The first NaNo I ever attempted I managed to finish. That was back in 2005, and the characters in the story had been in my head for a good 30 years. Writing it down was almost like dictation: it was in my head, just needed to be transcribed. The working title was “Hookahs,” just as a reference point.
I shared the story with a handful of close friends and classmates (I was in a graduate level program for technical writing that I dropped out of). Everyone enjoyed it, even in its scary first draft state. One gal, who’d worked for years in bookstores, had a problem. She couldn’t decide what it was. Romance? Fantasy? Chick lit?
At the time, I sort of dismissed her comments. I’d been taught to write without thinking of the audience. Just write, the audience will find it. And to some extent, I think that’s valid. I mean, here we all are, adults, still wrapped up in what’s apparently a kids’ book.
What I realized around the 90K mark of the first draft of Cantata was that I had more than a passing interest in romance. That insight made me look at “Hookahs” through a different lens, and I understood part of why I couldn’t seem to revise it. I didn’t understand the conflict well enough to tackle it.
With this in mind, I joined RWA the end of last year, to embrace the romance-writing side of me. Thing is, I kept thinking I was missing something. The romances I’ve read have been enjoyable, but lacked something. I thought back to what my bookseller friend had said. Maybe it’s not straight romance?
Which lead me back to women’s lit (one of the better essays that explains the difference). Honestly, I think this is what I write. I’m interested in the journeys people take internally, from point A to B. Romance is important, but it’s not the sole thing. Romance and sex are things that happen. I think this is the reason why I’ve been so agonized over comments about why the 3rd wheel in my story needs to go. In pure romance, the protagonists are unencumbered with preexisting relationships. Not so in women’s lit, and not in my stories, where the characters change and grow. (I think this is how relationships stagnate, fail, or thrive, if the people in them grow or don’t.) Even “Hookahs” started with the female protagonist in an somewhat mundane relationship with a sports-junkie. (Hm. That’s a pattern I need to check, too.)
It’s just fine for me to carry on like this, as long as I understand what conventions I’m breaking and why. So I’ll speed up the Ron arc a little and nudge things.But, Mel, I’m keeping him, because he’s a toy and a tool for me to play with.
(One of my o-fics has a 20 yo fellow who runs off to sea after he’s disinherited from the family fortune, so I need practice writing young fellows. He’s the younger brother of my orgiastic courier from 2013’s NaNo, if anyone’s interested. Both these stories are extensions of “Hookahs,” as they deal with the same species of shapeshifting dragons.)