Isn't It Romantic?

Light some candles, scatter some rose petals, and then sit down with a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. It's time for another blog chain and this time the topic centers around romance.

Specifically the questions posed by Sandra are:

Do you write romantic relationships in your books? If so, what do you do to show the attraction between your characters? What problems do your characters encounter? What qualities do you think make a romantic relationship work in fiction? If you wish, feel free to include examples of your favorite couples.

Wow. That is a lot of questions - so lets break this down so I don't miss any.

Do you write romantic relationships in your books?

My answer to the first question is easy. YES!!!! Of course, I do. I LOVE romance. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

Just so we're clear.

If so, what do you do to show the attraction between your characters?

Mostly they argue a lot before giving into a passionate kiss. Okay, not really, but kind of.

I mean, it's not:

HIM: I hate you.
HER: Not as much as I hate you.
Cue the swelling music as they kiss.

Clearly, there are no music cues in novels. Also, I like to believe that my dialogue is a bit more subtle.

No, seriously, I try to show that the characters are drawn to one another despite themselves. Even though there is every reason to be apart, they keep finding a way to come together.

What problems do your characters encounter?

Usually I like to find both internal and external reasons to keep my love interests apart. In the post before mine Carolyn touched on this as well.

For example, in my first novel, which was a contemporary romance, the external problem was that she worked for him. The internal problem was that he was distrusting after being burned before, and she always wanted to play it safe and not take chances.

What qualities do you think make a romantic relationship work in fiction?

I think tension is the key.

Although the "I hate you" scene I sketched out above is twenty different kinds of lame, even worse would be a scene where the characters were instead declaring their mutual love for one another. There is no conflict in that, unless one of them (or both, I suppose) is holding a knife behind his/her back.

If you wish, feel free to include examples of your favorite couples.

I do wish to include them.

So, okay, well besides the hero and heroine in every romance novel I've ever read... let me think.

-Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice

-Buffy and Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Clearly, not a novel, but a BRILLIANT relationship dynamic. If your familiar with the show all I have to say is, end of season 2. Amazing.)

-Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester

-Wall-E and Eve (They have been playing this on Starz since the past weekend, and I have never been so touched by robots in love.)

I know there are more that I am forgetting, but it is late and my brain is denying me access to crucial memory chambers where I have further information stored. Feel free to help me out in the comments by naming some of your favorite romantic couples, or just your thoughts on romance in literature.

And if you want to read more of this blog chain, check out Carolyn who was before me over at Archetype Writing or head on over to Mary's blog because she is up next!

Coming Out of the Genre Closet

It's time for another Querytracker blog chain, and this time I am ending the chain instead of beginning it - which means that you can find the other posters in this order: Archetype Writing begins by discussing a love of science fiction and fantasy, then over at Mindless Musings Elana talks about speculative fiction, next up HL Dyer gave an inside look into the process of figuring out where her own novel fits into the genre classification system, and finally over at Write On! Mary discussed the stigma that YA authors sometimes face.

Now it's my turn, and to finish out this fabulous chain I am going to build on Mary's discussion of genre bias - because while YA writers suffer this to a certain extent - I think that romance writers and readers definitely get the worst of it. How do I know? I know because I shared this bias. Although I have always been drawn to stories with romance and began reading romance novels in the 7th or 8th grade, I was always ashamed of them. I mean c'mon having a book a day reading habit is already not the coolest thing for a middle-schooler, but to on top of that to have a book with the half-naked hero and heroine locked together in a passionate embrace... well that is just social suicide.

However, I am now older, wiser, and most importantly long enough out of high school that I can look back on it and say, "well, that was a good character building exercise." I am now ready to come out of the romance closet. I like romance novels. Oh, hell I love them. Especially, Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Her books are like crack to me. Seriously, I own then and re-read them every few years or so. In fact, just this past Sunday I re-read This Heart of Mine and even though it is not one of my favorites (and again I had read it before) I could barely make myself put it down Sunday night and then read it almost all day Monday, until I finished it before dinnertime. Yeah, we had re-heated leftovers for dinner that night.

I like romance novels so much that I wrote one for my first novel, and right now I'm working on writing another!

Okay, yes, I am still not a fan of the super-lusty covers, preferring the new more cartoony style of recent years - but ya know what - if it looks like a good book I don't care if Fabio's face is leering at me from the cover - I'm gonna read it, and I'll do it in public too!






PS: I actually read all different types of books from every genre, and I think if everyone did this there would be no bias towards any genres at all, because a good book cuts across all categories. With that thought in mind I would challenge anyone reading this to step outside of their favorite reading genre the next time your at the library or bookstore and give something else a chance. A few suggestions to think about: If you think YA is just for little kids check out Australian John Marsden and his Tomorrow When the War Began series, if you think sci-fi and fantasy are just for geeks give Anne McCaffrey a try (I especially enjoy Pegasus in Flight and the entire Talent series, but she is best known for her Pern books), if you think non-fiction is dry and lacking in creativity then you need only read some David Sedaris (When You Are Engulfed in Flames is his latest) or John Krakauer (Try Into Thin Air) to see the error of your ways, and finally as I mentioned again my favorite romance author is Susan Elizabeth Phillips, so if you think romance is only for lonely cat-lovers, then maybe give one of her novels a try and see if it will change your mind.