For twenty years, I have exclusively written contemporary romance. Well, except for the high fantasy novel I wrote in high school which will never see the light of day again, though I make no promises. But since then, I’ve written about figure skaters, ballet dancers, winemakers, cattlemen, and have never wielded magic into my work. Rural romance was going to be my ‘genre’ and then I tried the Mills & Boon type stories, both of which is where I found my break into the indie and traditional publishing world.
So why the switch to paranormal? Well, there were many reasons but as any writer can agree, there was really only one – I was inspired!
Originally, the idea that became Wolf Shifters of Magnetic Island came to me in 2009 when I first moved to Townsville and the Full Moon Party on Magnetic Island was all the rage among my university peers. I never attended as I wasn’t yet eighteen and parties didn’t interest me or my friends. But I did have the thought ‘Full Moon Party? That sounds like a cover up for werewolf activity.’
The idea always lingered in the back of my mind, but I continued to write everything else that inspired me, including what became the Shadow Creek Series. For years, I continued to pursue this as I completed the series, and I thought it would be the most markable for traditional publishing. I got so close but ended up indie publishing it when it had nowhere else to go just before I was offered a contract for my sweet holiday romance Reunited with the Millionaire. Suddenly, I had two paths – sweet millionaire romance and rural small town suspense.
But then, without going into detail, I felt I was being ousted from my local writers organisation because my goals didn’t align with theirs. Firstly, I was writing novels and publishing them, which I was constantly reminded ‘isn’t everyone’s goal, Rachel.’ And secondly, I ‘wrote romance’ and most members were of the opinion that speculative fiction was the only profitable kind of fiction – without the romance.
Sadly, I left the organisation because they were right – my goals didn’t align with those of the other members. However, part of me wanted to prove I was more than ‘airy-fairy romance’. Not that Shadow Creek could be considered ‘airy-fairy’ with the stalkers, harassment, and attempted murder that goes on. So I thought about my wolves and when my stepfather got excited about the idea and I planned to participate in NaNoWriMo for the first time, I started plotting and the Wolf Shifters of Magnetic Island finally came to be!
It was such a passion project that I pumped out the 100,000 words in 34 days. I do not recommend it. But I had so much fun exploring a different subgenre as unlike in my contemporary romance where the good guys need to call in the cops to take care of the villains, my wolves got to rip the throats out of their enemies. But there were also other reasons I thought writing in a new subgenre would be a good idea as it would put me into a different space when it came to marketing and events while also allowing me to expand my readership.
But did it work? Was it worth switching genres when I could have continued working on Shadow Creek? Well, I’m not sure. I certainly didn’t bring readers with me, I know that much. But what I hope it has done is make my ‘author brand’ appealing to different kinds of readers, bookshops, and signing events. After all, my author slogan is ‘Love Stories of Every Kind’ and this was a step towards creating that ‘brand’.
Now, I have sweet holiday romance, small town suspense, and paranormal romance, which I feel will allow me to expand my reach in the bookish community. Will it work? Again, only time will tell. But what I do know is I wouldn’t have become a signing author at BABE without my Wolf Shifters. Only the Wolf Shifters are selling to bookstores with spicy paranormal dominating the indie bookstore shelves, and the wolves are my only way into the pop-culture conventions like Townsville PopFest, Mackay PopCon, and hopefully one day events like Supanova.
But while both the Wolf Shifters and Shadow Creek do well at my local markets, Shadow Creek continues to be my most popular seller in ebook sales and I feel it remains my most marketable subgenre.
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| Shadow Creek series special edition hardcovers |
Stepping outside my box and diverting subgenres hasn’t been easy as it’s taken a toll on multiple aspects of my author business and personal life, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love my wolves and have always wanted to be a multi-subgenre author as I never wanted to put myself in one box. Of course there are benefits to doing that, but inspiration will come in many forms and I’d hate to never write a book I was passionate about because it wasn’t ‘my brand.’ And considering I’ve branded myself as ‘Love Stories of Every Kind’, I will continue to write whatever subgenre I want because that is my dream.
After all, girl needs to look up to her idols, and Nora Roberts never put herself in one box.
I have always loved books and making up stories, so I've never wanted to be anything but an author. I strive to create epic feel-good romances and have a weakness for an adventurous holiday escape. My characters may be suffering emotionally, but they're strong, healthy people with quirky passions and a soft spot for dogs. Helping them find their happily-ever-after is my life's joy.
