Since I look at the list so often, trends are becoming more apparent to me. The trend that is the most interesting is the sheer number of romance novels on both the free and paid bestseller lists. Wow. I had no freakin’ idea these were so popular.

Thinking back to when I worked at the local library, the popularity of romance novels shouldn’t really be that much of a surprise. The library had racks with free to borrow romance novels and folks would take them out 30 at a time in some cases.

I have a confession to make. I’ve never read a romance novel. Never my cup of tea, really. I also have to confess a bit of snobbery on my part, judging them to be just so much drivel. Not really fair, given the fact that I’ve never cracked the spine on one.

So, as an author I should pay attention to the market, no? And if I pay attention it is hard to ignore the popularity of this genre. I can’t help but think that maybe I’m missing out on something as a writer if not a reader. What’s a writer to do?

When this gets condensed down, it really speaks to the most basic of questions: Why do I write? Is it because I enjoy a particular genre with all of my stories blossoming from the same? Or do I write because I want to make money as a successful author? It’s tough because I can’t say that the choice is all that clear. If I’m to be honest with myself then I have to admit that my writing motivations include some combination of both choices.

I do realize that just writing in a specific genre is no guarantee of success. I mean, if your heart isn’t in to what you’re writing, will the writing be the best you are capable of? Maybe, but I bet a lot of folks would say, “No!” I don’t really know the answer.

I do think that there is always the chance that diving into a foreign genre could be successful. If, after many fruitless attempts at writing in a genre I love with little success, could it be because I’m not writing where my true talent lay? Possibly, and who’s to say until an attempt is made.

Scary. It’s like starting from scratch and a little overwhelming. The first step should be to start reading a lot of romance novels. Hold my nose and dive in. At some point, hope for divine inspiration. Maybe a story will blossom.

What do you think? Is writing to a specific market the ultimate sell out for a writer?

Was this a good strategy? I don’t know. All I do know is that the more I tried to fit into a box, the more the writing felt stifled and stiff. Once I made the decision to be my writing self, the words flowed a lot easier.

I know I’m not the best or most cultured grammarian. I frequently start sentences with “And or “But.” I screw up my punctuation and still haven’t figured out the whole semicolon thing. Oh and I’m sure I’ve left enough participles dangling to decorate a Christmas tree. Oh well.

My style has always been based on the words I would normally speak flowing from my head to the paper. In other words I write like I speak. As much as possible I do try to fit the grammar mold but I generally won’t compromise my style to do so. I think for some folks that read my stuff this may be a distraction but I’ll bet it’s not that big a deal for most.

I will say that the one place I’m most likely to let properness overcome style is when I’m writing for a client. Typically they are more interested in proper presentation and less concerned with the George-ness of my writing. Generally speaking, I’m able to accomplish this without too much trouble. In fact, morphing is a much needed skill for a writer, particularly a freelance writer.

Outside of those fairly strict freelance guidelines, My advice to writers is to have enough faith in your style to embrace it. If we all wrote the same, all writing would be the same and where is the joy in that?

You’ll know when you are writing your style because the words will flow naturally and you won’t question every word, sentence and paragraph. You have to be yourself and embrace your writing style. It’s not always easy but the effort is worth it in the end.

How about you? Do you know your style? Do you embrace it as part of yourself or do you try to write like someone else?

“Yeah, I saw it but I thought the book was much better.”

“I liked it but it wasn’t as good as the book.”

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a movie that was better than the book, but some movies stick out as great ones all on their own. The Shawshank Redemption comes to mind. It might come down to a matter of taste. Maybe it’s a reader-vs-viewer thing. I think it has to do with how we visualize scenes and characters in a book and if our imagined view doesn’t coincide, we feel a little put out.

When there are novels adapted to film, the potential is always there for a written masterpiece to become a visual one. An experience I had earlier this year showed me that the book to film thing can work in reverse. Right after the start of the new year, I watched The Help at my sister’s. I knew there was a book and I had no real intention of reading it. I so thoroughly enjoyed the movie that I bought the book the very next day. When I read the book, my mind’s eye applied the characters and scenes from the movie to the scenes and characters in the book and I got to enjoy the story on a whole new level.

So, what are your experiences? Do you generally shun films adapted from a book? Do you judge the films by your reading experience or can you accept them on their own?

Sooz, (AKA Susan Buchanan) is showing us all how it’s done this week with the official launch of her latest novel, The Dating Game. The Dating Game follows the well reviewed and successful Sign of the Times. I’m about half way through reading that one, and I can tell you that Sooz has a keen grasp on the human psyche and what makes relationships work. The Dating Game promises to be a smashing story, if any insight can be made from Sign of the Times.

So what is she up to in terms of the launch? Here is an excerpt of the email I received after letting her know I’d love to help with the promotion:

I started thinking about this the other day whilst looking at a book on Amazon. With this particular book, there were several hundred reviews. A vast, vast majority were 4 or 5 stars. That tells me a lot as someone considering a purchase. Looking a little further, I saw that there were several 1 star reviews as well. I thought about it and quite frankly I was a bit annoyed. I mean, really? Virtually everyone loved this book and yet there was that one curmudgeon who had to swim against the tide. And, it wasn’t just a “not my cup of tea” review (those don’t warrant a one star either), it was a lambasting of the author and the story.

When I worked at the local library, I checked out a book that had received rave literary reviews. I was absolutely intrigued by the story line and I couldn’t wait to dive in. I opened to the first page, stared for a minute, then blinked. There was no punctuation. No quotations around dialogue, no commas. My brain had a little seizure. I gave it my best effort. I wanted to read it. I tried. Lord knows, I tried. But I couldn’t do it. The punctuation thing was just too much. When I post my review on Amazon, I was dead honest. I didn’t blame the author. I was matter-of-fact in my assessment of my apparent lack of flexibility. Ultimately I gave the book a 3 star rating because I felt a 1 star would be grossly unfair to folks trying to make a book purchasing decision. Interestingly, you wouldn’t believe the amount of feedback that comment receives – all of it positive.

Some folks always need to play the devil’s advocate. They derive some sort of self satisfaction by being different from the crowd. Personally I think this is disingenuous. The lesson here is that authors need to keep their suit of armor at hand and not let these folks bring you down. Keep these things in perspective. Think about any kind of surveys you may have seen about virtually anything. A majority usually falls one way or the other and then there is a spattering of folks who insist on being the anchors on the other end.

What I’m saying here is for you, as an author, need to keep your reviews in the proper perspective. If all of your reviews are positive and you receive one stinker, consider where the stink is being generated from. Chances are it’s not your book.