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Yesterday, I said one of the FAQs writers hear is "Where do you get your ideas?" But this is actually a softball question lobbed by people who already like you. The trickiest question is "Oh, yeah, you're a writer? What do you write?"
When your interrogator has one hand propped on hip, you know you're in for good times.
"Books" is the safe and obvious answer. People think you're being facetious, but honestly, that's the part that still delights me most: I wrote a book! With pages and a cover and stuff! Admittedly, though, it's not a complete and satisfying answer and I haven't been able to get away with it yet.
Romance is the most fun answer, because seven times out of ten, someone will be blushing by the time the second question rolls around. As long as you don't mind defending the value of stories where love elevates the spirit (and we need to defend this? still? really?) saying "I write romance" can be the start of an-ahem-invigorating discussion among bookish types. But romance has become such a diverse genre-ranging from erotica to inspirational, historicals to futuristics--that too is not enough of an answer anymore.
Delving deeper, we get to "I write paranormal romance." This one's interesting. On my Tweetdeck, I have a permanent search column set up for paranormal romance. Of the six tweets showing in the column right now, one says, "I am both amused and disturbed by the fact that [my local bookstore] now has a Paranormal Romance section," and another says, "My local [bookstore] has a whole shelf of books devoted to 'Paranormal Romance'. Is that progress?" Geez, the tone is almost as irate as that time I changed a recipe and replaced the parts that called for milk with hot cocoa mix. You should try it; you might like it.
As with romance, though, I think paranormal romance has become diverse enough to need sub-subgenres. So for awhile, I found myself sidesliding into "I write urban fantasy." This seemed almost right since my story is set in contemporary Chicago, with the urban grit and flair of such a metro venue, and the characters face their supernatural predicaments with a certain postmodern sensibility. And with the voracious nature of romance readers reading crossgenre, a healthy chunk of urban fantasy has drifted toward paranormal romance so that sometimes the only difference between them seems to be that paranormal romance shows the hero on the cover while urban fantasy features the heroine.
In the end, though, it felt like a betrayal to lose my romance roots. When someone posted on one of my loops recently asking for the difference between PNR and UF, I said in paranormal romance, the romance comes first; in urban fantasy, the worldbuilding comes first. Which suddenly clarified for me: "I write urban fantasy romance." Where romance and worldbuilding are balanced.
When people blink at me, I add "Hot guys and chicks with knives." And that seems to explain it all.
I'm looking for the best way to seduce those doubting Twits I mentioned earlier into a love for paranormal romance. Leave your suggestions in comments-I love to convert new readers-and then check in on my contest page for a chance to win a signed copy of Seduced by Shadows.
Jessa Slade, Seduced by Shadows, Marked Souls, paranormal romance, Signet
