What Happens when you Switch Gears?

Sometimes You Crash

Sometimes you Brake

Sometimes it is smooth sailing.

I am a sci-fi writer. It is the genre that I love and adore. It is the genre that I have written the most work in and on which have done the most academic research . I am not a poet (although I can write poetry). I am not a non-fiction writer (although I did that successfully with my blog).

But lately, I have been writing a romance.

Right… a romance. A sappy, sweet romance.

I am not sure what came over me. Actually, I am lying. I am a Hallmark/Lifetime junkie. I watch all the premiers and all the Christmas movies from October to January. I set up a schedule and print it out. What Hallmark and the likes lack, is an overwhelming amount of diversity. Last year, they had quite a number of movies featuring black people. Race, was not at the center of the movie, but the main characters were black which i enjoyed thoroughly. I laugh at the movies. I cry at the movies. They are just good and wholesome fun.

A few years ago, I wrote Hallmark asking why they didn’t have any diverse movies. ANd I do not just mean black. I mean all races and sexaulities (now, the sexualities thing ay be pushing it as Hallmark is overwhelmingly “christian” in its nature). They were gracious enough to write me back, saying they were actively working on producing diverse content. And it seems that they were making good on this promise.

A romance novel had been brewing around in my spirit for a while. I had no idea what to do with it. Put a sci-fi spin on it? Dump it all together? what? I decided to press forward and just write it. So much to my chagrin, when I found out that Hallmark had a publishing arm, I thought this would be the impetus to actually write a diverse novel and submit it.

It has been a challenge. Much more challenging than writing the fantastical. Romance is about realism and fantasy all wrapped into one. And as a woman who has had only a handful of truly romantic experiences, I was finding it difficult to write. I had to let myself go. I;ve also found it difficult to write about cultural aspects without being overwhelmingly “ethnic”. I do not want it to just be a “black romance”, slapped with the “urban” label and tabled to the black section of a book store. No. I want it front and center with all the other romances like a Crazy Rich Asians or Shopgirl.

I decided to try the NaNoWriteMo method of writing: get a draft out in a month. I am halfway done. I heard Joyce Carol Oates say the most difficult part of writing is interruptions and time. As a mom and wife, my days are full of those. But, putting myself on a writing schedule (15 minutes at lunch, 30 minutes in the evening) has helped tremendously.

I have two of my friends who are my “beta readers”. So far, they have been loving the pages I’ve sent and I am up to about 30, 000 words. One of my friends even printed the pages off to read on a plane ride. I was quite flattered.

I am not sure if this is an experiment or a permanent shift to new genres. Otherwise, I will most certainly embrace it and see where this switching gears will lead me. Will it be a detour or a new, ongoing journey?

Time will tell.