The thing about Tragic Love Stories...
In preparation for my novel’s release (August 11th! Mark your calendars!), I’ve been working with my publisher on marketing materials—something I didn’t know anything about with Codename. Thankfully, I’ve learned a lot since 2013 and I’m working with a publisher who is able to do a lot of the grunt work for me. On top of a press release—that’s due to be distributed to over 100 media outlets this week—I’ve been given a list of “meta tags” that will be associated with my novel on every distribution channel.
“What the heck are meta tags?” you are asking yourself. Before this year, I didn’t know what they were either—but now I do!
Meta tags are keywords or short descriptions used by search engines to narrow down content results. Basically, they are words used in backend coding on sites like Amazon or Barnes & Noble to help find your perfect product. For example: if you type “Iwo Jima", “World War II” and “1940’s” into the search bar on Amazon, you will see Codename: Sob Story listed as an available title. Also, if you’ve ever wondered how Amazon is able to link similar products to your recent order—in the You May also Like… section of your order receipt—this is how!
A little Digital Marketing 101 for you all :) Now back to my blog!
Obliviously, these tags are very important to gain traction on any product, especially if you are looking to gain new readership. So here are some of the tags my publisher suggested:
Novels set in Gettysburg
Civil War Romance
Civil War Diaries
Tragic Love Stories
Historical Fiction
Book Club Fiction
Family Life Fiction
Civil War Mystery
Books like Cold Mountain
For the most part, these are all pretty self-explanatory and no-brainers—being compared to an epic piece of literary fiction like Cold Mountain is a major compliment though. But one tag stood out for me; mainly because it is a very generic, broad (semi-misleading) theme.
Tragic Love Stories.
Okay. Let’s dissect this a bit.
Yes…this is the version that will be forever glorified in my mind. Because, Hello? LEO!
The first thing that comes to mind when a tragic love story is mentioned is obviously love in the ROMANTIC form. This is a passionate, “can’t eat, can’t sleep” kind of love story between two people (yes, PEOPLE) who simply can’t live without one another. It’s the form of love that every person should experience at least once in their lifetime; society is built on this emotion and for some, it’s the only thing that makes life worth living. Which is why when this love is lost—or is unrequited—it becomes a tragedy. The most obvious pop-culture example is William Shakespeare’s 16th century play Romeo and Juliet. The story of two teenagers, forced to pick between their love and loyalty to their warring families. Tragedy ensues and—SPOILER ALERT—they both end up dead.
“What’s so misleading about that?” you may be asking. Well, a tragic love story isn’t limited to a ROMANTIC emotion. LOVE, in itself, is a very broad theme; you can have love for just about anything that crosses your path. And in turn, it can be perceived as a tragedy when you lose it.
Pigeonholing a love tragedy to encompass only romance, is a disservice to the many forms of love.
Severus Snape and Lily Potter from Harry Potter— BFF4EAE
Like FRIENDSHIP.
Friendship is probably the most prevalent form of love. As children, making friends—connecting with your peer group—is one of the first independent forms of love we learn. Because eventually—when our parents stop pushing their friends kids on us (guilty of this now)—we make that decision if another person is worthy of pursuing a relationship. AND most romantic entanglements start off as friendships. The love between friends is a powerful thing; who’s the first person you call when the guy you were madly in love with dumped you? Yup, its your BFF from grade school. So, the dissolution of a friendship (or the TRAGIC end) is a powerful thing. Either by a mutual decision to stop associating with each other—a “break-up” of sorts—or maybe a physical separation—geographically or in life—the breakdown of a friendship has major mental implications. As a self-described Potterhead, the tragic end of Severus Snape and Lily Potter’s FRIENDSHIP (don’t come at me if you don’t agree they were FRIENDS first and foremost. Yes, I believe Snape loved her more than a friend but…okay, I’m stopping here before I go down a deeper rabbit hole.) was a sock to the gut. AND the tragic loss of his lifelong friend thrust Snape onto a different life trajectory. The TRAGEDY of his FRIENDSHIP changed his life.
And then there’s FAMILIAL love.
Probably the strongest, most innate form of love aside from romance. Everyone is born into some sort of familial unit—not always the best, mind you, but it still exists. And a deep-seeded love is always the basis for that relationship. Think about the loving way a newborn looks at their mother; it’s not something learned, it is a natural phenomenon, like they recognize her essence from spending 9-months inside the womb. Or the strong bond among siblings; you don’t always LIKE each other, but the LOVE for one another should never be doubted. So, in times of chaos or tragedy, that love only intensifies. A tragic FAMILIAL love story could be an estrangement from your parents, or the loss of a sibling well before its time. For me, I think of the premise of the movie Frozen; only “true love” can stop Anna from becoming a statue of ice. She ASSUMES true love must be ROMANTIC in nature, when the reality is that the love from her sister, Elsa—the love that was there all along—is what saved her.
So, where am I going with this?
Well dear reader, don’t be like Anna.
Don’t assume a TRAGIC LOVE STORY only encompasses ROMANCE. Don’t look at the meta tag for my novel and assume the love story that turns into a tragedy is solely pigeonholed to romance. Read a little deeper—and to the end of the novel—and you just might see a bit of all three.