Recently I talked about my favorite hockey tropes, and it got me thinking about the other things I write. Hockey romance is only a recent (ish) thing for me – I started with fanfic, usually in verse before branching into AUs that were contemporary or historical romance. But even in vastly different genres, I do find a lot of overlap in what I’m doing.
The Draw
I write different genres because they each have their own appeal. With hockey, obviously there’s the hockey but that’s a vehicle to explore personal relationships while in both real-life (beer league) and high pressure (NHL) scenarios. I think our engagement with sports and how we take wins and losses, how we handle the stress and approach casual or competitive activities, reveals a lot about us. These are great ways to explore characters and relationships, and I love playing in that sandbox (ice rink?).
I’m similarly drawn to historical settings. Modern conveniences are gone, and life is a little harder. There’s added stresses that make things more interesting, and I can up the stakes by having whole kingdoms and worlds at stake…or I can look at the people living ordinary lives but experience upheaval because of the politics and upheaval of the realm.
Basically I love getting the opportunity to play around in different worlds, making them my own but also pulling on what’s familiar.
Tropes as the Bridge
I have my core favorite tropes that I think bridge the gap between genres, no matter how different.
Because there are romantic elements in both, I still get to pull out the classics: forced proximity, secret relationships, and mutual pining. I can’t really get away with teammates to lovers in a fantasy or historical world lol, but I do have reluctant allies working together against a Big Bad. That gets me to those other tropes I mentioned.
I also can’t emphasize enough that there are three annoyingly similar types of scenes to write: hockey games, sex scenes, and fights. Controlling the pace is crucial in all three. Do I want to drag out the scene or have it quick and dirty? I use similar techniques and styles to take the reader through the whole emotional rollercoaster, or maybe I just steamroll us through so it’s clear what beats I’m hitting but still moves us through the story. Then there’s all the pronouns to keep track of (especially when it’s mm romance or two people of the same gender fighting…lord help me when I write threesomes haha). Plus there’s the, er, equipment. Whose sword/stick/pen is where and doing what. Where are all the legs and arms!? WHERE IS EVERYONE LOOKING???
The Differences?
Obviously it’s not all the same. There’s magic (or isn’t). There’s modern technology (or not). The genre, time period, and the world dictate a lot of what’s different in my approach to these stories and what the readers might notice.
I hope I write engaging characters in all my worlds, but I know that my hockey romances are more character than plot driven. Sure, there’s plot and issues to resolve (either romantically or hockey-wise), but the story is the romance. I see these types of stories as a road trip. There’s a beginning and an endpoint, but the journey is the whole point and it’s made by the characters driving the car.
I find that when I’m working in my historical fantasy works, there are by necessity more characters. I want them to be well-defined in their own right, but I can’t have a character-driven story when there are five plus POV characters. It’s a lot more plot heavy, and the characters have to share the stage to worldbuilding. These stories aren’t a roadtrip: the characters are stuck on a raft in the middle of the ocean, without much control and too busy trying to survive to enjoy the journey.
This means there’s almost an opposite balance of romance-plot: hockey romance is mostly the romance, with some hockey-ish plot (brother issues, the games, etc); my historical fantasies are mostly plot (gotta fix the wrongs done in the kingdom and settle personal vendettas), with the romance subplots taking the backseat.
Writing is a craft – I feel the more I engage with writing, the better I get. Even if I’m writing in one genre today and another tomorrow, the same set of skills are being refined over time. They all have their ways that they intersect, and at the bare minimum I’m honing my ability to use words to tell stories. Different genres means I’m constantly getting a chance to learn, play, and grow, which can only mean good things for my writing 🙂
Are you a fan of reading/writing multiple genres? What’s your draw to each one
A.L. Heard 
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