The Reasons Why you wrote your book or books discussion
Why I write romances
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I don't write what I consider "romance novels" but they always have some romance in them. Life, people, and action are my genre and romance has to be included. I don't do the "rip off their dress" type, though. I've read them, I admit, but they all seemed so similar quickly; maybe yours are different.
Will,Almost nobody writes "rip off their dress" novels and calls them Romance.
All cocker spaniels are dogs but not all dogs are cocker spaniels.
By the same analysis the Hot Historicals of the 1970's-1980's were shelved as Romance but that doesn't make every Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, Traditional Regency Romance, Western Romance, Science Fiction Romance, or Shapeshifter Romance a "bodice ripper."
:-)
Amen! Romances today are as good or better than any other genre of popular fiction. The only stipulation is that the plot focus on the developing relationship between two people and have a happy of satisfying ending. When I want downers I just flip on the news. Otherwise I look to be uplifted, touched and entertained during my limited reading time. Todays heros are believable models of manhood with all the strengths and foibles. The women are modern, self sufficient people living their lives and prospering without a man, thank you very much. Of course when two kindred souls meet, life becomes a challenge with all the problems and enriching benefits that can provide. Even the historical heroines have more backbone than in Romance days gone by. Perhaps Fabios retirement from cover modeling was a metaphor for the retirement of the male who 'saves' his heroine. About bloody time!
It is the smart men who are discovering that romance novels have just as kick ass plots are just as fast paced and even sexier than their brother genres. Lots of great ideas for men inside the pages as well. You want to see what makes a woman tick/what turns her on? Read a romance. You're in for one helluva roller coaster ride!
Regards,
Christine London
www.christinelondon.com
Rowena, I guess the dozen or so romance novels I read were the exception; my apologies. [treading on thin ice, I know, but...) In my experience, women say they want romance, and love to read about romance, but are not sure what it really is in real life, thus they retreat to fictional romance. Any thoughts?
Will,I love treading on thin ice.... but only on paper.
You do have a point. I cannot see myself in real life going out of my way to court the affections of a guy who spends half his life as a big dog. I'd probably be scared witless of a chap who turned green and split his trousers, not to mention his shirt, every time he got angry.
Pirates, vampires, and knights in armor would probably have bad teeth, bad breath, and killer body odor, although my friend Diana Groe (aka Emily Bryan) tells me that Vikings always had clean underwear (well... relatively often) and their good personal hygiene was considered an unfair tactic by their unwashed male rivals.
So, yes, a lot of Romance is fantasy, and a modern chap shouldn't necessarily read Romance novels as a reliable guide to a successful love life, any more than an alien should watch a Sean Connery or Roger Moore era James Bond movie for tips on seduction.
:-)
However, I dare say there are threads of truth.
Romance heroes are usually very good indeed at whatever it is they do; (competence rules!); they almost always have a goal, a purpose; they are usually witty, intelligent, smart; they have a code of conduct; they may be wickedly snarky but they don't physically abuse people smaller or weaker than themselves...
Which brings us back to why Romance heroes these days don't rip a lady's dress off (unless she has explicitly said that she wants him to do so.)
:-)
"...they are usually witty, intelligent, smart; they have a code of conduct;...." That explains my failures! I think of myself as a romantic, and (as I mentioned) include it in m novels and most stories, but when I try to read what others consider "romance novels" I feel like it's so lame. That must say more about me than the novels, huh?
I wrote that women want to read about it but don't really know what they want in real life. I could say the same about action, adventure, heroes and warriors; it's what we don't have that we look for in books...not necessarily a bad thing.
Hello Everyone,I just sent friend-requests to Viviane, Will, Rowena, and Christine. Tara, a very nice person, is my friend.
I read many romance stories when I was a teenager. I read several as a grownup - my favorite is The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen Woodiwiss.
I thought "romantic" stories refer to love stories until I read Ayn Rand's The Romantic Manifesto.
[Excerpt from the Happy & Brainy group - For Fiction Writers:
Broad categories of art (condensed from Ayn Rand's The Romantic Manifesto):
Romanticism recognizes the existence of man’s volition (of choice, standards, values). Naturalism denies it.]
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My novel, Reason Reigns (RR), has love stories. My two sisters and our brother reviewed RR after they read the manuscript; only our brother, who usually reads action & detective novels, commented about "love". He loves the love stories in RR! His review:
"Wonderful. Exciting and absorbing. A potent force that impels the reader to finish the story in one reading. Reason Reigns portrays knowledge and the youth as vital to a culture. Most of all: love and reason reign."
Viv