Fiction is whatever the author chooses to create, in terms of characters, setting, and plot. Many of the most well known books would be called liteary fiction -- To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, Water for Elephants, Middlesex.
These books may tell grand stories or focus on the thoughts and actions of ordinary people. What they have in common is their distinctive nature. They are not as easily categorized as mystery, romance, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, or horror.
Fantasy creates an alternate world -- it could be similar to "ours" (as with the Harry Potter series) or could be totally, well, fancifal. Think Peter Pan or the Lord of the Rings. trilogy. These novels are very different from one another, of course, and often have a strong adventure element. And the reader knows they will be transported to a mythical place.
Though mythical, the stories have to make sense for the world they inhabit. A creature (or human) can't suddently develop the ability to fly simply because he or she needs to cross a wide ravine.
As a mystery writer, I need to present a puzzle, whether it's to be solved by someone in law enforcement, an amateur sleuth, or the wise analyst who doggedly pursues evil doers. The antagonist should be a worthy opponent for the detective, and there have to be enough clues or sufficient foreshadowing that the revealed bad guy makes sense. It's great if a a reader thinks, "I never saw that coming," but not good if they say, "That doesn't make sense," or "The ending came out of left field."
For some reason, I've heard a number of authors imply (or outright say) that romance is a 'simple' genre, one perhaps not worthy of their skills. These opinions may come from some early category romances, in which communication problems between the woman and man got in the way of romantic progress. Even thirty or forty years ago, books that relied only on that theme didn't hold up well, and those authors vanished from bookshelves.
For a romance author to succeed, she (sometimes he) has to tell a complex story with strong characters. I dare someone to say Nora Roberts or Nicholas Sparks writes simple books.
I have to reign in my temper when I hear someone put down the romance genre. If it's so simple, why haven't the critics written a few and sold tens of millions of copies?
My impatience comes from disliking nonspecific criticism of any genre, but especially because I find adding romantic elements to a story to be very hard. It requires consistent suspense that's quite different from the mounting danger sleuths face in a mystery.
Writers of romance are supportive of one another, as reflected in Romance Writers of American being the largest organization of writers in the world. I joined for a while, in large part because RWA has chapters throughout the nation and it's neat to be with other writers. I've migrated to another chapter-based organization, Sisters in Crime, which is comprised of sisters and misters.
That brings my final thought, which I express reluctantly. Are people more willing to denigrate a genre whose authors are primarily women? Horror writers are largely men. I've not heard anyone make fun of constant blood and guts or question why vampires can only be killed with a silver spike through the heart. At least, if there is disdain, it isn't volunteered among groups of writers.
Okay, that's my pet peeve. The next time I hear someone express their prejudice against romance fiction, I can hand them a copy of this blog post. I'll tell the critic I look forward to their next bestseller.
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To learn more about Elaine, go to www.elaineorr.com or subscribe to her newsletter.
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