Toward the Hearth
Hello Friends,
Jumping around genres is a habit I'm guilty of. In both reading and writing, I have never been able to settle into one.
This habit is partially what inspired my novel writing workbooks being as genre-specific as they are, as I know each genre offers a different set of promises to readers.
It was the process of creating these same workbooks, however, that led me to discover what may have been my passion this entire time, unbeknownst to myself.
When researching for the creation of the cozy novel workbook, this genre started to speak to my soul. It is a genre that I have heard about, more so this last year, but I never looked further into it. Despite hearing from both cozy mystery and cozy fantasy writers at Jericho Writers Festival this year, I didn’t set aside the time to read their books.
When looking into what the cozy subgenre actually promises its readers, it came down to two things: comfort, and a storm that passes through but doesn't settle in. It turned out, those were promises I had subconsciously sought after without tacking on a label.
I wanted to write romance, and was drawn to darker books (and I do mean dark), but the underlying tone was care.
I wanted to write mystery, but it ultimately was found family.
Fantasy, but make it focused on tending the magical herbs in the garden.
And somehow it never occurred to me I was gearing toward writing in the cozy subgenre, no matter what the parent genre happened to be.
So, needless to say by this point, my newest book will be a cozy romantasy. Stay tuned for updates on that journey toward the hearth!
May the Muses favor you,
Chris
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