TLS Genre Struggles
What it's like to write a series that doesn't fit a genre.
Bluntly put—dreeeaaadful.
Where to even begin? The genre-bending aspect of TLS? Or my peculiar writing style? Let’s break it down!
Genre-Bending Struggles:
One of the biggest struggles for me has been to settle on a particular genre when promoting or speaking about my books. I never began writing with the goal to sell, (I’m aware that sounds like a broken record between authors—but I do think it is true for most out there) but instead, for the sake to pen down my thoughts, experiences, and most likely escape in itself. I never researched the direction I longed to go with the series, nor the genre, style, tropes, and rules that come with it—for example, an expected happy ending when writing Romance.
When I started writing, I had read mostly classic literature, tons of philosophy, poetry, and the occasional romance book (perhaps some German Erotica I snatched from Austrian’s local supermarket shelves as an innocent teenager, not knowing exactly what I was getting into, although I did find out real quick, hiding shamefully beneath the covers as I got acquainted with a handsome blond gardener, who tended to bushes with a dexterity my eyes had never read about.) That definitely developed some of the nature in the intimacy scenes I write, and yet it is far estranged from the Dark Romance genre, which has disappointed many readers in the Booktok world, and in turn has disappointed me with their 1 star reviews.
Moreover on my dilemma:
The setting is strictly historical, yet, when you add to that the magical realism aspect, you’re quickly straying away from the Historical Fiction genre, despite all the research you’ve dedicated into the slightest details, to make TSL as historically accurate as possible. So, naturally you slip into the Historical Fantasy genre, like the Outlander series. (Have you ever dared to recommend this series in a Historical Fiction fb group? Try it, and you’ll see what I mean about struggles. Haha)
So, where do I go with those chunky monsters that carry this romantic and yet historical trait, and aren’t strictly fantasy, despite the subtle magical realism? Historical Romance? I do adore Lisa Kleypas; I find her an incredibly talented writer, and I’ve read most of her books with great enjoyment, but if you were to compare her books to mine, they just wouldn’t fit in style—nor with Jane Austen’s. (Perhaps the Brontës would be a closer fit, exploring Gothic and Literary Romance.)
What about the rest of genre styles that hug the romance and historical aspect to give it some more dimension and depth and tension? Psychological Horror, for example. Readers of that genre, from what I’ve gathered from groups, are not interested in the romance aspect, (of course there’s always exceptions) but I understand that they wish to focus on the mystery, the horror, the crimes, the suspence, instead of characters exchanging carnal knowledge with each other, in great detail at that, and often.
I totally understand that. And although my books fit the psychological horror criteria, they still have the element of romance extremely prominent at their core.
So taking everything into account and examining it closely, I have settled on a compromise. That it is, without a doubt, a genre-bending series primarily anchored by Literary Fiction.
It took me two years since I published my first book to come to that conclusion / enlightenment. Not that it made my success any better, my piteous amount of reviews still remain stationary. But in a peculiar way, it really gives me some relief to understand there is a genre style out there that fully describes me and the way I naturally write.
Let me expand on that:
Writing Style:
That’s another mayhem bound to desert me in a cobwebbed BookTok corner.
My writing leans into Literary Fiction because it focuses on complex, character-driven stories rather than following predictable romantic tropes. The relationships of characters are heavily, emotionally layered—shaped by grief, identity, trauma, and a harrowing longing, which in turn, does not always result to a happy ending. I aim for realism over fantasy, exploring the raw, human aspects of love and connection, not softening and compromising characters to appease readers more. The lyrical prose itself plays a central role in my writing, and for full transparency, I also write in third person. (Truthfully, I detest the way I sound in first person. Sarcastic, and awkward, and yet I cannot write it differently.)
This description resonates deeply with me:
Literary writing tends to be slower in pacing and is mostly character driven. It innovates and bends genre expectations and writing craft rules. The author may use a complex structure for their story and complex literary devices. It avoids cliché both on plot and on sentence level. The writing is more intentional, often layered in meaning. The story usually happens on three different planes simultaneously: the internal world of the protagonist, the events in the story—plot, and the overarching layer of social commentary.
I hope this general statement may give some further understanding to the structure of my work, as I know it can appear confusing at first, and oftentimes structurally bewildering, but each line and in the manner it is conducted conceals a deeper meaning. For me, at least. In the end, that’s what writing is about to me; a cathartic form of self-expression, words able to convey emotion, and connect minds and hearts alike.
Last Thoughts:
I’m aware I wrote an entire essay of disarrayed thoughts, and hopefully along the way I managed to make a sliver of sense—if you made it that far.
I do genuinely strive for uniqueness, to retain my own voice in a space where AI-written books may start taking over, or authors believe sounding like someone popular will enable them more success. I cannot help but look back to the old ones; Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, Franz Kafka, Dostoevsky, or Cormac McCarthy, and my favorite, Carlos Ruiz Zafón—who all to me have a unique writing style and a distinctive voice, that perhaps nowadays, in such a culture shift, would be considered slow-paced, too long-winded, or even senseless, and pretentious.
Literary fiction demands that patience and reflection, as it lingers in a character’s introspection. I adore it so much, as well as the long, meandering sentences, and the themes of morality, philosophy, existentialism, against the regular selling tropes. I’m truly passionate about it; that style, lulling you through the pages.
This is what I hope my series to convey; something deep, where it demands the attention it requires to be fully understood, and hopefully, appreciated if it so deserves.
I suppose, I should end this by saying, I don’t wish to sound pretentious, or an author that deserves a NYT Best Seller, (I do realize it is hard to dissect a genuine tone through writing about oneself, which is why I’ve been lurking in the quiet for so long) but I have simply poured into this my entire being, fleshed out characters with fragments of my own, the pleasant and the nefarious ones, and I long to find like-minded readers who in turn wish to unearth this commitment of a genre-bending series.
