Finding Your Line

Erica Orloff writes across lines and across genres and she manages to do it. See http://www.ericaorloff.com/blog/; the entry entitle "Voice".

...and I think you do terrific in the Romance line!  I can however also imagine you writing for SSE and the American romance lines.  I think your style would fit right in with those two. 

So many possibilities, so little time.... lol. 

Something else to think about is which line do you read from the most?  There's surely one that you're more drawn to than the rest, isn't there?  Personally, I don't think I'd ever try to write for a line that I didn't normally read from, or didn't care for that much.  Though I might be able to write for any line (not that I can), if it didn't come from the heart it wouldn't be quite right, and I'd be sure to get tired of it.  Writer's block or burnout in the middle of writing the book your editor is expecting would probably NOT be a good thing! 

I think about these possibilities all the time, Jodie.  You're not the only one.  Hope you can take some amount of comfort from that.  I love how everyone here on eHarl supports each other.  It's great.

Today is the first day I've been able to read a few threads....and I'm so happy to have found this site.  Growing up, I always looked at Harlequin as a certain type of book.  Romance on a high level let's say.  Well, I've been reading Christian Romance novels (novellas) for about two years now and I'm hooked.  I've always writen stories (for myself) but since reading my first Christian Romance I jumped into writing one.  So, the idea I had has taken these two years to take shape and is almost done.  I'm so amazed at this site and feel encredibly blessed to have found it...and all of you.  Can't wait to learn and get to know all of you!

I've been watching this and waiting to see what folks would say, and in my heart, I agree with Donna -- I knew I wanted to write Blaze, and I think you have to really know a line and know that you can stay there for a while, because that's typically how it works.

I say typically with a lot of stress, however, because I know several authors who have sold, even on their first and second sales, to different lines, and had mulitple sales across lines or across publishers, even. Also, writers who have 2 or 3 books in a line sometimes easily branch into other lines very early on, like Kim Van Meter.

I love Blaze, and I tried to write for other lines, but found I didn't have much success with them -- and I do read them, but reading is a very different thing than writing. You should read the line you write for, IOW, but just because you read something doesn't mean you'll be able to write it.

I've been experimenting and writing other things, some of them unexpected, as I find other things I can do, because I think you do need variety and you need need to stretch and find other places to write. You may sell 20 or 30 books to a line or more, or you may do 10 and find your voice is changing and you'll go elsewhere.

So, I would say, focus on a line you feel you want to write for -- a line you really click with, and make that your main plan, because yes, once you sell, they will want more from you and you should be able to deliver. But don't cut off other opportunities or stop yourself from writing other stuff, either. That doesn't make any sense -- if you want to write something for Spice and it's calling to you, then write it.

However, I don't think there's any danger of you "missing" the line you are supposed to be writing for... I don't know why, but I think it kind of works out. If you were supposed to be writing for Nocturne, or whatever, those stories would be coming out of you, regardless... Also, eds will know -- if your story is a Super and not a Blaze, they will know and redirect you.

Which is maybe the best way of coming at it, period -- write the story you have to tell, and then see where it might fit, rather than trying to fit a story to a line. Some writers find, in the end, that they weren't suited to category at all, but ST.

It's a journey, and not often a straight path. ;)

Sam

Hi Jodie

This is a question that I feel I want to answer on both sides - but from experience, I know that authors can write for different lines - I've done it myself. Look back at my publishing history and you'll see some of my earlier books were published in Harlequin Romance, not  Harlequin Presents.   That's because I started being published in the UK in the days before the lines were split, so I just wrote a 'Mills & Boon Romance' and editorial decided what line it went into.

But it's possibly not the best idea for someone starting out. You need to make your name in publishing and you need to build up a readership - and to so that they need to know where they can find your books and what sort of books you're writing so that can stick with you if they like you. I know that starting out with books in 2 different lines meant that I split my audience.

Sometimes the difference between lines can seems so minute, and sometimes it can seem that all you have to do is just write a 'Presents plot' instead of a 'Romance plot' and that will make your book fit the line you're aiming for. And that just isn't true. It's tone and intensity - and voice that make a book fit a line.

 I've worked with so many unpublished authors, and the hardest thing is deciding just which line they belong in - not which line they want to write for,  or the line they love reading the most, or even the line they are most 'qualified' to write (just because you work as a nurse doesn't mean you're naturally best writing Medicals, for example.) You need to look at how you write naturally - the way you want to write without any restrictions and without any guidelines in mind.

Do you want to write gentle, emotional stories, or heated, passionate, intense ones? Do you find it easy and enjoyable to write sensually charged stories or would you find it embarrassing and difficult to  go 'beyond the bedroom door'? Do you prefer a more realistic,  'guy next door' hero or a fantasy, difficult, intense male lead? 

 I know that when I was told that the lines were being split and I needed to choose to write for one or the other, I chose M&B Modern/Presents for two reasons - one was that I  was happier dealing in difficult conflicts, deep and intense and passionate - and that was because - two - my characters always got so deeply serious and   intense about everything.

 So I'm going to agree that yes you can write for different lines - but it's not necessarily the best bet at the beginning.  And I'm going to agree with Donna  (well, I have to - bcause I was the one who said that! .) that you need  to look for a line where  you can see yourself writing not just this one book that you hope to get published but book after book after book - without getting bored or stale. Because you love the sort of stories the line tells.

And I'm going to agree with Sam when she says:

focus on a line you feel you want to write for -- a line you really click with, and make that your main plan, because yes, once you sell, they will want more from you and you should be able to deliver.

And she's right too that   you don't cut off other opportunities or stop yourself from writing other stuff, either.

Explore writing, enjoy it. And you'll discover what you were meant to write.We all need time and effort to find our natural voice. If we're not careful, then we can end up just copying the style of a line rather than writing from our hearts  - and that always shows. The only way to find what comes naturally to you as a writer is to write. Write the story you most want to tell.  The one that makes your heart sing as you're writing it.

I originally thought I wanted to write for children - then I thought I wanted to write Historical novels - then I found romance  and loved it - but it was only when  I focused on Presents that I knew I'd come home.

Good luck in finding your own writing 'home'.

Kate