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Comment by Marcy S Hatch on May 5, 2013 at 6:18am

I would just call it a paranormal historical.

Comment by Lindsay Gillis on May 4, 2013 at 8:06pm

Hello all,

Having trouble classifying my first novel. My writing style tends to be bipolar - I may write one novel across multiple genres. This one has the elements of a paranormal romance but the majority of it is set in early 20th century France, so it could be classified as historical fiction as well. How should I classify it? Below is the summary so you can pass a better judgment:

 

A charmed amber pendant masks Claudine Dwyer’s hideousness and grants her immortality, but at a cost. In Paris during the early 1930s, Claudine’s search for true love is unsuccessful, and if she does not find it before her century is up, she will be cursed for the remainder of her exceptionally long life. Failure after failure, Claudine decides to start her life over and finds success as a Hollywood starlet in the USA.

When she arrives in California, she meets and tries her luck with a few more men, but much to her dismay...no luck at finding her true love. It’s not until she nears her hundredth year that she meets Emma, the daughter of a new beau who is half her age, and the girl is the turning piece in Claudine’s mind: Physical beauty is not the most important thing in the world. With that realization, she also discovers that Emma is the key to breaking the curse. After Emma performs a selfless act that leaves her damaged beyond repair, Claudine has to decide what is more important: her own beauty, or the girl’s life.

(Link is below my signature.)

Thanks,

Lindsay Gillis, MLIS

Author, Without the Stone

http://amzn.to/Y9sDuU

Comment by Stephanie Renée dos Santos on April 30, 2013 at 7:14am

Hi Kate- Welcome! Funny how manuscripts morph into what they want to be. What time period you your historical mystery?  Thank you for sharing about Bridgetown Buzz!  

Comment by Kate Powell on April 30, 2013 at 6:44am

Writing a novel hat began as a mystery and became a historic mystery.  My first fiction.  Also, am in Portland and any writers interested in connecting with other Portland Oregon writers should join Bridgetown Buzz.  Bye -- 

Comment by Stephanie Renée dos Santos on April 26, 2013 at 6:04am

Welcome Lorraine! And thank you for sharing about your work-in-progress and these links.  And feel free to start a discussion and post what suits your fancy or for feedback.  C'est parti! 

 

Comment by Lorraine Swoboda on April 26, 2013 at 5:41am

Hello everyone,

I'm English, living in France: I've been writing all my life. My first love was Regency Romance - bought my first RR novel when I was 12. I've been writing a modern murder mystery, but recently unearthed the MS of a novel I wrote 10 years ago. I'm tweaking it, and I think it's good enough, so am spending all my time on that just now. I even remembered the sequel I'd planned to it, so have a feeling I'm going to be multi-tasking for a while.

The hero is an ex-soldier: I wondered, what does a soldier do when he's suddenly thrust back into the civilian world of peacetime? That's a question that seems so much more relevant these days so maybe readers will empathise with my characters more easily.

Lovely to meet you all, and hoping I can contribute to the forum.

I blog at www.fromthetopofthehouse.blogspot.fr and I write an occasional advice column at www.allaboutyou.com, the site for the Hearst magazines in the UK.

Comment by Stephanie Renée dos Santos on April 21, 2013 at 8:40am

Mark- I am thankful to get this issue sorted out now instead of later. I am surprised the author's editor did not catch the redundancy.   But we live in a perfectly imperfect world so...Best.

Comment by Mark Hughes on April 21, 2013 at 8:07am

Stephanie - you're exactly right in that many worried writers use blatant telegraphing to set a hook. I remember the device being used a lot in MG and YA novels I read long ago. And while we're on the topic of devices used but clunky, one Rick Bass pointed out is something he calls the 'ol one-two. It's when a character's emotional state is nicely shown with all the detail that's needed, and then the author adds one more sentence about that same state, generally telling this time.

  For example: Belinda flounced on the bed, held rigid a moment, but the collapsed, her face in her hands, choked sobs shaking her, tears soon trickling between her fingers. She was devastated.

  I just saw this device in an otherwise very well written novel I'm currently reading. It's the only time I've seen it in the story, and it jumped out like a Jack-in-the-box. In my mind, I saw the author dithering about sentence, and then deciding to leave it in, probably remembering some similar structure she'd seen somewhere. How well we learn bad lessons :)

Comment by Stephanie Renée dos Santos on April 21, 2013 at 4:59am

Mark - Thanks, you know when it is your own works and you are so close to it some times one becomes attached to phrases that don't serve. That one sentence below I had taken out, but still I thought about it.  It is true, I've see other bestselling authors broadcasting plot twist  on the outset of their novels and it made me wonder if at the beginning it was not considered "broadcasting" but the "hook".  But I am confident with its removal after Margaret's comment. She made it piercingly clear for me.  I am thankful that it is the only place in my novel that I had done this. It was easy to remedy. Onward!

Comment by Mark Hughes on April 20, 2013 at 6:01pm

It's funny the lessons we learn along the way - so often they are the wrong ones, such as this bit about telegraphing what's coming. When we see it in huge bestsellers like The Da Vinci Code, we not only figure it's acceptable, but we remember it. Ah, buy why did we remember it - because it's clunky. The practice reminds me of 1930's radio shows like The Shadow and so forth, where it was way overused and melodramatic. My editor slapped me good when I'd telegraph something that was coming along - in the next sentence! Rightly so though.

  That said, it's invaluable to foreshadow with subtlety; crucial, in fact. Done right, you end up both surprised by a plot twist and saying of course, that's what had to happen. Go with that, Stephanie, and the story will give back. My experience.

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