Blurring the Lines in Genre

When I first decided to write Date Night, I knew it would be in the “Romance” genre. And although I’ve been an avid reader all my life, I didn’t really appreciate the extent of “sub-genres” or “niches” within each genre. Sure I knew the difference between contemporary, erotica, historical and suspense romance novels. But what the heck was “steampunk” and “new adult” or “space opera”? The more I researched, the more I realized I had no clue what publishers were looking for in each genre. And I found it rather frustrating that the story I wanted to tell in Date Night didn’t fit neatly into any one genre or niche.

Aren’t we supposed to be creative and color outside the lines as artists? Why in the heck do we box ourselves into these narrowly defined categories?

So I simply said: screw it! I had a story to tell and I decided to tell it the way I wanted to tell it. Date Night is a blend of chick literature, contemporary romance and new adult. The story doesn’t fit neatly into any one of the three categories.

-        Chick literature: The relationship between the heroine, Jordan, and her grandmother lends the story a distinct “chick lit” feel to it. Grannie is a central character in Date Night and I hate to relegate her to the category of “secondary character”. There is even a section of the book told from Grannie’s third person point of view. I once read that true “romance novels” should not allow the hero and heroine to be separated for long periods of time and while secondary characters are welcome, they should not steal the show. In the case of Date Night, I guarantee you will walk away loving Grannie every bit as much as you love Jordan and JT. Does she steal the show sometimes? I’ll let you decide.

-        Contemporary romance: But at the heart of Date Night is also a beautiful and satisfying love story between Jordan (22 years old) and the hero, JT (24 years old). I admit I used the age old “little sister and big brother’s best friend” troupe, but I hope you’ll agree my angle was fresh because there was no long-standing crush. Jordan and JT fall in love over the course of the book through shared experiences that make them look at each other in a new light. Despite the fact that love and romance are central to the story line, neither the hero nor heroine has entered their full-time careers yet and Jordan still lives with her mother. So the couple is a little young for the typical contemporary romance novel. Many contemporary romance novels today tackle marriage, babies and juggling full-time careers.

-        New adult: And although their ages fall neatly into the new adult genre (18-25 years old) and the story is told from the first person – alternating point of view so commonly found in new adult books, the main story line doesn’t center on the craziness and drama associated with college life, exploring sex and drugs, or starting a new career.

Ugh! Where did that leave me when I wanted to market Date Night to a publisher? Between a rock and a hard place. In my experience and through my research, I couldn’t find many publishers that actually encouraged authors to blur the lines between genres. Luckily for me, I had a day job that helped pay the bills so I had the luxury of not caring whether or not I blurred the lines between genres and I could take the chance on self-publishing my book. 

So where did that leave me, I ask again? With a beautifully unique story worth telling!

How to Build and Sustain Conflict - Inside Date Night by R.C. Matthews

As an avid reader growing up, I often wondered where authors got the ideas for their books. Once I became a writer myself, I realized it wasn’t the broad concept for a book that was difficult to develop, but rather how to take the concept and build a sustainable conflict between the hero and heroine.

The broad concept for Date Night was simple – I wanted to write a book about a woman who went on a series of hilarious dates. Why? Because in my mid thirties I used a dating service for one year and, as a result, had first hand experience with many outrageously funny dates. My friends and family often found my dating stories entertaining. And so the idea for a book was born.

But that was only the beginning. Nobody wants to read a story about a woman who goes on a series of dates without her meeting the love of her life, right? At the time when I really started to plot out the story, I also decided it would be fun to write a novel for my niece who is 21 years old. With that in mind, I built my story line around a 22 year old heroine (“Jordan”). However, this created an issue; why in the heck would a 22 year old woman want to use a dating service? I figured she would have to be highly motivated to meet someone. And that is where the idea for a dying wish from her grandmother (“Grannie”) came into play.

Now I needed a compelling hero. I considered having Jordan fall for one of her dates, but that would mean a large portion of the story wouldn’t be focused on “romance” but rather her funny dates. I wanted the heart of the story to be a romance novel…which led me to the idea of having Jordan fall in love with a waiter at the restaurant where all her dates take place. He would be the one constant man she interacted with throughout the story.

I was really getting somewhere and felt great about the direction of my story. Except for one little nagging problem. What grandmother (or mother for that matter) would encourage her granddaughter to find a fiancé in a few months and marry him? And that’s when an idea hit me…a conniving grandmother who already knew who the perfect groom was…and plotted to bring two of her favorite people together…her granddaughter and her grandson’s best friend (J.T.).

Presto. The waiter had to be the best friend of the Jordan’s brother. Jordan and J.T. had known each other their whole lives. So if they fell in love and got married in just a few months, it wouldn’t be completely insane. In fact, Grannie would be thrilled to see them happily married. At this point I had a heroine, a hero and a basic story line. But what was the conflict going to be which kept them apart?

I started with the one basic fact I knew – Jordan was highly motivated to get married in a short period of time to fulfill her grandmother’s dying wish. So J.T. needed to be highly motivated NOT to get married in a short period of time. Getting married costs a lot of money, is time consuming and the first year of marriage can be stressful. So I needed a hero who was financially strapped and under a lot of stress already.

I wanted the reader to truly sympathize with J.T. and his reasons for resisting a relationship with Jordan. What is more heartbreaking than a young man raising his younger brother after their parents’ unfortunate death when J.T. was only 19 years old? He’s now 24 years old and one year away from achieving his dreams. He can’t afford to blow it and has to stay focused on college. And he certainly can’t afford a wife and a wedding. Not to mention that his best friend’s family is all the family he has left…so he doesn’t want to lose them too if a relationship with Jordan doesn’t work out.

Enough conflict? Almost. I decided to add one more element to their conflict. Jordan was raised to be self-sufficient and doesn’t need a man to pay her way through life whereas J.T. was raised in a traditional family with a stay at home mom and feels it is his duty to be able to support his future wife.

Whew! I’d made it – a story line about a woman who goes on a series of hilarious dates – all the while falling in love with the man of her dreams – and yet she has to work hard to get past their conflicts in order to achieve their happily ever after.

By the way…I eventually found my happily ever after through internet dating. My husband and I met on Chemistry.com right at the time when I was about to throw in the towel with dating services and internet sites. I decided to give it one last shot – because he was just too handsome to pass up.