from Nicole Griffin

Hi Sylvia,
We met the other day at the conference. I just had a quick question to ask of you please. I am sort of a jack of all trades and a master of none.

I enjoy reading many types of fiction but I seem to lose the zeal for story telling when it comes to certain genres.

As a writer how did you know what genre was your niche?

What steps should I take?

AUTHOR ANSWER:

I had the advantage of being an early reader and writer and I knew by 12 I wanted be a romance writer (but with a twist).

I found out what i had a passion for reading (which was historical romances) and decided that I’m not one who likes to do all the research. Yet, I enjoy complicated story plot lines and some depth to my stories that makes people think or appreciate that I really did some hard work outside of the romance in order to carry the story.

Meaning my stories ain’t all about loving… LOL

It did help that I had the opportunity when I was 17 and skipping school I had the chance to sit down with Beverly Jenkins and let her know what I wanted to write.

She said if research isn’t what you want to do, find away to write stories of romance you’re comfortable with.

So I found a way..

Suspense romance gives me the little bit of research I need to do and makes the plot more complicated than just a romance.

I usually say in my stories, I’m going to make someone fall in love and I’m going to kill someone. (Or almost try.)

I found the suspense genre really through my love of reading from Stephen King.

I knew I didn’t want to write horror.

It’s really hard to make someone fall in love while you’re scaring them to death.

But I did want that element of making the hair on the back of the neck rise, short breaths of expectation and even screaming at the story because you’re frustrated, all the while a love story that left you turned and breathless also came to mind

Suspense romance could only fit in that character.

The first story I started out with was Stone’s Revenge, but I published Dreams of Reality first.

Putting a little Erotic came to mind only during my stint at being in this awesome Erotic writers group online and watching the masters go at it and share their work.

That’s when I stepped out with Mistaken Identity.

I took a step further and even pointed my stories toward I/R as well. Drawing the Line became a mixture of I/R, erotic and suspense, where I took the protagonist through the ringer and really had fun intertwining the genres together in a great story.

I went through a twin phase as well and now I’m going through a marriage phase and a sort of finding faith phase. I’ll soon drop to a young adult phase because I have two stories in mind for that and I want to do a sci-fi or fantasy story as well.

You’ll have to keep reading to find out what’s to come.

The current live story Diamond in The Rough is my fast read phase where I’m just pumping a good suspense romance out in quick cell phone like chapters.

I know all in all, every one of my stories will have a romance element, but since I don’t get it, I can write about it real well. As a fiction writer, I’ve been grounded in reality my whole life and I know romance. I can write these powerful love stories of hope, faith, strength and endurance for two people who never thought it could happen to them.

Essentially, I’m just writing about myself and for him who is determined for me.

I think my problem will lie is when I do find love and I’ll have nothing else to dream about. LOL.
So to answer your question, read a lot of books. Find out what you have a passion to read and then tailor that around what you would have the endurance to write.

It’ll help you stay with the writing project longer.

I hope my response as helped.