November's #MSWL from Scott

 

If you know me, you also know I love my Disney. And yes, Once Halloween is over, the parks make a huge transition to the holiday season. And yes, they do this overnight. Yesterday, I even got up and had holiday music on. No Mariah Carey has not been defrosted but it was background music. It also got me thinking that it was time for my All I Want For Christmas #MSWL here at Greyhaus.

I will say, not much has changed, but it is always a good reminder every now and then of the things I am looking for and the things I am not a big fan of.

So, let's dive right in.

CONTEMPORARY - For the romances, I do see us moving away from the Rom Cons and into stories that have more of a "real" feel to them. NO, I DO NOT WANT STORIES THAT YOU HAVE FICTIONALIZED FROM REAL STORIES! When I say real, I want realistic romances. Dump the cliches but give us something that readers will want to dive into. Think characters like Jamie and Claire from Outlander, where the readers really love to see the passion between these two and also feel the emotion when things are not going well between them. Don't throw drama at us. Make us see that having a true romance takes effort on the part of the two characters and not cliche and more baggage that someone on a cruise.

HISTORICAL Yes, I still believe these are things people want to read. The problem is that all of you are just throwing us the same old stories. For me, I would still love to see Victorian through WWII. I would love to see stories where we are drawn into the history of the time and yet, the romance is still front and center. I know I might be dating myself here, but if I were to think stories even during the Vietnam Conflict, I would think of Characters from the TV series China Beach. Give me a great romance set in early Newport. Give me a romance between an American and a French character where the war is getting in the way of the romance. Too often, I am seeing people kill us with too many backstories and subplots. Let the romance carry it and use the history as a vehicle.

MYSTERY/ROMANTIC SUSPENSE First of all, these need to be romance forward. Secondly, do not kill me with cliche. Finally, the scenarios have to be realistic. I would love to see cyber crimes, mysteries where the deeper they dive into solving the crime, the stakes get larger and the potential for someone dying is bigger. We don't need serial killers here but certainly the villains are there to do whatever they can to not get caught. 

PARANORMAL Please just give me something new. I am honestly stick and tired of the following:

• Trying to bring back vampires, werewolves, demons etc.
• Don't just bring in dragons and claim romantasy as a paranormal.
• Give us something supernatural that could potentially be out there. 

And while we are on the subject, time travel just to make it a historical is not going to work. If, however, you want to have people who can actually do this intentionally (just a thought) then let's go there. We have to bring in something new and not just repeating what is already out there.

WOMEN'S FICTION - I am honestly in the mood for a story where we can really learn something about people and great interpersonal relationships. No, we don't need travel stories, deaths in the family and divorces. What we need are stories where people are finally figuring things out and we get to learn with them. Examples (off the top of my head with only one cup of coffee):

• First year teacher figuring out that what they thought school would be like really isn't the norm.
• Mother/son or Mother/daughter relationship finally figuring out what they have missed for sometime.
• Sisters getting to know each other again after being away from each other.
• New Adult version of young woman in a foreign country

MULTICULTURAL - I want stories where the cultures are clashing with the characters. I want stories where the culture IS a character, but not taking over. For me, give me stories like Amy Tan and Isabelle Allende. Immerse us in the culture. These are great places where we can bring in New Adult stories.

NOTE... NEW ADULT would be characters who are seniors in college, grad school level and just trying to figure out life.

Now on to the things I am not a fan of:

• Road trip stories
• Stories where the heroine is following guys in bands
• DUEL POV
• 1st person (you can try it but it is harder than you think to write)
• LGBTQ stories just to make a statement of being LGBTQ
• Time travels that are really historial

Hope this helps. If you do submit, tell me what it was off of this blog that drew you in AND why your story truly fits.