Favourite Genre/Sub-Genre to Write

As some of you may know I often struggle to find a topic for my Monday posts. It is somewhat irritating and I don't wish to ramble on about nothing just for the sake of posting something. So, Dianna and I have decided that we will choose each others topics each week in the form or questions - unless we have something we wish to talk about - but we also want to invite all of you to ask us questions, which we will answer the following week in our blog post. So, please do feel free to use the comment section below (and on any post) to pick our brains. :-)

So, my topic for today is on which genres I prefer to write. Main genre would be romance.

I have yet to have an idea which has not involved romance. It's not purposely done, but at the heart of it I am a romantic and no matter what I read or watch I find that I am drawn to any sprinkle of romance that appears. I have always enjoyed the little moments between the hero and heroine. I love the details, the glances, the small touches, I find I crave those moments in any story. So, I guess it would make sense why I enjoy writing romances. I like being able to help two people find one another. Sure some of my characters have rockier roads and bigger challenges than others, but I enjoy going on their journey with them. I want happy endings. I want hope and passion and fulfilment.

Sub-genres . . . Erotic romance would be the main sub-genre that mingles in, because sex is a part of life and of any relationship. It's the conclusion of chemistry, caring, and opening up to someone; trusting them.

Although we can all understand love (to some degree) it's very different for all of us. We each feel it differently and can do on many occasions, but it can be confusing. So can sex, but it is something that we can all understand biologically. We can all relate to sex. We have all had sex.

I actually prefer Erotic Romance to Romance, because although romance is lovely, and sweet it is very innocent. I am of course talking in the sense of the Romance genre when both books and films close the door on sexual side of the relationship. You just know those characters are going to be ripping each others clothes off at some point, but to push that side of the relationship out kinda makes the genre seem like a fairytale. Not that there is anything wrong with fairy-tales (I'm a huge fan of fairy-tales) and not that there is anything wrong with closing the door and keeping a story sweet. Sometimes a story is sweet, or has to be because there is a bigger plot going on. (I have written a sweet romance, so I'm really not against them, I promise.) But we have hormones; we lust, we crave intimacy and that physical, deep connection. I just personally feel that erotic romance makes the relationship a little more real.

Otherwise the Paranormal Genre would be the sub-genre I tend to lean toward the most. I grew up loving fairy-tales, and stories to do with the supernatural. I found the Greek Mythology fascinating due to the idea of these gods and goddess, Hades and the underworld, and creatures like Medusa, Scylla and Charybdis etc.

I believe that every creature that has every been placed under "supernatural" or a being of "myth and legend" did actually exist at some point in time. Perhaps that makes me sound crazy, but I really don't care. Everything starts with a grain of truth, and the idea that magic is truly alive and real just makes the world and existence that extra bit interesting.

The paranormal genre is a playground of endless possibilities. So many creatures to choose from. So many ways to view each of those creatures. So much you can create with them. They will never get old.

The above three tend to be the genres I stick to the most. Contemporary is a fourth component as every story I have written so far - even if it contains a supernatural being - has always been modern; it's always been set around this year and time zone.

But I don't plan to stick or even limit myself to these particular genres. I enjoy reading period stories, steam-punk, fantasy, and futuristic and would like to at least write one story in each of those particular genres at some point in my life time.

So, my question to you (readers and fellow writers) which genres (and sub-genres) do you enjoy reading and/or writing?

What is it about romance?

"Well, it was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were suppose to be together... and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home... only to no home I'd ever known... I was just taking her hand to to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like... magic."

- Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks, Sleepless in Seattle)

That has to be one of the most romantic lines I have ever heard. <3

~ * ~

What is it about romance? The movies and the novels, songs, poems etc what is it that makes - and I'm going to say - most women - because some women aren't in to it - crave it so much? Is it the fate factor? Is it the idea of someone loving you so passionately, intensely that it doesn't even make sense, but it feels right? Is it the idea that two people can be made for one another; that they are here on earth to find one another?

I sat down and watched "Sleepless in Seattle" yesterday. It was the first time I managed to watch the film from the very beginning to the end, because in the past I have missed the beginning or half of the movie and only caught the tail end.

It's a good movie, and the main reason is because despite it being a romance, and yes, I suppose a chick film, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan spend most of the movie apart. We weren't watching two people falling in love, we were a woman who didn't believe in fate following a connection which blossomed within her for someone who did believe in fate.

Do you believe in fate?

I always have, but not in the sense that I feel we have no control over our lives. I have always viewed life (fate) as a giant road map. Every route, pit stop, hitch hiker etc is planned out, but it is up to us which route we want to take. The inevitable destination is of course death. We're all heading that way no matter what, but I believe we choose our paths, but if there is something we have to do, if there is someone we have to meet, we will, no matter what.

Is that a romantic idea?

Possibly.

At the beginning of Sleepless in Seattle, Meg Ryan's mother is asking her how she and her fiancée met, and when Meg finishes explaining her mother states that it was "fate," to which Meg replies that there is "no such thing as fate. It was an accident." (or something along those lines.) She goes on to state that life is full of coincidences.

I for one refuse to believe that. I don't believe in coincidence because by definition that does mean an accident, which would mean everything in life from the smallest details to the massive world events are just random, there is no pattern or design. Although, I respect peoples views, and if people want to believe that, fine, but I can't believe that. I refuse to believe that everything that happens to us in life is an accident.

Now, I know that in the film, Meg goes through a phase of uncertainty in which she questions her beliefs in love and fate. She actually tests fate. Whereas Tom states that if he is suppose to be with someone he will just know. The line used by many in the film when talking about the moment they knew they were suppose to be with that particular person was "It was magic."

But if Meg hadn't turned the radio on and been intrigued by the son calling a radio shrink, and then felt that connection when Tom was speaking, well, she would have been none the wiser. You see, it's small things like that; turning the radio on, deciding to walk a different route home after work one day, simple things can change your life without you even realizing it.

Although my romantic life hasn't been fabulous I like the idea that there is someone out there for me; that there is someone who I will connect with in such a way that it almost seems crazy.

Do I honestly believe that? Yes. Do I think I will ever meet such a person, my soul mate or twin-flame as people do like to say? Yes. I have no idea when, but I believe it. I just have to wait and see. What is meant to be will be, and there is a time and place for everything. Am I a romantic? Definitely.

You see, I think women like romance so much because it is . . . magic. Love is powerful.

So, do you believe in fate? Do you believe in soul mates? Do you believe that everything happens for a reason? Or do you believe that life is one string of coincidences?