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Genre Hopping, or From Fantasy to Romance and Back Again

October 29, 2008 I thought I was writing a fantasy novel.  My pitch began:

Jane Madison has a problem. Or two. Or three.  She's working as a librarian, trapped in absurd period costumes and serving up expensive lattes, all in an effort to keep her employer's budget in the black…. Now she's been told that the library can't pay her a well-deserved raise – instead, she can live for free in an ancient, dusty cottage on the library grounds.  When Jane settles into her new, allergen-infested home, she discovers a hidden chamber lined with ancient books – a world-class collection on witchcraft. She begins to read a spellbook, never suspecting that she has the power to work actual magic.  Her first spell awakens a smart-mouthed feline familiar. Her second makes her irresistible to men, starting with her geeky, shy co-worker….

There was one more paragraph, but you get the idea.  My agent sent out my brief write-up, and I waited to hear back from the Usual Suspects:  Roc, or Ace, or Tor, or Luna.

And then, my agent phoned and said, "Want to write a book for Red Dress Ink?" 

RDI.  Like Luna, a Harlequin imprint.  A line that was founded in the wake of Bridget Jones's success.  A line that was based on chicklit, or women's fiction, or … I was afraid to think the word, romance.

I accepted RDI's offer, and Girl's Guide to Witchcraft was published in October 2006.  A sequel, Sorcery and the Single Girl, appeared in October 2007, and the third book in the series, Magic and the Modern Girl, hit the shelves on October 1 of this year.


I've spent years addressing the incredulous questions of friends and family:  Why do you waste your time writing traditional fantasy novels?  My parents read my Glasswrights Series, but they never really understood why I wasn't spending my time on lit-er-a-ture (I had been an English major, after all.)  My friends read my stand-alone fantasy, Season of Sacrifice, but they would have been happier if I'd written mysteries, preferably with lots of blood and gore.

Now I have another host of questions to answer.  This time, it's readers who write to me, who question my shifting genres:  Why do you waste your time writing romance?

But there's the catch.  I'm not "just" writing romance.  I'm writing fantasy novels with a romantic through-line.  True romance readers expect their books to end with an HEA (Happily Ever After), and I wasn't about to be that kind to my characters.  Jane Madison's life will never be that simple, never that … mundane.

Or perhaps, I'm writing romance novels with a foundation of fantasy.  Magic complicates my characters' love lives.  Spells confuse true passion.  Crystals sway honest heart-belief.  Astral obligations complicate worldly relationships.


I've described my work as a Crayola crayon – one of the cool ones in the box of 64 – either green-blue or blue-green.  (I always preferred the closer-to-blue tone of the former.)  I've described it as a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup – the perfect balance of chocolate and peanut butter.

Ultimately, I think that genres exist so that bookstores know where to shelve books.  I'm pleased to find that my readers have followed me from the "Fantasy and Science Fiction" section across the store to "Fiction and Literature"  (or, occasionally, to "Romance", depending on individual stores' computerized shelving plans.)  I look forward to challenging my readers more in the future, bringing them along with my writing, as I explore other slices of the genre pie.

In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy great genre literature where I find it – especially through such online venues as Genreville.  I appreciate the opportunity to post here today!

Posted by Mindy Klasky on October 29, 2008 | Comments (7)