This blog will be two things [yikes, a manifesto!]: updates
on my own writing/books/promos; and discussions about writing tips and
techniques.
About me . . . my deliberately cute but accurate bio is
posted on Goodreads,
Amazon, and Smashwords, et al. But the
salient points: I’m female. I live in Toronto. I write romance.
What sort? Contemporary M/F romance about adults, for
adults. No YA, paranormal, or historical [I like those subgenres, but I don’t write them]. My sex
scenes are semi-graphic and largely euphemistic . . . but maybe one day I’ll
publish the erotica I’ve been, ahem, poking at for some time
now.
But I’m asked the oddest question all the time: Why
romance?
I’m sure those who ask mean it as a compliment – and being
greedy for compliments, I take it as such. But there's a baseline contempt for
the romance genre in the asking.
Romance ain’t easy. It’s hard to craft a convincing story of
two should-be-likeable people who have something that keeps them apart, and
make their HEA palatable and realistic.
So, in terms of writing skill: Why not romance?
Sure, we like to talk about the literary loftiness that’s
supposed to mark us as intelligent, educated creatures, but . . . well, think
of movie-ticket sales vs. awards. The awards are rarely given out to the
blockbusters. But the blockbusters are the ones we saw. And when awards season
rolls around, we all scramble to screen some of the nominated so we understand
the pointed references when watching the televised presentations.
Is romance mere guilty pleasure? In that case, many are
guilty: romance holds the largest segment-share of book sales. But what is that
to me? Why do I write/read romance?
I really didn’t know. I enjoy romance – but not all of it. I
rarely review romance novels – critique of one’s own genre can read churlishly
if not wholly positive. So I went in search of other readers’/writers’ opinions
. . . and got pleasantly sidetracked.
Thanks to the excellent site Romance Novels for Feminists – which in turn led me to this Salon.com post – I started thinking about it in a whole new way.
Isn’t it a bit sexist to assume it’s the lightweight female
reader who indulges? Or bored housewives? [I’ve never met a bored so-called
housewife - who can be bored when that busy?] And the average romance enthusiast
is a woman with post-secondary education, regardless of whether she works in
her home or out of it.
Isn’t it sexist to assume it’s only women who read/write it?
And isn’t it equally sexist to assume that all women love romance?
One such non-romance woman is one of my best friends: Kim –
beta reader and eye-roller extraordinaire. She rolled her eyes at me while
asking the Why romance? question when I begged her to read
my first novel. Because I didn't know, I said, “Just read the damn’ thing because
I asked you to!”
So she did. And the next one, too. I didn’t convert her to
the genre [I’ll put this down to unconquerable ignorance rather than my
writing]. But she respected me enough to respect my efforts – and give honest
critique. Which is what every writer wants from every reader, regardless of
genre. In a world where pretensions are high and romance the foremost genre,
isn’t respect overdue? [Some great stats courtesy of RWA: The Romance Genre and Reader Statistics.]
This post was originally published on my Goodreads blog.
"But I’m asked the oddest question all the time: Why romance?
ReplyDeleteI’m sure those who ask mean it as a compliment – and being greedy for compliments, I take it as such. But there's a baseline contempt for the romance genre in the asking."
Or maybe, just maybe, they figure you for the kind of author to write literary fiction, or hard-boiled noir. And when you say, "I write romance", their assumption shrinks back into them like a wilting orchid and they wail, "Why Romance?"
LOL! I assume so. But it ain't easy. Being cutting edge and avant-garde seems much freer from a distance, whereas with romance, there are certain expectations from fans of the genre. And I seek to meet them, in a way.
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