Saturday, January 19, 2013

ROMANTIC SUSPENSE OR HISTORICAL ROMANCE? by Kat Martin

Please welcome NYT best selling author KAT MARTIN to the WF blog today as our very first guest. Please give her a warm welcome!

For most of my writing career, I wrote historical romance, more than forty novels. Being a history buff and particularly loving the old West, I started out writing western romance. MAGNIFICENT PASSAGE was my first--a true bodice ripper and a far different book than I would write today. The old West was a natural fit since my relatives were western people--covered wagons across the plains, rodeo cowboys, ranchers, the whole bit. I loved packing horseback into the high Sierras, loved just about anything western, and still do.

But changing what you write keeps a writer fresh, and little by little I was drawn to the Regency time period, lords and ladies, members of the British aristocracy, books set in England. GYPSY LORD was my first, and it changed my writing forever. For years after that, I wrote Regency, then slid into the Victorian period. The Brides’ Trilogy was my last foray into that realm.

But almost from the start, I had been dabbling in romantic suspense, starting with THE SILENT ROSE, a ghost story based on a true experience. Mostly I just wanted to challenge myself, see if I could actually write a novel in a contemporary setting. Could I get the voice right? Would my audience approve?

By the time I had written the first ten, I realized contemporary fiction was my strong suit.

An idea for a series about three brothers started niggling at the back of my mind. Jackson Raines, AGAINST THE WIND, was the first. His brothers, Gabe and Devlin, appeared in the book then got their own stories, AGAINST THE FIRE and AGAINST THE LAW. All of the books hit the New York Times Bestseller List, a exciting accomplishment for me.

From there I wrote friends of the brothers, AGAINST THE STORM, AGAINST THE NIGHT, and AGAINST THE SUN. Again, the books hit the N.Y.T.

I was loving the change of pace and I couldn’t seem to stop. In my latest effort, AGAINST THE ODDS, book #7 in the series, just released this month, Sabrina Eckhart receives an inheritance from her uncle--an abandoned silver mine in the West Texas desert. Running out of money, Rina is determined to find the mine and make it productive, even if it means putting up with the cocky jet jockey she is determined to dislike but finds irresistibly attractive.

G.Q. handsome and obscenely rich, Alex Justice is a private investigator and an ex-Navy pilot, just the man Sabrina needs to fly her safely into the desert in search of her late uncle’s property. It’s a sexy tale of survival, murder, betrayal, and intrigue that kept me writing long after I should have been done for the day.
So my thinking is that a writer should write whatever stories the muse whispers. My only advice is to try those new ideas on your own time. Keep writing what you’re known for until you see if you can handle the change. See if that’s really what you want to do.

And see if your audience is ready to go along with you when you do it.
If you haven’t tried my AGAINST books, I hope you will. Very best wishes and happy reading, Kat

11 comments:

  1. Hey, Kat. I've read quite a few of your historicals and some of the romantic suspense novels and enjoyed them all. I have most of the Raines books sitting on my shelves waiting for me to get to them. Never gotten into the Regencies, though. I'll give them a try one of these days. My motto as a reader is, tell me a good story and I don't care what genre it is. If I could only read (or write) one genre, I'd go nuts in a hurry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have not read any of these as I usally stay away from romance-but I like historicals. Think I will put one on my to read list.
    -N-

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Kat, thanks so much for visiting with us today here at the Western Fictioneers blog. I've always loved your romances--I read all different types of romances and though I write western romance, I don't think I would ever attempt a Regency, so I admire anyone who would take that on. Your contemporaries are just as wonderful. I write both western historical and contemporary. Like you I was worried about my "voice" in contemporary. It seems to have worked, but I still find my heart is with the western historicals. You've sure got an awesome body of work out there. Congratulations, and thanks again for coming to be with us today!
    Cheryl

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kat Martin fan here! Loved your WHRs and have many on my keeper shelf. Your books were the draw to get me to read Romance, which I'd stayed away from before.

    I sure agree that it's important to keep fresh. I'm a genre-jumper, too--fantasy romance, YA fantasy, contemporary and historical western romance, and now dabbling with traditional western. But the Regency...oh man. I wrote one Regency short story and that's it for me. My CPs jumped all over me because my heroine crossed the street. Couldn't do that because(insert 32 rules here). Anyone who can manage a Regency has my undying admiration, but I'm done with it. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have seen from some facebook comments that we are having trouble with the comments section here again today. SIGH. There are a lot of people reading the article, but they're not able to comment HERE. I have been unable to use the G+ feature since yesterday. Get it together, BLOGGER!!!
    Cheryl

    ReplyDelete
  6. If it is written, I usually try to read it. Have been a fan of your work, all of it, for years. Thank you for pushing your envelope. I love reading and writing across all genres including non-fiction. I find they support each other and push the buttons of my muse.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Welcome advice, Kat. I've read and loved others of your books, and now I'm ordering the Against series. Thanks for the great perspective on multi-genre writing.I have a couple of Victorian romances in my head, but am keeping on with the western historicals and a few western contemporafies for now.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Kat, is was so interesting to hear about your journey through the different eras and genres:) All the very best with Against the Odds.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Kat, I enjoyed your post. I know what you mean about getting the voice right. I write medieval historicals and just had the first novel published in a series of YA novels set in Victorian London. Avoiding anachronisms and getting the dates and vernacular right is not easy and having a pedantic editor can be a blessing.

    Keith

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi, Western Fictioneers-- really appreciate the wonderful comments. know there are some great writers among you. Great looking site. look forward to checking in once in a while. Very best wishes for a great 2013. kat

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks so much for being our guest, Kat!

    ReplyDelete