What's My Genre?

Cathy McDowell · Aug 7, 2012

Confused on genre.

I see contemporary romance.

Spiritual romance.

Erotica romance.

I write romance. Plain, simple, ordinary every day romance.
Maybe using the word wholesome would help.
No sex is included in my writing.

What is my genre? I say Romance but some publishers have lists and I have no idea what one to use.

Thanks for all the help I know I will receive.

IAMWRITER · Aug 7, 2012

I would probably say contemporary romance - though I'm not too sure what Spiritual Romance is about.

Definately not erotica romance as I think that has to include graphic descriptions of sex

Kerosene · Aug 7, 2012

You answered your own question.

Cathy McDowell · Aug 7, 2012

WillSauger said:
You answered your own question.

I know it's romance but most publishers have another word attached to romance and wholesome aint it.

ryanswofford · Aug 7, 2012

Contemporary Romance is a good way of saying it. Or One-Word Title Romance. Depends on how trashy it is! Haha.

Unimportant · Aug 7, 2012

Cathy McDowell said:
I write romance. Plain, simple, ordinary every day romance.

As I understand it (admittedly imperfectly!), romance is categorised by subgenres and then, separately, by 'heat' levels.

Subgenres focus on aspects of the setting such as the time period (historical, contemporary, Regency) or character category(African-American, doctor/nurse, paranormal).

Heat levels define how explicit the sex is. "Sweet" generally means no overt sex - they kiss, and then the curtain falls. Erotic romance will feature explicit sex. Christian romance is usually sweet romance, but not all sweet romances are Christian.

Unimportant · Aug 7, 2012

ryanswofford said:
Contemporary Romance is a good way of saying it. Or One-Word Title Romance. Depends on how trashy it is! Haha.

Whoa there, tiger. Nobody sets out to write trash, and no commercial genre of fiction is trash. There are writers here on AW whose preferences span the romance genre from sweet Christian romance to erotica and BDSM. None of them would like to see their writing called 'trash'. Please respect your fellow writers.

ryanswofford · Aug 7, 2012

Unimportant said:
Whoa there, tiger. Nobody sets out to write trash, and no commercial genre of fiction is trash. There are writers here on AW whose preferences span the romance genre from sweet Christian romance to erotica and BDSM. None of them would like to see their writing called 'trash'. Please respect your fellow writers.

Sorry! Totally didn't mean it like that. I sort of meant "trashy" as in...well, I mean, I write trashy sometimes. It just means how, say, "risqué" a piece is. At least that's how I meant it (and how I've heard pieces like that referred to as).

So again, sorry about that. It just came out wrong's all.

Unimportant · Aug 7, 2012

Cathy McDowell said:
I say Romance but some publishers have lists and I have no idea what one to use.

Forgot to say: If you're submitting to a particular publisher, then by all means use their lists! For example, Harlequin would probably categorise your work under "Heartwarming", and they provide contact details for the specific editor for this category.

rwm4768 · Aug 7, 2012

Contemporary romance.

Silver-Midnight · Aug 7, 2012

I'd say Contemporary Romance or, if necessary, Sweet Contemporary Romance. But that's just my opinion.

John342 · Aug 8, 2012

If it takes place in the past... even ten years ago, it's historical romance, if it's now its contemporary, if its in the future its science fiction romance.... and the list grows.

ccarver30 · Aug 8, 2012

ryanswofford said:
Sorry! Totally didn't mean it like that. I sort of meant "trashy" as in...well, I mean, I write trashy sometimes. It just means how, say, "risqué" a piece is. At least that's how I meant it (and how I've heard pieces like that referred to as).

So again, sorry about that. It just came out wrong's all.

I write regency romance and knew exactly what you meant. I used to write slash. Hopefully you know what THAT is... lol

VoireyLinger · Aug 8, 2012

Cathy McDowell said:
I write romance. Plain, simple, ordinary every day romance.
Maybe using the word wholesome would help.
No sex is included in my writing.

Sweet contemporary.

Buffysquirrel · Aug 8, 2012

I would have said Sweet, too.

NeuroFizz · Aug 8, 2012

Wait...sex isn't wholesome?

wholesome = healthful, beneficial, helpful, healing, strengthening, invigorating, stimulating, refreshing.

I guess I'm just not trashy enough in bed.

ryanswofford · Aug 8, 2012

ccarver30 said:
I write regency romance and knew exactly what you meant. I used to write slash. Hopefully you know what THAT is... lol

Ah, yes. Thanks for the comfort, haha! I was kinda scared. Didn't know if I'd crossed a line or not.

What's My Genre?

Cathy McDowell

IAMWRITER

QWERTY!!!

Kerosene

Your Pixie Queen

Cathy McDowell

ryanswofford

Unimportant

No COVID yet. Still masking.

Unimportant

No COVID yet. Still masking.

ryanswofford

Unimportant

No COVID yet. Still masking.

rwm4768

practical experience, FTW

Silver-Midnight

John342

ccarver30

Nicole Castro

VoireyLinger

Angel Wing Fetish

Buffysquirrel

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it

ryanswofford