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October 21, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s a trap! I started to compose my answer and realized I was on the path to insulting authors who are different than me. So here we are, stuck.<\/p>\n Because the two are not mutually exclusive- a good author can be both. I haven’t been that gifted or that lucky.<\/p>\n I strive for both, with some caveats. We’ll talk about that later.<\/p>\n When I first attempted to write a book, I wasn’t worried if I was doing it right. I wrote it without chapters, just one long story. My only focus was getting the words on paper and seeing if I could do it. Write a book, that is. And I did. Not a good<\/em> book, but a book nonetheless.<\/p>\n So I tackled a second one. And I tried to make it more bookish. With chapters and everything. I even paid some attention to crazy things like point of view and settings. And then a third.\u00a0<\/p>\n And somewhere along the way, I decided I was good enough to share a story with the rest of the world. And I really paid attention to all the things that make a book a book and readable by others. What I didn’t know about was things like finding a target audience and genres and readers’ expectations.<\/p>\n But that gave me the freedom to write my stories without worrying about\u00a0 what readers were looking for. I was more worried about my stories being my<\/em> stories and not a clone of someone else’s. I read a lot and I was rightfully worried about my stories being original and not heavily influenced by books I’ve read.<\/p>\n With time and experience, I’ve come to understand a bit more about things Now, remember that thing I mentioned we’d get back to? It’s sex scenes. If you’ve read my books, you didn’t find any. It’s not that I object to them, it’s that I feel my stories don’t need them. And frankly, I’ve read enough of them that they have started to get boring. Or unrealistic. And this coming from someone old enough to remember when even one sex scene in a romance was breaking new ground. Readers may want them, but they don’t get them from me.<\/p>\n So, if I answer the question honestly, I try to be more original. Or maybe try is the wrong word. I wouldn’t write any other way. I have to be true to my characters and their stories. Because that’s what it comes down to- my books are their stories, not mine. And I hope readers enjoy them.<\/p>\n You can find out more about my books elsewhere on my page. The urban fantasy\/paranormal (notice I didn’t say paranormal romance?) books can be found\u00a0HERE.\u00a0<\/a>The female sleuth mysteries are\u00a0HERE<\/a><\/p>\n Now, I’m off to visit the pages of the other authors in this hop. You can come along by following the links below.<\/p>\n October 21, 2019<\/p>\n Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?<\/p>\n Rules: \u00a0<\/p>\n \r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pjmaclayne.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/20190518_130427-e1571632282792-169x300.jpg?resize=169%2C300\")
like market share and reader experience. I also understand that my stories don’t dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s of what “generic” reader expectations might be. My heroines are strong without needed men to save them. My mysteries don’t require murders. And, heaven forbid, my cozy mysteries have the occasional swear word.<\/p>\n
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit\/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet\/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.<\/p>\n