Alexia
asked
Josh Lanyon:
Hi Josh! First I must tell you I admire your work. Your stories fascinate me and keep me thinking over about the characters and the events - it's never dull or unmotivated. Each story line has a couple of underlying layers. My question is - how do you determine the amount of romance in a story? In some stories there is much more romance than in the others ( and I looove it!). Thank you.
Josh Lanyon
Hi Alexia,
Thank you for the kind words.
So my first question is, by "romance" do you mean sex? Because some readers seem to conflate the two. :-D
All my stories contain a strong romantic subplot--that's something I really enjoy as a writer: studying relationship dynamics. Not just romantic relationships--a lot of my books deal with parental relationships, friendships, etc.--but I do find the ongoing question of what attracts us to others, why do some relationships work and others fail (regardless of how much we love or lust) to be very interesting.
Our relationships are a large part--maybe the most important part?--of what defines us, who we really are.
So all my stories have these romantic or relationship subplots, but mostly I prefer to write mysteries and thrillers, so the romance is usually going to be secondary or supplemental. Unless, of course, it's a series, in which case as the series progresses, the relationship/romance will take on a bigger and bigger role because there's just more room to explore.
That said, sometimes I'm just in the mood to write romance--and that's where most of the short stories come from. Perfect Day and Heart Trouble are good examples. Those are just little relationship stories -- they're almost always going to be short form because I have trouble believing intelligent, mature people would need 300 pages to work out their issues.. ;-D
Thank you for the kind words.
So my first question is, by "romance" do you mean sex? Because some readers seem to conflate the two. :-D
All my stories contain a strong romantic subplot--that's something I really enjoy as a writer: studying relationship dynamics. Not just romantic relationships--a lot of my books deal with parental relationships, friendships, etc.--but I do find the ongoing question of what attracts us to others, why do some relationships work and others fail (regardless of how much we love or lust) to be very interesting.
Our relationships are a large part--maybe the most important part?--of what defines us, who we really are.
So all my stories have these romantic or relationship subplots, but mostly I prefer to write mysteries and thrillers, so the romance is usually going to be secondary or supplemental. Unless, of course, it's a series, in which case as the series progresses, the relationship/romance will take on a bigger and bigger role because there's just more room to explore.
That said, sometimes I'm just in the mood to write romance--and that's where most of the short stories come from. Perfect Day and Heart Trouble are good examples. Those are just little relationship stories -- they're almost always going to be short form because I have trouble believing intelligent, mature people would need 300 pages to work out their issues.. ;-D
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