Monday, August 25, 2014

Do Romance and Mystery Mix?

Something I read over the weekend gave me the preposterous idea of writing a novel that included both a romance and a mystery.

How bad is that? Would any of you consider reading such a monstrous hybrid?

As best I can trace the rationale (yes, there was one; no, I wasn't drinking), a very dear e-friend used to say that the best way to sell an idea was to put it into either a Soap Opera or a Romance Novel, and my husband used to say that for him the best way would be to put it into a Murder Mystery.

I've never felt capable of staying interested in a fictional romance long enough to write a Romance Novel, let alone a Soap Opera.

I don't know enough about murder and police procedure to write a real Murder Mystery, either...although my husband used to joke about it, and I sometimes thought he was trying to bring out any latent talent I might have had, creating fictional-detective personas for us and suggesting plots.

It occurred to me, though, that a novel about students in Washington, D.C., who often do brush with real-world mystery and intrigue and not always even realize it while they're focussed on their studies and romances, just might include enough of a mystery to give the story more of a plot than just boy-meets-girl.

What do youall think?

(This post originally appeared at Bubblews, where one or two people expressed interest in the idea, so who knows--I may write the novel.)

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