Taking the Plunge

(The jump from writing romance to writing mainstream novels)

 

by Gwynne Forster

            I’m most comfortable writing long contemporaries that are general fiction (mainstream). As a fiction writer, I prefer to write about modern men and women, i.e., born 1955 or later. Most of my heroes and heroines are like the people I know best, educated, upscale and moral, although my secondary characters can run the gamut of American types. I have occasionally departed from this pattern. I rarely use the vernacular, because it doesn’t suit my major characters and doesn’t work with my writer’s voice. Nonetheless, I use the language that suits my characters as regards age, education and sub-culture.  As a non-fiction writer, I am a demographer and have twenty-seven titles published as books, texts and articles in professional journals.

            I began writing fiction as a romance writer, but my romances always contained at least two important sub-topics and always involved issues. An editor helped steer me to mainstream, where she thought I could write without the restrictions imposed by the romance genre. I jumped at the chance and never doubted my ability to do it.

            Before I had written the second chapter of my first mainstream, I knew I had found my proper milieu. Dealing with social issues as they effect people or, conversely, writing of people affected by social problems proved to be a source of enjoyment, not totally unlike the job of ferreting out the social, economic and health problem that are interrelated with population change (the subject matter of demography). This is not to say that I do not enjoy writing romance novels.  I do, because I love to write. Period. However, general fiction is my first love.

            I don’t tackle a project voluntarily unless I believe I can do it. My greatest concern had to do with whether I was selecting the write topic or subject matter. However, as soon as the story began to take shape in my head, and I envisioned the characters and started to develop them, I had no doubts that general fiction was my milieu.

            I have noted in my work some differences in voice, structure and, particularly, subject matter between romance and general fiction or mainstream, but I don’t consider this a problem. A neighbor and high ranked editor at another publishing house warned me that, unlike writing romance, with general fiction I was on my own without guidelines or restrictions, and that I would discover what caliber of story-teller I really am. That comment set me on the right tract from the start. My editor had more pointed and sharper  questions than when she edited my romances, and my agent chided me once for holding back. Four-letter words aren’t my style, but he assured me that the only plausible reaction in a certain context (in my story) was a specific four-letter word. I soon learned that if I were writing as true to life as possible, I would occasionally have to delve into scatology.  I had feared the prospects of selling $25.00 hard cover books at book signings, but I discovered that they sold well and returned far higher royalties.

            I do not let anyone read my manuscripts before my editor sees them, because I study the story idea and story line thoroughly before I begin writing, and I know that one reads subjectively. What one reader sees as poor, another may enjoy. I don’t need any style-type editing other than what a copy editor will do. For years, I headed a research department at United Nations in New York and had the experience of writing myself as well as polishing the work of others for publication. As a demographer writing for the academic community, I had to use the language properly. I’m not perfect, but I definitely do not require the services of a book doctor.

            My readers have been very loyal, and are reading both my romance novels and my mainstream women’s novels. I find that some readers of my mainstream novels occasionally want a happy ending (which they are accustomed to in romance novels) although one isn’t warranted. If they write me about it, I explain why a happy ending wouldn’t have made sense. I couldn’t ask for better reader support. I suppose that my writers’ voice hasn’t  changed, at least not significantly.

            Several experiences encouraged me to write mainstream. Harriet Klausner, probably the most prolific reviewer I’ve encountered, told me, after reading my second romance book, that I should write mainstream novels.  I read a mainstream novel by a well known author and was convinced that it would have been more aptly classified as a romance than NAKED SOUL, the romance novel I had just completed. A quick analysis taught me the difference between romance and mainstream.

            For anyone who’s considering switching from romance to general fiction, figure out the difference between romance and mainstream and go for it. It is not difficult. Remember that a mainstream novel is more likely to be successful if the story deals with issues, especially social issues.

 Copyright © 2009 by Gwynne Forster