Making changes and breaking the rules.

As time has gone on and my writing style developed, I find myself too restricted by the label of 'romance' to continue to call myself a romance writer, so I'll be shying away from this. My bio has been altered slightly to include this paragraph:

I used to call myself a romance writer, but I hate following the rules of romance. It's far too restrictive for me and my characters, and anyway, rules are there to be broken. My main guys end up HEA (or HFN), and that's all you're getting. Up until that point, anything goes.

And my 'tag line' on my website has been changed to this:

Cutting-edge, romantic paranormal fiction ... there are no rules.

I still like a happy ending, but in the future, if I'm going to be writing a series, I don't want every couple's relationship to reach its conclusion in just one book, and I also like to expand their relationships so it continues to develop throughout the whole series. For me, my stories have never been only about each couple, but all characters and how they interact with each other and their own individual problems. I also like cliffhangers that leave you thinking OMG! and in the future, I'd like to be more flexible with my cliffhangers, without being hampered with "everything must be wrapped up in one neat bubble of happiness before you continue to the next story".

The last thing I want to do is alienate my romance readers - I cherish all my readers (believe me, I don't have that many!), but I need to write without restriction so my characters and my plots can bloom. I will still be writing romance within my books, and they will still be hot and sexy, and they will still get their HEA eventually, but the stories will be written a little differently, more focused on the plot and all characters (not just the main couples), and with no holds barred. In some people's eyes, this makes it not a romance, which is why I am shying away from the label.

I know I may lose a few readers along the way, but since I'm just starting out and don't have that huge a readership yet, now's a good time to implement the above.

Thanks so much for sticking it through with me up to this point, and I hope to continue entertaining you with my crazy stories ;)

Dianna xxx

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