Thoughts about my current project
Yesterday, I passed the 30,000 word mark in my contemporary category romance. That's 20,000 to go. Here's what I'm thinking so far:
a) Boy, it's a REALLY different style. I mean, my writing in the Dream of Asarlai trilogy is really action packed. Even when they're sitting around talking, it's about big stuff. But here, I'm having to spend more time in the quiet moments – the reflections, the deep and meaningful conversations that are such an important part of falling in love with someone. That quality of how time slows down and everything else disappears when you're with your new lover – that's the feeling you're trying to get across in a romance. So I'm feeling really uncertain as to whether I'm actually achieving it or not.
b) Plot wise it's really different. Actually, it's kinda the way I used to write – I'd get great characters, a great scenario, then just write reams and reams about their life and dealing with the trials and tribulations. Then I got seriously into PLOT and into building and relieving suspense, in not letting things get too quiet for too long, in throwing more and more shit on my characters and making it all about achieving something. But in romance, what the characters want to achieve isn't the point of the book. The point of the book is them falling in love. It's not something they are even thinking about at the beginning, but by the end it's ALL they can think about. So again, I find myself wondering – am I doing enough here? Not doing enough there? I need to test my characters, but they need to be together by the end and I've only got 50,000 words so I can't go overboard.
c) That said, I'm really enjoying it. Writing the gadda books has become, to a certain extent, automatic. I know the style. I know the characters. I know the world. I write entire scenes, chapters without a lot of thought, just carried away in the story. But with this, I'm often thinking about the words as I write them. I can't waste words. But I can't rush people through either. Every scene is a decision, every paragraph a consideration. It's very intriguing to be feeling so different about it.
I think that at this point in my career, I'm a good enough writer with a good enough sense of the genre to write a respectable contemporary romance. Whether it's good enough to be publishable is something that I'll have to let others judge. But certainly, I'm having fun and learning lots and that's what's important.
