If you wrote a book, would you write the story you had in you? Or write to the market?

I write Suspense, but have been told I should be writing Horror.

Are you an inspiring author? What do you want to write?

I love suspense and romance fiction. And that’s what inspired me to write in this genre. However, I’d heard that writers should research what’s the hottest selling genre and write in that category. In other words, as an author, I should research the top 50 books that are selling and write books similar to the ones flying off the shelves. For example, when Twilight was hot, then write about Vampires. When Fifty Shades of Grey was hot, write erotica romance.

Follow the rules, and the readers will come. But what about heart?

Subconsciously, I knew what I needed to do, but because I’m stubborn, and a new author, I ignored my instincts and pushed on with my Survival Island Suspense series. Knowing Sci-fi, Romance, and Contemporary Literature were hot sellers on Amazon. I should really have noticed that I might have been setting myself up to fail.

But I wrote Book 1. And guess what? It sold. It sold okay.

Island of Lies was the novel I’d always wanted to write, and I stand by it 100{ce7ef14a2da0a8434ced3047ccecfb00e93ce246a538b8c6616a37b7730c0824}. I lived those days on the island. I was there as Elliot and Ryleigh built their new world and survived together. I guess I had to write that book, as I LOVE the thought of going off the grid and living on an island in the middle of the tropics. Every day, I adored going into their world.

I loved it so much that I brought them back to the island in Book 2: Girl Alone on an Island.

Now I have made a brand out of Suspense with a sprinkle of romance. I love suspense and action, and then add in romance and sex, and “you have me at hello”. I love everything James Bond. While my opening scene isn’t about my main protagonist, Elliot Finn, fighting the bad guy on a moving train using a Caterpillar digger, and then being shot and falling into the water, the books do have a lot of action. Elliot jumps out of helicopters and repels down cliffs to dark caves, and there’s a lot of swimming and surviving.

I was willing to write what I love. So I sent out my stories to beta readers. Some responses came in, “I enjoyed all the surprises and twists.” “Amazing what your mind comes up with. Great mind. Great job.” “I loved it. Great job!” “Great writing, as always. You excel at vivid imagery and suspense!”

These responses encouraged me to complete the Island Series. The stories had started out as romance and action, and are ending up in the Suspense genre category.

What is Suspense?

Lookie, lookie from Wiki:
Suspense is a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, tension, and anxiety developed from an unpredictable, mysterious, and rousing source of entertainment. The term most often refers to an audience’s perceptions in a dramatic work.

Because suspense wasn’t my brand yet, I wrote this series for me. I LOVE suspense and romance. There is something fundamental about suspense as a genre that makes readers follow the stories, TV series, and movies more than other genres in a way I can’t explain.

I took the Genre quiz below and surprisingly I should be writing Horror. Hmmm. I do like Stephen King.
What are your favorite genres? If I could survey readers, what would you say you’re looking for in the books you read? Adventure? Action? Love? Sex?

I love to hear from you. Leave me a comment.

P.S. Let me know, if you read my books – do you agree that they’re in the suspense genre? Am I missing any aspects of this genre or is there something that you’d love to see more of?

What Genre of Fiction should You WRITE?

You-Should-Be-Writing-Horror

Take the Quiz:
http://www.playbuzz.com/morganf10/what-genre-of-fiction-should-you-write.