I am a woman and I love to write for women. Period. Till now I have almost always worked on a woman’s journey and explored various aspects and emotions that are an exclusive domain of a woman (at the cost of sounding like a feminist, which I am not) and for better or worse, a man can never probably understand them.

I recently started toying with a story line, which morphed in my mind with a male protagonist. I wondered if I should cross-over to a different genre.Doing that would ential its own pros and cons for a relatively new author.Outline of my new novel is pure mystery so I wondered what I should do.

Taking advise of some authors, I embarked on a marathon reading to understand the genre which I had not liked or picked up before (I read a books like ‘The Trial’ by Franz Kafka, and a few of Perry Masons) and I realised that’s not what I want write. I want to still keep my male protagonist so I dif an indept research on the genre definition itself.

So what is Women’s Fiction?

The Romance Writers of America organization defines women's fiction as, "a commercial novel about a woman on the brink of life change and personal growth. Her journey details emotional reflection and action that transforms her and her relationships with others, and includes a hopeful/upbeat ending with regard to her romantic relationship.

The Women's Fiction Writers Association guiding statement is broad and comprehensive: An inclusive organization of writers creating layered stories that are driven by the main character’s emotional journey. These stories may have romance. Or they may not. They could be contemporary. Or historical. But what binds them together is the focus on the main character's emotional journey. But what I like best is what Jessica of NYC based BookEnds Literary Agency, that can proudly boast of representing many award winning New York Times Best seller author cients says, ‘The first thing to understand about genre definitions is that there’s a reason they are so difficult to understand. Genre definitions, like genres themselves, are fluid. They change with the market and with the times.’.

I agree with this and also with what she goes on to say about Women Fiction, ‘Women’s fiction is a strong and growing market and I don’t see that changing, ever. What I do see changing are the types of books considered women’s fiction or published in general.’ True. ’Women’s Fiction is a huge huge genre and not simple to define. The only bottom line definition to remember is that they should warm up a women’s hearts everywhere.’

And my reasoning is if anything happens to the men connected with women, it will touch a woman’s heart. Voila! the entry of a male protagonist! So go ahead and write what you want without restricting yourself within the gender boundaries. Write it and then read it again. See what you feel about it. Your gut feel is your guide. Of course, a professional editor who will retain your voice and essence is a must, never compromise on that. We will have other posts on the importance of editors later in the month. Till then, Keep Writing, Keep Growin’!

By Deeba Salim Irfan