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The Perplexing Problem of Romance

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I spent much of the winter and spring writing a non-fiction project, Writing Romantic Fiction, which will be published in November by Hachette/Macmillan. I was romanceapproached to do the project some time ago, and agreed to do it because it seemed like it would be a good exercise for me, and because it’s good to have something to offer at workshops.

What I didn’t realize is how much soul-searching it would trigger, both about process and how it works and why and but also about the role of romance and romantic novels in my life and in the great flow of books. I love the genre, and writing about it helped me to understand why. Love is important. Not just romantic love, of course, but romantic love can be a great and powerful blessing. Falling in love is a magical, amazing feeling that I would want everyone in the world to experience. Finding a partner—a true helpmate and lover who sees you and understands you and is willing to travel the path of life with you—is wonderful.

And yet, romance novels continue to be the most disdained of all genres. Often not just disdained or dismissed, but reviled with an unbridled hatred that oozes and splutters.

Why is that? Serious question.

Genre novels such as mysteries or science fiction are often dismissed, but they are not often reviled the way romance novels are. Why is it so much more ridiculous or ignorant to read and write romance novels than something like Game of Thrones or the latest gory offering from Patricia Cornwell?

When I first began writing romances, it was the mid-eighties and women were still wearing power suits to make their way in an often hostile business world, afraid to show the slightest bit of femininity for fear of being seen as weak, so I understood that by writing romantic fiction, I’d have to accept that some derision would be part of what I would have to grapple with. I lived with it. I didn’t like it, especially when well-meaning friends and relatives and even sometimes readers would say, “So when are you going to put this talent of yours to work on something important?” As if I was slumming there in romance, working on my craft until I could do something good with it. [Read more…]

The Creative Personality

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In modern western society, we like to pretend we love and support creativity.  It brings us innovation and entertainment, after all.  Without highly creative people, we wouldnot have personal computers, iPhones, Facebook, or movies.  We wouldn’t have great paintings or books to read or light bulbs or cars or drugs to stamp out tuberculosis. Creativity […]

Default: Story

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I was recently in St. Louis and went to church with a long time friend.  As we were coming out, a mother, father and little boy were just ahead of us. The boy was about three, dressed nattily in a tie and crisp trousers, and over his mother’s shoulder, he was reaching for the church […]

B.I.C. (Bum in Chair)

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It is a cool, slightly overcast morning.  I’d like to be in my garden, planting more of the bedding plants I have waiting, puttering, pruning and plucking weeds.  It has been a very long wait for spring this year, and every fiber of my being is screaming to get outside, play in the dirt, create […]

Boundaries and Burnout

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I have been noticing lately that the word, “work ethic” has been coming up a lot among writers, all of whom seem to be pursuing the vast pots of wealth seemingly just on the other side of a completed manuscript.  No longer do you even need a contract to hit the big time—just look! Every […]

The 20 Minute Win

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The late great Ray Bradbury, one of my writing heroes, often said that a writer should begin writing before he lets the world in.  Before television, before conversations, before anything else happens. In my world—maybe yours, too– this has not often been a realistic possibility.  Although I have written about one practice I use, getting […]

Day After Day After Day—Showing Up At The Page No Matter What

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There is a point in every novel I write where I am utterly miserable.  The book is a big mess, full of TKs (“to come”) and notes to myself (“fix this in line with Chapter 22”), sloppy writing and dull characterization.  It feels like it will never, ever be finished, and even if it is, it […]

A Poem That Got Me Moving

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It’s 4:30 5:30 am and I am at my desk.  It’s dark, still, and there’s a bite in the air that tells me summer is drifting off to some other hemisphere. I have made a pot of tea, tucked under a cozy that was knitted for me.  There is a metal pitcher half-filled with milk, […]

The Fire of Obsession

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Obsession is a writer’s way.  We are hard-wired for it, to collect details and study a subject with great intensity, like a four year old who memorizes all the names of all the dinosaurs in all the ages and can recite their diets and sizes and probable colors for hours if you let him.  (And […]

The Art and Power Of Interviews

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Interviews, in person, on site, can be one of the most powerful tools in a fiction writer’s arsenal.  A novelist does not need to be an expert to appear to be one, to fool even an astute reader.  We just need really, really good details—and an interview can provide more details in an hour than […]

 

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