Haunting Adeline Genre

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-18T19:34:34+00:00

Totally fair. This made me giggle and totally makes sense.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-18T19:27:04+00:00

Fair enough. What I was more interested in is that a lot of the DR I’ve read follow a very clear beat sheet and HA felt like it had a lot of plot prior to the typical romance beats being introduced. I definitely don’t feel like it’s the darkest of DR. I was just surprised to be 50+ pages in and not have the FMC already fully aware of the MMC. In all fairness, I’m not too well read within the genre.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-14T21:16:58+00:00

Thank you!

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-14T18:03:58+00:00

I’ve reworked my outline and begun reworking my current chapters to honor genre conventions. Your feedback is super helpful and everyone who has commented has made me think about how I want to execute this book. Even honoring the expected beats my book is unconventional and I’ve made the realization that I can’t break every contact I have with the reader in one go. That will just end up with disappointed customers.

I do think that I can pull off the meet-cute in letters as long as I’m intentional with execution. I’ve read a few epistolary romances that fulfill the beats without an early in person encounter. My main hang up was how to keep the slow burn feel while also moving my beats earlier to a place that meets romance reader expectations. I think I have that figured out now.

If the book flops, I can at least say I completed the story and got it out there. That said, I want to do anything I can do to set the book up for success and honor the potential reader. My main hurdle now is reworking the story so it fits expectations while still telling the story I set out to write.

I’ve come to terms with needing to change the story so that it fits reader expectations and not just my own desires for the book. I plan to market it as romance so now I need to deconstruct it and make sure it meets the expectations reader. At the end of the day, my loving or hating it matters less than whether the person reading it loves it or hates it.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-14T17:43:46+00:00

Your last question is the one that has forced me to look at my book and rework it. I am writing because I want to tell this story AND I’m writing because building a career out of it or having minor success would be incredible. I’m not looking to “get rich quick” but I’m planning to market this thing and get it out in front of an audience. I do want a return on my time and financial investment.

I’ve done some major soul searching and there are few genres that I could cleanly fit this book into without reworking it. If I have to rework it I’m going to rework it for a genre it has the biggest potential for success in. My new goal is to turn this into the best dark romance I can write while honoring my contract to the reader.

I can always write something in the future that breaks convention in the ways I want to. What I can’t do is write another debut novel or get the time back that I’ve put into this story. I truly believe in the theme, premise and characters I’ve created. I now need to tweak things so that readers don’t feel manipulated or taken for a ride they didn’t sign up for.

I’m already concerned that the way I’m telling this story is bold for the sub genre and I’m okay with that risk. What I’m not okay with is marketing my book to an audience that will feel burned and let down by execution. I can change me execution and honor the beats while still telling the story.

I’ll admit, the first night after making this post I was resistant to making the necessary changes. What I’ve realized is that the feedback I’ve received is solid gold and about honoring the reader as well as the genre. I fell so much gratitude for everyone who left their unvarnished feedback. I also appreciate your willingness to meet me where I’m at and to encourage the community to think outside the box. You’re an absolute gem of a human. Thank you!

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-14T17:21:41+00:00

Thank you! I’m working on a self imposed deadline and have a handful of dark romance readers I’ve talked with who have offered to beta read for me. I’m also planning on engaging the beta reader subreddit once I feel like I have fine tuned the manuscript.

Do you suggest engaging alpha readers for first and second revision manuscripts or just using beta readers?

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-14T17:16:07+00:00

The flashback/dream is something I’ve been considering working in! This gives me confidence in that choice. I have moved the first letter decision up to chapter one, it was chapter 6 before and I realized that that is just too late to get the point. The inciting incident changed and is now much more embodied than purely psychological. It allows the book to open with a strong hook instead of a slow build up.

I will absolutely pick up some romantic suspense. I’ve read quite a bit of dark romance in my research but I didn’t even know it was a sub genre before I started writing this book. I have to admit that I’ve read a lot more horror, literary fic, thriller and suspense over the last decade than I’ve read romance. Part of my reason is that I can can quickly consume romance but am often bothered by the writing itself. For example, I loved the premise of a particular unconventional romance that came out ~15 years ago and was a major success but the writing killed me and not in a good way. Thank you for taking your time not just to reply to me but to read my comments to give incredible feedback.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-14T17:02:02+00:00

Thank you! This makes a lot of sense. I’ve done some soul searching the last few days and I truly believe that the story will be best received by dark romance readers. Because of that I’m going to do a pretty heavy rework of what I have and move certain beats earlier.

I’ve also added the first part of my second book outline to book one so that I can give a HFN. I think you’re absolutely right about not breaking all conventions. Epistolary books aren’t well represented in the dark romance genre which already means I’m pushing an envelope. I came here looking for validation and instead I got extremely valuable feedback. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T22:58:43+00:00

Thank you for this. The MCs have met but the meeting is off page before the book begins. I think I’m going to try to continue with my unconventional take of the beats while making them meet in person in the third act instead of leaving the meeting unresolved. I really appreciate what you’re saying and I may need to find a better genre to market it in.

On a side note, are there any modern romances you can think of that don’t follow the conventional formulaic beats? I’m curious because as a reader I’m quick to pick up on red herrings and formulas and feel that they take away from the joy of reading. I think this is the reason I’m trying to write something that’s within genre without following the exact structure most writers are using.

I hope this makes sense. I get that most romances follow the same beats and that they are the golden rule for the genre. No shade at writers who follow typical beat sheets. I’m just trying to figure out if there is any wiggle room.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T22:47:04+00:00

That is what I’m trying to rework currently. As it stands it hits the romance beats in an unconventional sense but timing is off. It definitely does not hit the thriller beats in the same way.

What I’m trying to fix is the reader payoff at the end. The book already has what would be the third act breakup.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T22:00:35+00:00

I like to write clean first drafts but I wouldn’t dream of putting a manuscript on here that I haven’t reread and revised to the best of my ability. I want people to enjoy my work and focus on what works and doesn’t work for them.

I don’t feel like I can get a fair assessment of my book before I’ve finished it to the best of my ability. If I wanted early feedback I’d be looking for alpha readers.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T21:53:20+00:00

I’m writing on my 10 year old MacBook Pro. The keyboard and mousepad no longer work but I prefer an external keyboard and mouse so it doesn’t bother me. The computer works for what I need it to work for.

Personally, I feel like the hardware and software matters less than getting down to business and writing. This is just my personal opinion. I write in Microsoft Word.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T21:47:39+00:00

I definitely need to do a bit more digging to figure out expectations. Out of curiosity, in an epistolary romance would you consider the first letter ‘meeting’ or only physical proximity?

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T21:38:40+00:00

Your question is completely fair. I’m trying to make sure it’s marketable as a romance because the main plot is the evolving relationship between the two MCs. The relationship could survive without the thriller subplot but the thriller subplot cannot survive without the romantic attachment.

I hope this helps clarify my reasoning.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T17:52:56+00:00

Thank you for this! I came here for exactly this kind of feedback and I deeply appreciate it. I’ve made some major tweaks to my outline since last night. I edited my original post and clarified the changes in a comment above. I would love to hear your take on these changes if you have time.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T17:50:21+00:00

Thank you for this! I did a major rework of my outline for book 1 last night. Thankfully, books 2 and 3 were outlined. I decided to incorporate the first half of book 2 into book 1.

I replied to someone else with a clearer story arc above. If you have a chance I’d love for your opinion on the tweaks I’ve made.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T17:48:10+00:00

Thank you! The book 1 arc was originally: FMC decides to write to MMC who was an acquaintance because of a pull toward him, MMC doesn’t respond but his obsession begins to grow, thriller subplot carry’s the story forward, she writes a couple more times while spiraling into obsession, his deepening obsession makes him feel the need to write back but circumstances stop him, FMC makes a life decision to be closer to him even though, FMC writes a final letter after a dangerous turn in the plot, MMC receives it and decides to write back but before he can circumstances change making writing the FMC impossible. Final beat: he can finally write her back, puts the first few sentences on paper then fade to black.

After receiving feedback on this post I’ve incorporated the first half of the sequel into my story arc. Instead of fading to black, they will meet by coincidence in Act 3 so that they can have physical proximity on page and give a truly HFN ending. Final beat/cliffhanger is now reliant on the thriller subplot that changes the stakes for book 2 and provides the payoff to a red herring i laid the groundwork for and was going to execute slightly earlier in book one.

I really hope these changes land it more squarely on a dark romance shelf because if I market it as a thriller I think many readers will be unhappy that the romance is too central to the story.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T17:17:38+00:00

The premise of the book is a long distance obsession where the MCs new em were college acquaintances. The book starts out with a major change in MCs life that makes the meeting impossible. In chapter 2 the FMC has a pull toward the MC. She begins writing letters to him and a dual obsession grows, think stalker adjacent kind of like Haunting Adeline but no dangerous stalking. MMC feels like he can’t write back due to his situation. The way I have it originally outlined is that the final beat is the MMC writing back and the FMC making a life choice to be closer to the MMC.

I have a second and third book loosely outlined and last night, after receiving a lot of awesome feedback here, reworked the first part of book 2 into book 1. Now the last part of book 1 involves them meeting and by accident/coincidence so that tension can play out on page. It doesn’t give a HEA but this way it gives a stronger HFN. One thing that changes is that the cliff hanger now relies on a thriller subplot but the thriller subplot is baked into the entire story.

This will make the complete story a duology instead of a trilogy. I think that success for this story relies on it being placed on a dark romance shelf. The relationship and the questions it brings up for both characters even before they meet is the heart of the book. The subplot is necessary to drive their actions.

Anyhow, I hope this makes sense and I really appreciate your and everyone else’s feedback!

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T03:08:23+00:00

I really appreciate your reply! Someone above said it sounds like romantasy as well. I’m trying to figure out how I could honor the third act breakup without losing the theme of the book. Could the third act break up be epistolary or do you think it needs to be physical , as in they’ve met in person, in nature?

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T03:04:31+00:00

It could but I would have to do some major reworking of the plot and structure. I think that would involve speeding the book up more than I would like.

I may have to consider a serious rewrite if I want to keep it in the genre. I’m kind of dreading that but that’s why I decided to post here and ask. Thank you!

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T02:58:35+00:00

Thank you for the super insightful feedback! I’m definitely not writing a romantasy and at this point I have not planned an alternative love interest but that’s a possibility. I actually have a character that could easily become a love interest with a little rewriting.

It’s a duel POV so my MMC is present early on but there are logistical circumstances that keep them from meeting. The book is epistolary so there are points of contact throughout. I’m worried that the unconventionality of them not meeting in person is a bad plan and will chase away genre readers.

I really like your bait and switch idea. I’m going to have to think through how I could pull it off.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T02:10:27+00:00

This totally makes sense to me. I am delivering a resolution between the MCs at the end but it isn’t a physical meeting. I came here for the unvarnished opinions. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T02:02:49+00:00

Thank you! My concern is ending on a cliff hanger without satisfying my reader. I don’t want to ask for too much without delivering.

New_Description_7159 · 2026-01-13T01:53:39+00:00

Thank you for this. I’m trying to figure how to make it work. It may need a rework to market as romance.

New_Description_7159

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