Romance Across Genres

The days of writing rigidly to a particular genre, crime fiction, detective fiction, sci-fi, horror, historical fiction, thriller fiction, and romance have slipped, crept, and rolled across the genre borders.

 

Romance has the potential to capture the coldest of hearts.

 

 

The basic elements of the genre remain. Mystery and suspense with a soft touch of romance add to the allure of the tale. Romance as a genre in its pure form has limitless power to create relationships that stretch and bend the imagination as far as it will go.

 

While romance engages the emotional side of the reader, it does not overwhelm the crime/detective/historical/sci-fi, which occupies the greater space of the genre.

 

The love story element in any story adds the desirous human connection.

 

Age is no deterrent to romance. It’s not restricted to young love such as that of Romeo and Juliet. Including older characters in the angst and joy of their romantic interludes creates an inclusive perception of love. It increases the appeal of the overarching genre at work.

 

The happily ever after isn’t always true. Fiction is a mirror of life. Testing the strength or commitment of a relationship between crime/detective fiction heightens its entertainment value. Romance, while not central to the story outside the romance genre, might add a satisfying element against the crime/detective fiction at work.

 

Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning   ~Paulo Coelho

Wonderfully true — it is indeed our charismatic or struggling fictional characters who love, or are in love, that linger to remind us why love given and received should never be extracted from the soul.

 

There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart ~Jane Austen.

Magical! The reader is drawn to the story regardless of the genre.

 

I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary ~ Margaret Atwood.

Brilliant! This stirs ideas on how this would unfold in a crime fiction tale!

The gist of these well-known lines deepens the human connection in any genre.

 

Happy Reading. Happy Writing.

 

Please like, share, comment and hold on to a tender heart. We need it in both fiction and life.

Fiction and Reality

Pen, a fictional story and aspects of the scribe’s life, spills onto the page between fiction and reality. Angst and joy collide in the unfurling of the emotive content of the story. The emotional hooks in a story invite readers to open their own wounds and happiness for a well-penned story.

 

In my novels and short story collections, dogs feature as necessary in human lives. A lifelong love of dogs finds their way into the lives of significant characters I create.

In the Sequel set Across Time and Space, and Vindication Across Time the wonderful Ted is the adored pet of human rights lawyer, Michael Morissey, and aspiring writer Meryl Moorecroft. Michael advises and befriends schoolteacher Marcia Ntuli, caught in workplace professional racism. Ted is the first to understand the growing romantic involvement between Michael and Marcia. His sensitivity to Marcia makes him even more adorable.

 

Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth. ~Albert Camus

 

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Two hours later they emerged from Michael’s bedroom, laughing at Ted’s quizzical peaked ears and worried frown.

 

 

In Souls of Her Daughters, Patience, a social worker has two dogs, Ajax, and Sprite. She adopted them while her sister Grace was overseas at a medical conference. Patience witnesses her sister’s battle with her past demons and hoped Ajax and Sprite might offer her healing and joy. We may read this novel as a stand-alone novel or as a trilogy.

 

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They were abandoned in an old building on the south side of town. I could not take one and leave the other. They are high maintenance in the love department but adorable to come home to.

 

 

Life’s Seasons, a short-story collection, includes a valiant dog as title story – Toby. This story was first published in the short-story collection, The Rain, where Toby, a brave dog, living on his owner’s family farm is confronted by a treacherous storm. Instinct guides Toby when the safety of his beloved human family is threatened. Toby’s heroic, selfless act unwinds minute-by-minute to melt hearts.

 

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He gripped the harness between his teeth, prostrating to give the children a lift, to allow them to be pulled up with ease.

 

The Bardo Trilogy has Woza and Khaya, the loyal companions to the mysterious doyenne Tempest, on her mission to offer safety to women and children who are victims of crime.

 

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

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Living in isolation was difficult, but her parrot, Caramba, a keen white watcher of the skies and her two Rottweilers, Khaya and Woza, filled her lonely hours.

 

The act of including dogs in each of these novels and short stories is a subconscious inclusion drawn from experience.

Pets are companions who combat loneliness, fulfil a caring need, aid healing from grief and bring joy during life’s challenging times. Both fiction and reality meld to create balance to live in unison with the universe.

Now there’s nothing like one’s writing companion puppy snuggled at one’s feet as words and new worlds rise and fall on the page.

 

Happy Reading. Happy Writing.

 

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Beyond the Bewitching Hour

 

 

Have you tried reading beyond the bewitching hour when a hush rests upon your home, all are sound asleep – the only light being your reading lamp setting the page aglow?

Books take on a life of their own when you have undisturbed reading pleasure. Places invite you in, characters entice your entrance into their worlds – you yield  – you enter this magical realm free from the mundane responsibilities of daily existence.

The time spent wrapped inside the pages of a world you enter and leave at will, exudes forbidden pleasure away from the gaze of the world. Each new page, each new chapter, begs you to go on with the promise that hidden discoveries will surface.  Days pass, weeks pass, the tension mounts, emotions are unleashed and you read on – you wipe away a tear, you break out in a smile, you breathe deeply as you smell, see, taste and relish this world you cannot extract yourself from.

The book falls, your head slides off the pillow, you waft off into a deep sleep.

 

Photo credit: Sandro Schuh (Unsplash)

 

The sun comes up, the alarm clock goes off – the day beckons – your book sits silently up against your bedside drawer waiting for your return on the other side of the bewitching hour.

Until then… See you beyond the bewitching hour when the pages of your book are aglow…

Are you a night reader?

 

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