My place under the sun, or in the darkness.

I have touched on this topic in the past without fully getting to the nitty-gritty of why I keep coming back to try to define myself as a writer. More to the point, defining my writing style and where I fit in the literary universe. The thriller is a genre with several sub-genres, such as crime thriller, horror thriller, romance thriller, legal thriller, mystery thriller, suspense thriller, action-adventure thriller, political thriller, historical thriller, medical thriller, religious thriller, high-tech thriller, military thriller, spy thriller, and even science-fiction thriller.

As I was writing my thriller, I would go from crime to suspense to mystery, and always, I came back to the fact that it was a psychological thriller. But, yes, I am inserting a but here, it’s a psychological thriller with a strong emotional core, and for the most part, it’s a fast-paced one. Usually, a psychological thriller is slower in pace because it delves deeper into the characters' minds and emotional states, exploring their fears, anxieties, and inner turmoil. My psychological thriller has that external danger woven into it, transforming it into a hybrid, a sub-sub-genre.

Maybe a more precise label would be Dark Psychological thriller. I mean, there is a serial killer after all. Yes, I think I will embrace this definition. The Rainbow Killer is a dark psychological thriller.

Good. I feel I have better situated what I’ve written as a debut novel. Now, for me. Where do I fit?

Let’s see. I’m a transgender woman, and I write dark psychological thrillers featuring a transgender woman as the main character. Further, as far as I’ve figured out, I am the only transgender woman thriller writer in Canada. This last observation informs me that I will have to deal with the pros and cons of this empty niche.

I know of three other transgender women thriller authors, all of whom are in the U.S. I love their books and avidly read them as it’s as close as I get to community.

Joelle