Yes, am I one of those because I'm thinking about writing paranormals because that's what my publisher seems to be most interested in at the moment? Or should I stick to my high ideals of being a contemporary specialist... and get dropped by the wayside in the consequence?
It's a tough one. Mainly because I despise bandwagon jumping as a rule, and writers who think, 'oh I must have some of that genre, or that imprint, just because I can't bear not to have a slice of everything!' There are some about... there's one culprit that springs to my mind right now... But the thing is, I know I've sort of been a bit guilty of the same thing myself, because I've written for a whole bunch of imprints, and sometimes just because - like Everest - they're there!
But back to the paranormal thing. I suppose I can justify this in terms of sheer survival, but also, in that it's not new to me of course... There's good old Gothic Blue, that's due to be reissued next Feb, I think. I can't remember what prompted me to write that... it may have been editor encouragement then, too. But even then, I'd written a few paranormal shorts. In fact, come to think of it, my first ever, ever short story was a paranormal! A series of five stories in fact [if a trilogy is three, what's a bunch of five? I should know I suppose...] Yep, five short stories about zombies, of all things... These stories were never published, mainly because I never submitted them anywhere as I was just writing for pleasure at the time. And they were probably the direst crap anyway, but at that stage, just to write anything at all was a titanic achievement and gave me the most astonishing glow! Later, I did rewrite the first of these stories, and it was published... but only after a lot of reworking and refining.
And while I'm strolling down memory lane, I've just realised that my second attempt, still for fun, was a sort of sexy space opera, an ongoing futuristic thing about a woman with special powers and a hero who was sort of reincarnated from the zombie stories. In fact, come to think of it, she was too, so it was also a timeslip! So again, I was already writing the futuristics that are almost as popular as paranormals nowadays... and all this was back in the early to mid eighties.
So, basically, I'm not a cynical money grubbing hyena. Well, not totally... I'm just been nudged by editorial and market forces back towards my earliest roots as a writer! In my heart of hearts, I think my comfort zone is still contemporary romantic erotica, but maybe I can make room in there for something fanciful and out of this world too?
Anyway, after all this remeniscing and soul searching, I should actually buckle down to this paranormal wotsit of mine, shouldn't I?
