Winston Churchill once said, "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
In an attempt to figure out genre fiction, this novelist took a risk and wrote a short story – well, it was intended to be a short story, except that I couldn't keep it under seventy-five hundred words. Thus, in line with recent e-book lengths, I decided to write a short novella. In its entirety, the story ended up just under thirteen thousand words.
My intention was to write a casual, entertaining, comedic MM romance, which was also a coming-out story that highlighted changes in perceptions and tolerance levels in recent times.
The story, which I entitled Desperate In Sheridan, is about two friends who grew up together but have been apart for a long time. Brad is gay and doesn't trust his cowboy-cultured best friend to accept his sexuality, and Jimmy is a young man who has suffered a lot of losses.
There's a lot of perceived desperation in this story. Brad is desperate to find his happily-ever-after, although he no longer believes in it after a rough break up. Jimmy wants to keep his only connection to his childhood and family in the form of his best friend, Brad. And Wendell was a model from California before he moved to Sheridan, where he's had a bit of a dry spell.
Despite the fact that I was trying to write genre fiction (MM romance), I loath to be formulaic, which in this case would be something like boy meets boy, boy attracts boy, obstacle keeps boy from boy, boys overcome obstacles and fall madly in love. Yeah, there's a little bit of that in my story, but it's mostly unrecognizable. Instead, there are surprises throughout the story that I wished to have mimic how unexpectedly random reality can be.
I submitted the text to a group of MM romance readers, who, in turn, read the story and reviewed it for me. (Currently, the story remains free on smashwords and multiple online retailers.) The result was quite mixed. Despite the fact that it was advertised as a light, comedic, and short novella, many wished it to be longer and wanted more character development. At the same time, others did not like that the story did not meet formulaic standards.
In the end, about 70% of the people who rated and/or reviewed it so far gave the story three stars or above, indicating they liked it, and 30% indicated they did not (with the most common complaint being they didn't get the characters). As a literary writer, whose only other material happens to be a novel in which the main plot line is a love story between two young men, I am still desperately seeking my audience. Did this experiment in Romance help? I'm not sure. But it got people talking about my work (even if it was a side-story of mine) and gave me things to contemplate.
Bottom line is that I took a risk trying this experimental story with an established group of MM romance fans. In general, the experience was positive, and I can apply the feedback I received in creating better short stories in the future (novella length or under). I also learned that there was no way to please everybody, and that probably the best thing for me to do is to write what I love and worry about genre/category afterward.
I have written several other novellas - these are about twice as long as this one and maybe more perfectly sized to explore some of the detail my reviewers mentioned. I would love to continue with Desperate in Sheridan, whether that's a part two or a remake into a novel, but it might need to wait while till I complete other projects. This includes the editing of the trilogy that starts with The Search for Intelligent Life on Earth.
I highly recommend taking risks with your writing: trying new styles, seeking acceptance into different genres or popular fiction circles, and entering contests and free review programs. It's all about learning and improving, so long as you're enjoying yourself. And remember: as with life in general, what you take from your experiences is what decides your level of success.
