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.  

Weaving in Background Story

As a first time author of a romance novel, or any novel for that matter, I bravely dove in and began writing Little White Lies without a care. I had a story to tell; a story that I felt passionately about. So I wrote … and wrote … and wrote. I was nearly halfway done when I finally let a trusted friend read my partial manuscript. She suggested I search the internet for information on the use of adjectives and adverbs in a book – which then led to general research on how to write the perfect romance novel.

Boy – was that ever an eye opener: character development, creating realistic conflict, plotting, weaving in background story and so much more. Most of it seemed like common sense to me. I’d read enough romance novels in my life to know the characters needed to be developed enough so people fell in love with them as they were falling in love with each other. Even the concepts of conflict and plotting weren’t daunting. But weaving in background story? That gave me serious heartburn. How did one even define what constituted background story? Was it everything leading up to the very moment that the hero and heroine met? A day before? A week? Years? Ugh!

I originally started the story of Little White Lies at the moment when the heroine, Madalyn, rushed back to her apartment after having dumped her fiancé Charles at the altar. It seemed like a logical place to start. My thought process was that the reader should understand what had caused her to dump her fiancé and go on the honeymoon cruise alone. I was afraid that readers might find Madalyn heartless or unlikeable if they didn't fully understand her motivation. As a result, the original first chapter was dedicated to introducing the heroine in the middle of a heart-to-heart with her sister Jeanine. The second chapter was originally dedicated to introducing the reader to the hero, Royce, who was in the middle of a heated meeting with the board of directors. The reader learned the juicy details around why Royce was forced to go on the cruise alone. The chapter also partially served the purpose of letting the reader know some information about Royce that wasn't revealed to the heroine until much later in the story – it added intrigue. And the third chapter originally started with Madalyn on an airplane flying to Miami. It included a brief first encounter between Madalyn and Royce at the entrance of the bus that would transfer them to the port.

Was this all background story? I didn’t think so at the time when I started writing the book. I loved Madalyn and Royce. I wanted the readers to love them too. How would that be possible if I didn’t lay the groundwork for who they were and how they each found themselves to be on a cruise – alone? Yet everything I read from the experts – yes, that would be the editors – said I had to start my story in the middle of the action. It was unanimous. The heroine and hero had to meet within the first chapter – or better yet on the first page if I could swing it.

I wanted to ball my eyes out! Six and a half thousand words had to be deleted … or worked in slowly throughout the book. How was that possible? I was sincerely skeptical. But as far as I could tell, I didn’t really have a choice. If I wanted an editor to fall in love with Madalyn and Royce and allow their story to be told, then it had to be done. So I pulled up my sleeves, highlighted the first two and a half chapters and hit delete.

Weaving the background into the story was not as painful as I expected it to be. Once I had committed to the change and completed the edits, I could see the wisdom of the advice. Who wants to wait until chapter three to finally experience the chemistry between the heroine and hero? No one! That being said, the original chapters are near and dear to my heart and tell the background story in much more depth, giving wonderful insight into the characters thoughts and feelings. So I decided to resurrect those deleted chapters on my author website under “Books – Deleted Chapters” and let the readers decide if they wanted to spend their time reading more background about the hero and heroine. It’s ok … your secret is safe with me … I won’t tell the editors. Enjoy!

Date Night: Keeping an Open Mind

I recently read an article where J.K. Rowling admitted that she made a mistake by marrying Hermione to Ronald in the Harry Potter series. She reluctantly acknowledged that she held on too tightly to the "original" script where Hermione and Ron were supposed to end up together. But in hind-sight, she felt they probably weren't right for each other.

I completely understand where J.K. Rowling is coming from! It is really hard to let go of a path that we set for our characters in the beginning. But sometimes characters grow and develop into something that we, the writers, never could have envisioned in the beginning. And it is a shame to hold our characters back from becoming the best that they can be.

In the story of Date Night, I originally wrote the scene in the cafe with Jordan and her cousin Tyler. However, as the story developed, I realized there was a real potential for a spin-off love story for Jordan's brother Jared. But that spin-off would have Jared falling in love with Jordan's best friend. After all, turn-about is fair play!  Once this idea hit me, it became clear that I had to work Jordan's best friend Leah more into the storyline. The cafe scene was the perfect scene to introduce Jordan's best friend and allowed for a great opportunity for character development. So I had to ditch the cousin in favor of the best friend.

Making this change was really heartbreaking for me. I wrote Date Night for my niece and many of the characters at least have the names of my real life family members. The mannerisms of Leah in the cafe scene mirror those of my real life niece Tyler. And it was so much fun to watch my real life niece come to life on the pages of the book. So taking Tyler out of the picture and replacing her with Leah broke my heart a little. But it was for the greater good of the story and I was able to weave Leah into four other key scenes, which built the foundation for the second story in the Wish Come True series called "Fair Game".

The lesson I learned was to always keep an open mind. Don't cement your ideas for a story so that they are immovable. Be open to new possible angles, plot lines and characters that will take the overall story to the next level!

Besides, I ended up building Tyler into both Date Night and Fair Game so now I can give her a story of her own. Coming soon...