IWSG: A New Genre?

Where did the first half of 2025 go? Time just seems to pass faster and faster as I get older, especially since I have so many projects to juggle. I'm pleased to report that I'm over halfway to my Goodreads reading goal for this year (100 books, which may sound like a lot, but I've read 200 in previous years). I may wait until December to discuss what I've read, though.

 Anyway, this post is for the Insecure Writer's Support Group, where we support other writers. Learn more about the IWSG on their website and Facebook page.

 Our hosts this month are Rebecca Douglass, Natalie Aguirre, Cathrina Constantine, and Louise Barbour. 

Here's our question for July: Is there a genre you haven't tried writing in yet that you really want to try? If so, do you plan on trying it?

I've switched genres quite a bit for a writer: my work includes fantasy, science fiction, solarpunk (which should probably be considered a subgenre of science fiction), and paranormal cozy mystery. All of these genres have a speculative element, which is what most strongly appeals to me. However, the top genre for readers is romance. This genre doesn't resonate with me so much because I'm demisexual. (I don't experience primary sexual attraction; I like to think of it as falling in love with someone from the inside out. For me, many romances focus mostly on the hero's physical qualities but don't give him the intelligence and humor that personally appeal to me.) Of course I have characters who fall in love with each other, and their relationships are often part of a secondary plot. But I've never tried to write a pure romance story before....

Until this year. 

One of my projects is a Good Omens alternate universe fanfic which imagines the characters as middle-aged women. One's a harper, the other's a singer, and they meet when they're asked to accompany each other at a wedding. It's coming along slowly because I'm switching among multiple projects, not all of which are writing. I have a book about how to write romance that outlines the story beats readers expect so I can figure out plot points. This story is only a few thousands words along so far, so I'm still getting to know the characters and figuring out what happens to them after the wedding. There's still a lot I have to consider for this story, and I may have someone else beta read it when I finally finish the draft. Please wish me luck, because I'm sure I'll need it!

 Have you experimented with new genres before? If so, please feel free to share how it went in the comments.

Favorite Literary Couples

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm doing better, though it'll probably be a couple more days before I'm feeling 100%.

In honor of the day, I thought I'd mention some of my favorite literary couples. In general, I like reading about relationships where there's more focus on witty banter than body parts and the love develops over time. For banter, I like Benedick and Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing (particularly since I've seen the movie version a few times) and Alexia Tarabotti and Lord Maccon in Soulless. (In my opinion, their banter is best in this book.) I also liked The Time Traveler's Wife, since we see Henry and Clare's relationship develop over time (though it does feel a little odd that she developed a crush on him as a child).

What are your favorite literary couples? And would anyone be interested if I wrote a four-part series about the couples in the Season Avatars series? Let me know in the comments.

Back on the Blog Chain--Summer Loving

With the summer solstice coming later this month, Katrina wants to hear about our characters' summer romances:

Have you ever written a summer fling? Or are all your fictional relationships the deep, forever kind? If you did write one, how would it begin (the meet cute)? Where would it be set? Give us a few paragraphs sample. 
 
I prefer writing about long-term relationships over summer flings; however, there is one character of mine who is the exception to this rule. Her name is Jenna, and appropriately enough, she's the Sola Sum in my Season Lords (which I may rename Season Avatars) fantasy series. Jenna serves the God of Summer and has plant magic.  She is the most sensual of the Season Lords/Season Avatars. The first time I wrote about her, she was a farmer's daughter who'd grown up near the small town of Bull Rock and had had an affair with a youth named Ridley, the son of a local nobleman. The affair ended when Jenna became pregnant and Ridley refused to marry her because she wasn't of his class. (Technically, as a Season Lord or Season Avatar, Jenna is eligible to be ennobled in her own right and would actually outrank Ridley, but that hadn't happened at that point in the story. Ridley's rejection of her was based on snobbery for her low birth and Jenna's lack of social graces.) I've changed Jenna's background for Scattered Seasons, which will be the first book in the Season Lords/Season Avatars series, but since this affair is the closest thing I have to a summer fling, we'll use it for this blog post.

"Meeting cute" sounds too contemporary for a fantasy world loosely based on Victorian England. Ridley and Jenna would have been aware of each other as they were growing up, but Ridley would have noticed Jenna more as she matured. Jenna is tall and shapely, with red hair, green eyes, and an alluring smile. Ridley came back from a winter in Challen's capital city of Vistichia to his family's estate in Bull Rock to find Jenna working with her family in the field. Her plant magic would have brought her to his attention, and then her attractive appearance and flirtatious ways would have done the rest. Ridley couldn't bring her back to his family's house without creating gossip fodder for the servants, so they'd go for walks in the evening and find hidden places in the fields and valleys for their trysts.


Ridley and Jenna's love affair had ended by the time the story started, so all I have for a sample is a bit of the aftermath:

Her heart twisted as she looked at him, and his pleasant expression faded as she stared. All through the winter, she’d sat at her window with her melon-like belly and dreamed of him missing her in Vistichia. Now she knew why he hadn’t even bothered to write her. He’d been with other women, and she was just his summer lightskirt. Maybe she wasn’t even the one he loved best.
“Get out,” she said, her voice surprisingly hoarse.
 “What?” he asked.   
“You heard me, get out.”
“Don’t you even want to hear what I’ve planned for our son?”
“He’s not your son, he’s mine! You’ll never have him.”
He backed away, arms outstretched. “What did I do?”
“You can’t figure that out, you’re more stupid than a carrot growin’ upside down. You and your father always take and never give. Go find some other pretty face to lift her skirts for you for nothin’, I won’t do it again.”

Ridley's character didn't make it into the most recent draft of Scattered Seasons, but I'd always planned to say "good riddance" to him anyway. Unfortunately for Jenna, her luck with men hasn't improved.

For happier summer flings, check out Kate's post from yesterday and visit Christine's blog tomorrow. Please let me know if you prefer "Season Lords" or "Season Avatars" for the series title. Thanks!