Welcome to the Saturday Spotlight, a weekly feature that shines the light on Indie and Debut authors. This week I have the pleasure introducing readers to:

KELLY WITTMANN

~Author of Remember Big~

(CC)

Hello, readers of Tina’s Book Reviews! I know that a lot of you are fans of the Romance genre, so I’m going to get this out of the way right off the bat: My novel, Remember Big, is not genre romance. It’s not even in any of the categories that are commonly referred to as “the Genres.” On Amazon and Kindle, it’s listed as Literary Fiction, landing in the sub-genre of Satire after not-so-great results in Contemporary Romance and Family Saga. Is there a contemporary romance in this novel? Yes. Does it include the saga of a family? Actually, it includes the sagas of two families. I quickly learned, however, that these two categories were considered “genre,” that most genre readers enjoy the familiar formulas they've come to know, and that trying to shoehorn a novel like mine into one those genres would only backfire.

Notice I said most genre readers prefer familiar formulas. And to those readers I say: good for you. Life is just too short to read anything you don’t like. But to the genre romance readers who might be looking for something a little different (not better, just different), I ask you to consider the love stories to be found in so-called “literary fiction.” (We could argue about that term ‘til the end of time, but let’s save the semantics for another day.) Not all of those love stories are dreary bores for Poindexters, lacking in passion and heart.

A first-person narrative from a male protagonist (like Charlie in Remember Big) may seem off-putting at first, but as you continue to read, you just might decide it’s a refreshing change. Some rough language (and it’s in there) may be a bit more than you’re used to, but sometimes a little shock to the system can invigorate you in unexpected ways. And although a formula always promises a happy ending, it is possible for a more realistic love story to leave you—well, happy.

So if you’re looking for a romantic story that’s outside “the genres,” check out the reviews for some literary fiction novels. And keep hoping (as I do) that someday we won’t have to argue over the meaning of “literary fiction.”

Kelly Wittmann is the author of the novel Remember Big and co-author of former NFL player Bill Searcey’s inspirational memoir High Tide: A Story of Football, Freefall, and Forgiveness. She lives with her husband, Michael, and her cat, Telly, in a hipster-infested neighborhood in Chicago.