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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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Any tips?
I had the thought recently that I'm trying to force my book When the Star Fell into the wrong genre. Currently I've labeled it as contemporary fantasy. But I'm wondering if it should be rewritten to be a straight-up paranormal romance.
There are likely advantages and disadvantages to this.
I'm not currently seeing the advantages. It's a lot of work and I'll lose some of my favorite scenes (my villain scenes) and have to ditch a lot of the action. (At least, that's my understanding as a lot of the romances and paranormal romances I've read gloss over any action in favor of putting the two characters together.)
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Joined: 4/6/2011
Posts: 29
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So... why would you want to do this, then? Why do you feel like you should rewrite it?
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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Because a beta reader's comment has been nagging at me for week's and I'm wondering if this would be the solution to it. She said she wasn't sure I've found the piece's voice. I had the thought that maybe what she was getting at was that I didn't nail the genre on the piece and that's what's dragging it down.
I've had many thoughts on how to address this comment, and all of them entail rewriting the book. This is the only one that lets me keep this as the book that would be queried. (The main other one moved this to the third book in a loosely connected series and changed the MC entirely.)
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Joined: 4/6/2011
Posts: 29
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I wouldn't completely rewrite a book based on one beta comment! Did you talk to her about what she meant, try to dig more into what the voice problem is? The changes you seem to be thinking about -- ditching action scenes, changing the villain -- seem to me to be more about plot and structure than genre per se. (I don't really read paranormal romance, though.)
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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I've tossed around an idea or two. Mostly I'm just trying to puzzle it out. There's a heavy romance element to the book. (I've got a chunk of it up here on BC hoping to get some feedback that might spark the perfect solution.)
If this book needs to be paranormal romance, the focus is going to switch entirely. I don't know that I'd be able to keep the parts from the antagonist's perspective. It's not that the antagonist would change, I just wouldn't be in their head like I currently am.
Changing the genre, too, would also mean ditching a character in favor of changing the focus from the action to the romance.
The other option was changing the book to be a different character's story. The antagonist would stay the same, the storyline would stay largely the same, but the internal arc would be different, etc.
The corollary to this latter change would then be that this would be the third book in a loosely connected series. Each book would have its own story and plot and its own character arc, but there would be a subtle character arc that spanned all three books, connecting them, but keeping them stand-alone.
Like I said, bandying about a variety of ideas to figure out this issue.
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Joined: 3/7/2011
Posts: 38
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Steph,
I don't think you should change the book that drastically. I really like your basic story and your villain. Was the comment with the rewriting you've done?
I thought the new draft made the story much stronger. I like the action element (yeah, that's a big surprise) and the overall arc of him being the current chosen hero.
I haven't seen anything wrong about your genre choice for it.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 412
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WHOA WHOA WHOA! A book's genre is determined by it's content. ITS CONTENT IS NOT DETERMINED BY ITS GENRE!
You do not need to make it fit in little cubby holes because it has ASPECTS of another genre in it.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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Alexander, I'm only considering the genre switch because I'm trying to figure out what would fix the comment about voice in the work. There's probably a 60/40 to 55/45 mix of action and romance. That's the only reason I was considering the genre switch. I'm looking at the characters and asking them if the story is really in the romance and less so in the action.
I'm not trying to pigeon-hole my book, just trying to make sure the story is told in the right way.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 412
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OKay, so don't think of it in terms of genre. Are, in your mind, the action scenes you are looking to give up, an integral part of the story?
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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That's what I was driving at as I wrote it. With a heavy romance element. I'm just struggling with figuring out what this whole issue is. Why she doesn't think that I've found the voice of the piece.
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