So, in the interest of researching genres, I picked up a paranormal romance someone had recommended on Goodreads. I couldn’t hang in there. I tried because it had a cute premise among other interesting things. Too many problems, though, starting with…the start. It was the wrong place to start a story. And the dialogue sucked. And the profanity was just too thick (if it were a movie it would get an R rating for the f-bombs alone). I gave up.
Then, because the only reason I had checked it out of the library was to get a feel for the genre, I tried to skim it. That’s when I saw what sex scenes in paranormal romance had become.
It really is porn for women, now.
Even the risque romances I read when I was younger weren’t like the scenes in that book. I knew that erotic romance had become big, I just didn’t know that more mainstream books would try to compensate by becoming just as, um, clear. I’m pretty sure there are sweet paranormals out there. I’m just starting to wonder if they’re all classified now as YA. Hmmm. Must do more research in the YA category. Amanda Hocking maybe?
[insert sigh] At least now I know what category my short should go in. Fantasy. With a strong dose of romance. I’ll have to make sure the description conveys that so that I don’t get teen boys who are expecting bloodshed and horror and instead get kissing scenes.
Amy Keeley 
This is such a great point. I’m battling the same issues. Though mine is at the core a love story, there’s also a sort of “other worldly” aspect to it (I don’t want to say paranormal, as this immediately brings to mind vampires, ghosts or other such creatures, which my story has none of), a certain amount of sex, though that’s not by any means the main driver. So what is the genre? And how important is it to define the genre? I’d be very curious to hear more on this subject.
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So would I. 🙂 I feel genre can be a useful tool for a reader to find new books that are similar to ones they already like. But then you have ones that fill a gray area. Either you try to stuff it into an old genre (like a fantasy with a lot of romance getting stuffed into the fantasy genre) or you create a new genre and hope it sticks (like paranormal romance). I’ve been trying to figure it out by asking myself who would read my book. Then, I look at the demographics of the audience I think I have, read some in the genre, and see if they match. I wish I knew how editors do it. Something else to research, I guess (and blog about).
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