To be honest, genres are very confusing to me. My books have been classified as romantic thriller and romantic suspense. I suppose suspense would work for Amanda’s Rib, but I wouldn’t classify it or Oblivious as a thriller. To me ‘thriller’ is a fast-paced book filled with tension. Oblivious is fast-paced, but has humor more than tension. There’s a mystery, but the book is more about how Olivia Chatham solves the crime than the heinous deed itself. I’d classify both novels as romantic mystery. I write about people facing a problem, and how they solve it. Above all my books are about the characters.
I think it is important to have more specific genres than just romance or mystery or historical etc. There are a wide variety of genres under each broad umbrella. For example, some mystery purists get quite upset if there’s any romance at all in a book. They want to know it has a love element so they can pass on it. I want to know if a mystery is sci-fi or fantasy because I generally avoid those. They are perfectly fine books, and very popular. I think I lack the imagination for some of the wild events in them. Like shape shifting or ‘beam me up’ stuff. My mind just can’t wrap around those concepts. I wish it could.
The term ‘thriller’ is usually a turn-off for me. I’m very much a character-driven reader and writer. It could just be me, but I think thrillers often overlook character development. So much time is spent running here and there, the protagonists seem to be almost forgotten. Nothing more than a few names on the pages. Tension comes from some kind of deadline rather than a hero or heroine’s dilemma. While reading thrillers, I frequently find myself wondering when the protagonists are going to get to shower and change clothes. I realize I’m using a broad brush here, but these are just my opinions. A recent best selling thriller bored me to pieces. I almost wished one of the protagonists would die because it would have broken up all the hopping around from place to place. But it sold millions of copies, so what do I know? For the record, I don’t like chase scenes in movies, either. Watch me run left! Watch me turn right! Watch me climb this fence and avoid the dog on the other side! Not this gal. Watch me nod off. My husband loves them.
In the end all genres are wonderful, even though I avoid some. If they entertain people, they’re good. I just wish there were specific definitions for each type so we’d know what we’re getting into. I’d like my books on mystery shelves and romance shelves. Mostly I’d like them in windows and displays as you enter the store. Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?
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Thanks, Cyndia! Cyndia Depre’s latest book, Oblivious, which is classified as a romantic mystery, is available from Amazon
This blog tour is run by Pump Up Your Book Promotion.
Genre labels can be very misleading. The ones that stump me most are the books that crossover into multiple genres. I tend to think of thrillers as suspenseful novels where you know or have a good idea of who the villian(s) are upfront and a mystery is when the reader is left guessing until near the end. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but it works for my purposes. In both instances, plot tends to come first, I agree, but it seems like more authors in these genres are paying closer attention to character development, which I think is wonderful.
I’m one of those readers who tends to avoid books with heavy romance elements. I don’t mind it as a minor side story, just as long as it doesn’t overshadow the rest of the book. There are plenty of exceptions though, and so it’s not a hard and fast rule of mine.
Great post!