Polly Iyer's Blog - Posts Tagged "conan-doyle"
Do You Expect Certain Things to Happen in Genre Fiction?
Though things are changing, there have always been certain “requirements” of a particular genre of fiction. In romances, the hero and heroine ride off together into the sunset, otherwise called the HEA or Happy Ever After. If the book doesn’t meet that criterion, it is no longer considered a romance. Now, Romance Writers of America has a mystery sub-genre in their contests called Romantic Elements that releases the author from the hard and fast HEA. Sometimes a couple needs time to develop their relationship because relationships can be complicated. (See my book Hooked.)
Many readers don’t like graphic romance scenes mixed in with their mystery and suspense novels, even if they’re classified as romantic suspense. I always have at least one romantic scene in my books and some language that fits with the characters and the situations, so after a bunch of negative comments, I now have a disclaimer attached to all my book blurbs clarifying a reader will find both. Enough with lowering my book rankings because I have a cuss word or two. Readers, you know who you are.
Mysteries have a crime, usually a murder, and the sleuth, who’s either an amateur or a professional, must find the killer by the end of the book. Exceptions take place in a series—think Sherlock Holmes’s ongoing nemesis, Professor Moriarty, or Kyle Craig/The Mastermind, in a bunch of James Patterson’s Alex Cross books. Jeff Lindsay and Chelsea Cain have popular books with main characters who are serial killers who get away with their crimes. Cozy mysteries have nothing to offend anyone. Murders aren't gory, romance is behind closed doors. Sometimes the heroine (usually) has a craft or profession or culinary skill. There's an animal or two. Or three.
The plots of thrillers are usually a race against time, and the hero or heroine has to thwart the evildoer’s plan to destroy or control the world or to kill a bunch of people. Ian Fleming’s books, Goldfinger and Doctor No are two examples. Frederick Forsyth, and just about any book by Robert Ludlum are others.
So what if these things that classify a particular genre don’t happen? What if the evildoer’s plan isn’t thwarted at the end of a thriller and there’s semi-destruction? What if the villain succeeds in crashing the economy? What if a murderer gets away? What if the hero of a series isn’t a hero this time?
Backlash While writing Backlash, the third book in my Diana Racine Psychic Suspense series, I decided I didn’t want to do what the reader expected: put Diana in mortal danger so that the hero could swoop down and rescue her. Don’t get me wrong, she is put in danger, twice—sorry, predictable—but that’s not the crux of the story. This time the hero is in danger. Very serious danger that could affect his career―he’s a New Orleans police lieutenant―his relationship with Diana, his life. Though he’s a big part of the book, he’s effectively taken out of her part of the story, unable to help her, unable to help himself.
I gave great thought about deviating from the expected, but there’s nothing more irritating than reading the same book by different authors over and over again because they adhere to formula.
Diana’s life is put in danger, and she doesn’t do anything “to stupid to live” to wind up under the villain’s control. (I’ve been guilty of writing one scene like that in another book. Once is enough.) She is neither Wonder Woman nor Lara Croft. She’s five-two and weighs a hundred pounds soaking wet, and the bad guy is a tough cop (that’s not a spoiler, by the way). There is no hero to help extricate her from the bad guy’s clutches. Brute force won’t work, so whatever happens has to be realistic, believable, and, hopefully, clever.
Writers need to take chances with their storylines, need to do the unexpected. It may not always work, readers might be disappointed, but I think it’s worth a try.
Next time: Major surgery
Many readers don’t like graphic romance scenes mixed in with their mystery and suspense novels, even if they’re classified as romantic suspense. I always have at least one romantic scene in my books and some language that fits with the characters and the situations, so after a bunch of negative comments, I now have a disclaimer attached to all my book blurbs clarifying a reader will find both. Enough with lowering my book rankings because I have a cuss word or two. Readers, you know who you are.
Mysteries have a crime, usually a murder, and the sleuth, who’s either an amateur or a professional, must find the killer by the end of the book. Exceptions take place in a series—think Sherlock Holmes’s ongoing nemesis, Professor Moriarty, or Kyle Craig/The Mastermind, in a bunch of James Patterson’s Alex Cross books. Jeff Lindsay and Chelsea Cain have popular books with main characters who are serial killers who get away with their crimes. Cozy mysteries have nothing to offend anyone. Murders aren't gory, romance is behind closed doors. Sometimes the heroine (usually) has a craft or profession or culinary skill. There's an animal or two. Or three.
The plots of thrillers are usually a race against time, and the hero or heroine has to thwart the evildoer’s plan to destroy or control the world or to kill a bunch of people. Ian Fleming’s books, Goldfinger and Doctor No are two examples. Frederick Forsyth, and just about any book by Robert Ludlum are others.
So what if these things that classify a particular genre don’t happen? What if the evildoer’s plan isn’t thwarted at the end of a thriller and there’s semi-destruction? What if the villain succeeds in crashing the economy? What if a murderer gets away? What if the hero of a series isn’t a hero this time?
Backlash While writing Backlash, the third book in my Diana Racine Psychic Suspense series, I decided I didn’t want to do what the reader expected: put Diana in mortal danger so that the hero could swoop down and rescue her. Don’t get me wrong, she is put in danger, twice—sorry, predictable—but that’s not the crux of the story. This time the hero is in danger. Very serious danger that could affect his career―he’s a New Orleans police lieutenant―his relationship with Diana, his life. Though he’s a big part of the book, he’s effectively taken out of her part of the story, unable to help her, unable to help himself. I gave great thought about deviating from the expected, but there’s nothing more irritating than reading the same book by different authors over and over again because they adhere to formula.
Diana’s life is put in danger, and she doesn’t do anything “to stupid to live” to wind up under the villain’s control. (I’ve been guilty of writing one scene like that in another book. Once is enough.) She is neither Wonder Woman nor Lara Croft. She’s five-two and weighs a hundred pounds soaking wet, and the bad guy is a tough cop (that’s not a spoiler, by the way). There is no hero to help extricate her from the bad guy’s clutches. Brute force won’t work, so whatever happens has to be realistic, believable, and, hopefully, clever.
Writers need to take chances with their storylines, need to do the unexpected. It may not always work, readers might be disappointed, but I think it’s worth a try.
Next time: Major surgery
