This is Supposed to be Fun!
Okay, last week I may have taken an overly-crafty eye to writing a romance, so let me tip the scales back into balance: writing romance is so much fun!
From the Ashes of Victory took a lot out of me. The themes, the characters, the scope and scale of the events... it was a lot, and not always fun.
Being back in the Alumita universe is exactly where I need to be. For all my talk of theme and character and whatnot, just putting two people in a room and having them fight against their attraction to the other is fun! Flirting, touching, googly eyes, whatever--for me the middle of a romance is the most fun I have as an author. Yes, more than the ending, which is by definition happy (if not, it isn't a romance).
'Escapist' is almost a dirty word in some circles nowadays, but look outside! Who doesn't want to get away from all... that?
At this point I consider it a privilege to write fantasy romance. I mean, love and magic? Shameless flirting and dragons? Throw in someattempts at comedy and it's fun sitting down at the keyboard every day.
And it should be, right? Why else would I be doing it? Yes, there has to be tension, and they have to take almost as many steps back as they do forward, but you know where it's going! Momentum feels like a natural outcome of that, and momentum is good! Both in the story and in the day-to-day work of sitting at the desk and making it happen.
The hardest part for me sometimes is pacing. And the, uh... drama. To have them go in a straight line from strangers to happily ever after is boring; there need to be setbacks for there to be a story. They have to earn that happily ever after. I get it. But after putting my characters through hell in the Ashes books, having them just lie around in bed talking about their feelings has a certain appeal. (Okay fine, they can have breakfast, too.)
But in the end, a romance is about finding happiness. And isn't that what we all want? How fantastic (ha! magic) is it that that's the whole point of these stories? 70,000 words of two people finding and completing each other, making each other better. With kissy bits and sexy stuff.
Sounds like fun to me!
From the Ashes of Victory took a lot out of me. The themes, the characters, the scope and scale of the events... it was a lot, and not always fun.
Being back in the Alumita universe is exactly where I need to be. For all my talk of theme and character and whatnot, just putting two people in a room and having them fight against their attraction to the other is fun! Flirting, touching, googly eyes, whatever--for me the middle of a romance is the most fun I have as an author. Yes, more than the ending, which is by definition happy (if not, it isn't a romance).
'Escapist' is almost a dirty word in some circles nowadays, but look outside! Who doesn't want to get away from all... that?
At this point I consider it a privilege to write fantasy romance. I mean, love and magic? Shameless flirting and dragons? Throw in some
And it should be, right? Why else would I be doing it? Yes, there has to be tension, and they have to take almost as many steps back as they do forward, but you know where it's going! Momentum feels like a natural outcome of that, and momentum is good! Both in the story and in the day-to-day work of sitting at the desk and making it happen.
The hardest part for me sometimes is pacing. And the, uh... drama. To have them go in a straight line from strangers to happily ever after is boring; there need to be setbacks for there to be a story. They have to earn that happily ever after. I get it. But after putting my characters through hell in the Ashes books, having them just lie around in bed talking about their feelings has a certain appeal. (Okay fine, they can have breakfast, too.)
But in the end, a romance is about finding happiness. And isn't that what we all want? How fantastic (ha! magic) is it that that's the whole point of these stories? 70,000 words of two people finding and completing each other, making each other better. With kissy bits and sexy stuff.
Sounds like fun to me!
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