outline that only consisted of the beginning, middle and ending for book 1. Then it stemmed off in two directions and I became stumped. My first attempt wasn’t great. But I haven’t given up. I’ve just moved to something new.
My next exploration is mystery (which I’m currently working on) and I’m also dabbling in gothic themes within mystery novels and I’m loving it. This came from reading a gothic themed-mystery novel which I became very taken with. That’s how this newest series I’m working on stemmed and my newest idea for a cosy mystery series after that.
All in all. I have been to many places and taken my writing right along with me. I am better educated and more excited than ever to dabble in all these areas, finish writing more books and become a better writer. Good enough to publish in the next couple of years. So yes, I plan on being a multi-genre author. And I won’t apologize for it. All my books under one roof, no confusion. I do still usually add romance into each of my ideas/novels/series because I think it adds to the story, everyone wants love. If nothing else, it’s very honest.
Thank you so much for tuning in with me tonight. I had fun with this. This post really made me think through what’s happened so far in my writing life and how much I’ve changed in such a few short years since I really began writing. I look forward to many more changes, much more improvement and becoming a published author in the next few years. Wish me luck!
See you in the next one guys! Have a great rest of your week. I’ll see you next week (maybe earlier). Happy reading and inspired writing to you guys! Keep writing, the rest of us will thank you! You’re writing is important, the story only you can tell is important! So tell it and tell it loud so we can all hear. Lots of love!
Celine Rose Marie