{"id":4964,"date":"2008-07-27T13:44:33","date_gmt":"2008-07-27T18:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/mojo\/?p=59"},"modified":"2025-07-26T09:53:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:53:05","slug":"genre-let-me-show-u-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/blog\/genre-let-me-show-u-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Genre, let me show u it"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am bored with the below discussion<\/a> (but don\u2019t let me rain on your parade, so carry on). However, I do need to use it as the springboard for what\u2019s on my ADHD mind today: What, precisely, defines a genre?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re very specific in romance. Got an email yesterday from my newest BFF (kidding! but the offer\u2019s open!) who said, \u201cI know you don\u2019t write romance \u2026 \u201d Well, yeah, I do. It\u2019s just got so much other STUFF in it that it can\u2019t be classified, which is why I\u2019m publishing it myself. In fact, it\u2019s got THREE (count \u2019em, 1, 2, 3) full-length romances going on at the same time all woven together (which is why it\u2019s going to top 700 pages and who-knows-how-many megabytes). And they have sex and there is no fade-to-black and they say the f-word and the c-word. They live a certain political philosophy (some more than others) that will probably be uncomfortable for other types of readers. The story takes place over the course of 5 years and oh, by the way, they\u2019re all in their late 30s and early 40s and wow<\/em><\/strong> is that so not<\/em><\/strong> part of genre romance.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And oh, guess what, 2\/3 of them are Mormons: Giselle is a true believer, not endowed, unable to pick between the sacred and the profane because she is drawn to them equally; however, she goes to church and she does what she\u2019s supposed to\u2014up until the point she chooses to be seduced. Bryce is searching, a returned missionary, former Peter Priesthood who feels betrayed by God. He\u2019s not sure what he believes anymore, because he wasn\u2019t taught the gospel; he was taught the Miracle of Forgiveness<\/em><\/a> and he doesn\u2019t really know what the gospel<\/em> is (that would be found in Matthew 22:37-40 and James 1:27). Sebastian left his mission halfway through it because of the experiences he had on said mission that caused him to doubt; he now professes paganism. Knox was excommunicated \u2026 but not for the reason you might expect; he is the truest believer of the four and he has been completely disenfranchised.<\/p>\n

Addendum: But they do NOT take the Lord\u2019s name in vain. I do have standards.<\/p>\n

So given that, it doesn\u2019t fit the definition of any genre, not romance, not LDS (please see below comparison of \u201cLDS fiction”<\/a> to Steeple Hill<\/a> and inspirational fiction of the type you\u2019d get at Zondervan<\/a>). I\u2019m billing mine as straight fiction, but I think it will appeal to romance readers more than LDS readers (unless, of course, you\u2019re one of those<\/em> Mormons).<\/p>\n

“Inspirational romance\u201d as defined by RWA<\/a> (Romance Writers of America):<\/p>\n

Inspirational Romance<\/strong>: Romance novels in which religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religion or spiritual belief system) are a major part of the romantic relationship.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and Harlequin and the CBA<\/a> (that would be the Christian [read: evangelical] Book Association, retailer\/distributor of books and kitsch) is a legitimate (sub)genre. It\u2019s a genre because it has guidelines that publishers of inspirational romance follow. Harlequin didn\u2019t set them but defined them, wrote them down, codified them, made them mainstream.<\/p>\n

(And oh, by the way, inspirational romance sales are neck-and-neck with erotica sales and outstrip all the other romance subgenres put together; interesting to me that the two extremes are the most popular. Heh. With mine, you get both in one shot.)<\/p>\n

The debate raging now is whether \u201cLDS fiction\u201d is its own genre and, therefore, analogous to \u201cinspirational romance.\u201d I say yes. Why? Because there is a certain expectation that goes along with it. Just because it is CONSUMER-defined as opposed to SUPPLIER-defined makes no difference to me.<\/p>\n

Romance = genre that is well-defined and codified<\/a> with a gazillion subgenres.<\/p>\n

LDS fiction = genre that is only well-defined within the consumer\u2019s mind and NOT codified, with no subgenres yet no wiggle room. Rock. Hard place.<\/p>\n

My advice, as I have said elsewhere, is for publishers of LDS fiction of all types to get together, define the terms as set forth by consumer expectations, codify it, make it what the readers expect it to be when they pick it up. Take a page out of Harlequin\u2019s Steeple Hill<\/strike> Love Inspired submission guidelines<\/a> [scroll down] (do Deseret Book and Covenant have anything that specific?) and get something on paper. Those of you who stray outside of those bounds, label label label.<\/p>\n

This donnybrook is over the fact that consumers felt ambushed. They expected one thing and got another, which is exactly what they are trying to avoid with their reading choices. I respect that while it was not in any way marketed as LDS fiction, it was written by a Mormon and published by a Mormon publisher, so in the consumer felt him\/herself entitled to the expectation. Perhaps marketing mistakes were made, but oh well. Learn and grow.<\/p>\n

And readers, you who sling the arrows of self-righteous outrage because you don\u2019t dare set foot outside of Deseret Book and have no clue what you\u2019re getting when you see \u201cMormon bishop\u2019s wife,\u201d \u201cvampire,\u201d and \u201cdying daughter\u201d in the back blurb: You get over it, too, and quit passing judgment on the man\u2019s eternal salvation. It\u2019s not for you to say. And I do not for one second believe the \u201cI didn\u2019t know \u2018vampire\u2019 was code for \u2018blameless female sexual expression and enjoyment,\u2019\u201d<\/em> claim because unless you\u2019re 7 and live under a rock, you can\u2019t possibly be that na\u00efve\u2014not even if you do live west of the Rockies.<\/p>\n

And you wonder why we get a bad rap in the public eye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am bored with the below discussion (but don\u2019t let me rain on your parade, so carry on). However, I do need to use it as the springboard for what\u2019s on my ADHD mind today: What, precisely, defines a genre? We\u2019re very specific in romance. Got an email yesterday from my newest BFF (kidding! but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[543,540],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-molit","category-romance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4964"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15185,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4964\/revisions\/15185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}