Writing What I Want
Many authors
choose a particular genre, subgenre, gender pairing, etc. to write about. In
some ways that’s expected; an author wants to build a brand, and part of that
brand might include having books that are related in some way. And some readers
become annoyed when, for example, an M/M romance author they enjoy reading
turns out to also write heterosexual romance.
Personally, I’ve
found that I can’t limit myself that way. When I started writing romance, I
wrote exclusively heterosexual, mostly contemporary, stories. But that wasn’t
all I wanted to write. I wanted to do some paranormal books. I also wanted to
do some M/M romance, though I didn’t know as much about that at the time. And I
wanted to do some BDSM romance.
When some
authors cross boundaries within the romance genre, they choose different pen
names for each different thing they write. Partly that’s a matter of keeping
things separate, and partly it’s to avoid confusing or annoying readers. I
couldn’t do it that way. When I wrote my first M/M romance story, the short
story “With this Flower,” which appears in the Dreamspinner Press anthology Wishing on a Blue Star, I was already
juggling two pen names. I had Karenna Colcroft for romance, and a different
name for the young adult fiction I also write. I didn’t want to add another pen
name to the mix; I was confused enough as it was.
I chose to write
that story because, as I said, I’d been wanting to write M/M romance anyway,
and the anthology was honoring author Patric Michael, with whom I’d become
friendly on a Yahoo loop. I couldn’t imagine not participating. So I took the
chance.
That wasn’t the
only M/M story I’ve written. In 2010, a conversation with some friends led to
my writing a thousand-word scene to explain how a werewolf could be vegan. That
scene grew into my M/M paranormal romance novel Salad on the Side, which was published in June 2011 and is now the
first novel in my series Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat, from MLR Press.
I’ve continued
writing heterosexual romance, and now I also write M/M romance. Both under the
name Karenna Colcroft. I haven’t gotten around to the BDSM romance yet, but I
have one in the planning stages. I don’t sit down and say, “Oh, I need an M/M
story, what can I write” or anything like that; I get an idea, and the characters
tell me what their sexuality is and how many of them there are. (I have one
heterosexual ménage novel—two men and a woman, no contact between the men, and
am planning a gay male ménage.)
I write what I
want and what the characters seem to want from me. And I enjoy every minute of
it.
What are your
thoughts on authors who don’t stick to one type of book? Leave a comment to be
entered for a chance to win an e-book from my backlist. You can find out more
about me and my books on my website, www.karennacolcroft.com.
