Michelle Sharp's Blog - Posts Tagged "suspense"
Variety or Voyeur? by Michelle Sharp
The recent release of Dream Huntress has been a fun and fabulous few weeks. Actually, the most fun is when someone asks, “What’s next?” One friend called, genuinely concerned about whether Ty and Jordan will stay together and have that ultimate happily ever after. She explained that she usually gravitated towards the kind of series where you have the first hot brother and his story. And then in book 2, the story of the next hot brother, or best friend, or Marine buddy, so on and so forth.
It wasn’t the first time I had heard this. But it was the first time I decided there really are two different kinds of “romance series camps.” We’ll call the first camp—Camp Variety. Romance fans who plain old need a little change. They want a new hero and heroine in each book, diverse story arcs, and varied conflict in each book. Nothing wrong with that. It’s the way the romance world has operated for years, pretty darn successfully I might add.
However, I think there is a different camp becoming more and more popular in the romance genre. One comprised of inquisitive (perhaps obsessive) people like me. Camp Voyeur, if you will, infatuated with what happens after that, “Gee, I love you” moment. I mean seriously, you want good old fashioned conflict? When I look at my relationship with my husband, I realize that things didn’t get real until after we moved in together. Merging two lives into one can be explosive. Right?
So why must the fantasy end at I love you?
If I really fall for a character, I want the true grit that comes after all the firsts, too. What happens when an old flame comes back into town? What if one of the characters is wrongly accused of a crime, or hiding a deadly secret? How does the relationship work then? And man, OH, man—there is something to be said for reading a sexy love scene between two characters that know each other’s hot spots and history.
I get that books are supposed to be romance, fantasy—escape. No one wants to read about characters clipping their nails or arguing over the electric bill. But it still doesn’t mean I don’t totally want to be a voyeur while Roarke is washing Eve’s back in J.D. Robb’s In Death Series. (And screw tradition, because if Roarke did nothing more than clip Eve’s fingernails, I guarantee it would be sexy.)
I must, must, must know how Nick and Sam are doing in Marie Force’s Fatal Series. And don’t even get me started on Eva and Gideon. Sylvia Day has me hook, line, and sinker when it comes to those two.
My point is, I like the fantasy of the first kiss, the first time our characters make love, the moment the first “I love you” is spoken. But life happens. There is no greater thrill than exploring it with the characters I love. It’s like coming home to the familiar or visiting with family I haven’t seen in a while.
So to my friend I said, “Don’t worry, life will go on for Jordan and Ty. And because of Jordan’s gift, you can bet it will be a wild and complicated ride.”
I found that to be a perfectly politically correct response. But my friend said, “You’re seriously not going to tell me? You suck.” LOL. (But I know she still loves me.)
How about you? Are you Variety or Voyeur? Maybe we need a little of both camps to really keep the excitement flowing.
It wasn’t the first time I had heard this. But it was the first time I decided there really are two different kinds of “romance series camps.” We’ll call the first camp—Camp Variety. Romance fans who plain old need a little change. They want a new hero and heroine in each book, diverse story arcs, and varied conflict in each book. Nothing wrong with that. It’s the way the romance world has operated for years, pretty darn successfully I might add.
However, I think there is a different camp becoming more and more popular in the romance genre. One comprised of inquisitive (perhaps obsessive) people like me. Camp Voyeur, if you will, infatuated with what happens after that, “Gee, I love you” moment. I mean seriously, you want good old fashioned conflict? When I look at my relationship with my husband, I realize that things didn’t get real until after we moved in together. Merging two lives into one can be explosive. Right?
So why must the fantasy end at I love you?
If I really fall for a character, I want the true grit that comes after all the firsts, too. What happens when an old flame comes back into town? What if one of the characters is wrongly accused of a crime, or hiding a deadly secret? How does the relationship work then? And man, OH, man—there is something to be said for reading a sexy love scene between two characters that know each other’s hot spots and history.
I get that books are supposed to be romance, fantasy—escape. No one wants to read about characters clipping their nails or arguing over the electric bill. But it still doesn’t mean I don’t totally want to be a voyeur while Roarke is washing Eve’s back in J.D. Robb’s In Death Series. (And screw tradition, because if Roarke did nothing more than clip Eve’s fingernails, I guarantee it would be sexy.)
I must, must, must know how Nick and Sam are doing in Marie Force’s Fatal Series. And don’t even get me started on Eva and Gideon. Sylvia Day has me hook, line, and sinker when it comes to those two.
My point is, I like the fantasy of the first kiss, the first time our characters make love, the moment the first “I love you” is spoken. But life happens. There is no greater thrill than exploring it with the characters I love. It’s like coming home to the familiar or visiting with family I haven’t seen in a while.
So to my friend I said, “Don’t worry, life will go on for Jordan and Ty. And because of Jordan’s gift, you can bet it will be a wild and complicated ride.”
I found that to be a perfectly politically correct response. But my friend said, “You’re seriously not going to tell me? You suck.” LOL. (But I know she still loves me.)
How about you? Are you Variety or Voyeur? Maybe we need a little of both camps to really keep the excitement flowing.
