Tag Archives: Romance

… what the heart wants. Right? As a kid, fairy tales were the reading fare. You know – Rapunzel (prince saves girl from evil witch and they live happily ever after), Sleeping Beauty (prince saves girl from evil witch and they live happily ever after), Snow White (prince saves girl from evil witch and they live happily ever after), Cinderella (prince saves girl from evil witch and they live happily ever after). The list goes on. And as a kid, I thought that was the height of romance.

So, when I hit my teen years, I had a firm foundation of romantic beliefs built up. What did I read then? I read Harlequin Romances (boy and girl have struggles, fall in love and live happily ever after). My allowance money went to belonging to a Harlequin book club. I chose the Historical club. Every month I got a box of four to six novels that were some combination of medieval romances, western romances and regency romances. I’d start with my favorite, the medievals, move on to the westerns and then read the regencies.

I read them voraciously and then would have to wait weeks for the next box. Back then, I’m not sure if my library carried romance novels or not. I don’t remember looking. Libraries do now though, I’m happy to say. In between, I’d read fantasies, sci-fi, biographies and whatever else my parents had sitting around. But it was all on hold once I got my new box of romances.

I’m grateful for Harlequin romances for taking up where my fairy tales left off and providing me and millions of women with stories that give us what our hearts want. Not to mention being a major market for romance writers for decades. I still read Harlequin’s and my first dreams of writing included being published by them.

Fast forward thirty years and what do I read and write? Romance. Despite three failed marriages, and the occasional jaded cynic’s hat I wear, beats the heart of a die-hard romantic. My favorite movies are romantic. My favorite storylines in other genres are the romantic ones. Even when dramas and stories end on a sad or bad note, I always think – we just need one more chapter, one more scene and this can be fixed. They can have a happy-ever-after. I know it.

Is it naÃ¯ve? Maybe. But what I love about romance is that no matter the journey I go on – thrilling, sweet, harrowing, magical, tragic – I KNOW that at the end, everything will be okay, the couple will be together and all will be right in the world. Okay, it probably is really naÃ¯ve. I don’t care. I’m a happier person because of it.

This may be a really strange analogy, but bear with me. Romance is like a good natural disaster flick (2012, The Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon) which I also love. They’re hopeful. They end on a positive note. And I want that.

Natural Disaster:

Everything is going wrong (global temperature shift/giant asteroid is about to destroy earth)
We rise to the occasion and fix the problem (mankind joins together in global effort to save earth)
When all is said and done, regardless of the fact that maybe the majority of mankind has died horrifically, mankind triumphs and earth survives. YAY!

Romance:

Everything is going wrong (boy and girl have conflict – internal and external)
We rise to the occasion and fix the problem (boy and girl each overcome their own character flaws and whatever else is preventing their relationship)
When all is said and done, regardless of the problems encountered, love conquers all. YAY!

This is why I write romance. My heart wants happy endings. Now though, I want modern fairy-tales where boy and girl save themselves and each other from bad choices/tendencies and work to keep their happy-ever-after happy. That seems more realistic, less naÃ¯ve and still hopeful.

What do ya’ll think?

It’s More Than Just Sex

March 29, 2013

clancy

Clancy Metzger Craft & Skills The Writing Life Writing Tools 2 Comments

Woman Reading a Diary There was a time when romance was mostly identified as housewife porn and bodice-rippers. Those days are long gone, let me tell ya. Romance has evolved and is more popular than ever.

Nowadays, there are many sub-genre’s within romance. To name just a few:

contemporary
multicultural
suspense
action
religious – which could include Christian, Amish… maybe Druid (I saw a guest post that had a Druid book albeit not romance, but what the heck.)
the paranormal / fantasy range – which could include vampires, witchcraft, shape-shifters, time travel, mythology, futuristic and sci-fi
historical – which could be western, regency, medieval and specific to regions like Scotland, England, Ireland… even Rome and Greece are starting to make appearances
young adult
the clean / not-sexed up variety – not to say these aren’t fraught with chemistry and tension, but any sex would happen behind closed doors and the reader is not privy to it
erotic – which could include BDSM, all manner of gender pairings and threesomes plus (although, please do not confuse this with erotica… it’s a pet peeve and others can disagree with me, but IMHO Erotic Romance is about the romance and happens to have explicit sex scenes while Erotica is primarily about the sex. One is not better or worse, they just have a different focus.)

So, with all the sub-genre options out there, how does one know it’s a romance rather than a (Pick your genre) with romantic elements? Well, it’s not just sex. There are rules to follow and elements that can’t be ignored.

First, as L.L. Muir mentioned in her post on YA Romance, a romance needs to be at least 51% about the relationship and its journey to a Happy-Ever-After (HEA). The other stuff (like action, history, sex, etc..) is nice but in a romance, you should be able to take those elements out and still have your basic story of persons meet, persons fall for each other, persons have bumps along the way to HEA.

Last month, I talked about the characters and their traits that go into a romance: the hero, the heroine, the sidekick and the antagonist or villain. We need them, we need to love them, we need to root for them to get together.

We also need conflict. Internal and external. Our lovers need to have internal issues that keep them from having successful relationships, thus far. Issues they will resolve or come to grips with in order to be with each other. Maybe our hero has trust issues, maybe our heroine can’t commit. They’ll realize through their journey that the other is worth the effort to overcome these personal problems and they’ll be better people for having each other in their life.

The external conflict may be that they have diametrically opposed goals and one of them is going to have to change something in order to overcome this barrier. Think You’ve Got Mail. Meg Ryan wants her little bookstore to continue, but can’t in light of Tom Hank’s big box book store opening around the corner. This is a problem. How will they overcome it? That’s the journey. We have no doubt they will (cuz it’s a romance), we just don’t know how.

Which brings us to that HEA. Yes, we know the persons in question will end up together. We take great satisfaction in that. We crave that happy ending. What we also crave is the optimism that comes along with it. Sure, they struggle. Sure, they may even hate each other at some point, but love and hate are a very thin line apart. Sure, they have ups and downs and bumps and bruises. But – and it’s an important “but’ – we know when we turn that last page, they will be together, love will triumph and Happy-Ever-After is achievable.

I know that optimism, that hope, feeds me. I can relate. I can believe that despite my own dubious history of relationships that love can conquer all. I just haven’t found Mr. Right … yet J

Love is, after all, universal.

What did I neglect to mention? Or what about romance appeals to you?

YA Romance – Niche Within a Genre

March 27, 2013

fictorians

Craft & Skills Guest Posts The Writing Life 3 Comments

Guest Post by L.L. Muir

Romance is the most popular genre and is growing exponentially in YA audiences.

What must one be aware of when writing YA romance? I know there are a lot of writers who are moving into New Adult (college age) romance so they can have more sexually explicit material. I think if people are looking to appeal to the widest YA audience, they need to be careful. You want your readers to be able to carry your books around like their latest obsession, which will grow your audience, instead of hiding it in a backpack where new readers will never see it. I think that’s where BEAUTIFUL CREATURES got it right. Those books were show-off-gorgeous and a girl could recommend it to anyone and everyone, even her own mother. Now they have a huge adult readership as well. Of course it’s a fantastic read. Stunning, actually. Sometimes the writing’s so lovely I had to pause to absorb it all. That series was the impetus that pushed me to write SOMEWHERE OVER THE FREAKING RAINBOW.

How far do/can you delve into the romance? By definition, it has to be 51% about the relationship or it’s not technically a romance. Besides, young people’s lives revolve around who they like or what to wear to impress, or who they might be able to cling to so they don’t end up walking into the future alone. Alone is a horrible word. If you want to get a young reader to get emotionally involved with your characters, you have to write about the romance as much as you can without losing the plot.

What makes it work or not work? You know, I often go to the local bookstore and lurk in the YA section. When I see a few young people browsing, I tell them I’m a writer and I’m interested in what they would like to see more of in their YA romances. EVERY girl will tell you she wants to see more kissing. When I was a teenager, my life revolved around the next kiss. What can I say? So I will add kissing whenever it’s believable. My characters never complain.

What should a writer do or avoid? Don’t dumb it down. Give your readers a lot of credit. You don’t have to spell everything out for them. Chances are, they’re just as clever as you are. If you write for you, you’ll be writing for them.

What is it about the character, setting, writing style, tropes, etc that readers expect? Honesty, plain and simple. You have to write straight from your hip, and your characters have to be believable. You really cannot bullshit these people and earn their love. Your paranormal worlds have to be so well constructed that they WANT to believe it’s all true. They want to suspend their disbelief and dive in. If they see wires and last minute miracles to wrap up your plots and save your hero’s ass, they’ll never forgive you. It’s just like adult romance. Let your heroes do something heroic. Let your heroines get themselves out of trouble. Give your readers a character whose skin they’d like to wear, if only for a few hours.

***

L.L. Muir lives in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains and writes fiction between bowls of cereal. You can find out more about L.L. Muir here: http://llmuir.weebly.com/

Somewhere Over the Freaking Rainbow

Jamison is crushing on the new girl next door. Bad news-the neighbors are Somerled cult-members killing off their own. Worse news-she’s next in line for sacrifice. Jamison will have to rise above the coward he thinks he is to get to the bottom of it all.

Something is terribly wrong with Skye. She’s experiencing emotions like the mortal teenager she’s pretending to be. When she finally asks the right questions, she finds answers that will rock the Somerled world…

…and none of her options include the boy who has stolen the heart she was never meant to have.

Calling all Alpha Males”¦Romantic Character Needed

February 13, 2013

clancy

Character Clancy Metzger 2 Comments

In romance, we have fairly specific types of characters running through our pages: The hero (probably alpha, could be beta), the heroine, the best friend or side-kick, and perhaps a villain or antagonist.

Let’s look at these characters in terms of romance because romance is almost always a character-driven tale of ups, downs and eventual happy-ever-after (HEA) togetherness.

I’m not discounting any combination of relationship (male/male, female/female or anything else) because to my mind you’ll still have at least one person who is more or less portraying the hero and one the heroine, regardless of gender. So, with that disclaimer let’s start.

While many heroes are alpha males, there is also the beta hero. What’s the difference? For me – it comes down to ease of emotion and sensitivity.

Alphas are strong – they ooze confidence and strut arrogance. They’re Ã¼ber capable and may even be abrasive because they don’t really care if they offend anyone. They don’t worry about their emotions or being sensitive. They don’t need to. They’re too busy kicking-ass. If they were a doll (action-figure, for the guys), they’d be G.I. Joe. Guys want to be them and girls want (desperately) to be with them.

Beta heroes are more subtle. They’re often funny and charming. They may be able to kick ass, but they’d rather reason or humor their way out of any conflict. Mother’s love them. They bring flowers just because and remember anniversaries. They’re in touch with and willing to express their emotions. They can (and do) plan candle-light dinners and know what present will bring their lady-love joy. If they were a doll/action figure, they’d be Ken. Happy to hang out in Barbie’s dream house for romantic weekends of long talks and walks along the beach.

I love both types of heroes.

Our heroines need to be smart and capable. No one wants to read about a lead character who is too stupid to live (it’s a thing… really). We want our heroines to perhaps need rescued from a situation but not from their lives. They need to be able to stand on their own two feet just fine without our hero, so they don’t need the hero, but they want him.

The key is that our hero and heroine are both better people for having the other in their life. And as a reader, we need to love them both. If we don’t, we aren’t rooting for them to get together and find their HEA. Through this identification with and love for the characters, we are invested in their path to happiness, and that’s what a romance is all about – the emotional journey. Next month when we discuss genres, I’ll go into more depth on the whys and what-fors that make romance … romance. Right now, let’s continue on with the people inhabiting our stories.

We may also have the sidekick/best friend characters. Like other genres, these people can be a huge amount of fun because they don’t have to be heroic. They get to have a lot more flaws and we don’t have to love them. They can be cowardly, obnoxious, slightly stupid, clumsy… a whole host of things that our heroes do not get to be. They are perfect foils for our leads characters.

Our villains and antagonists in romance may or may not be actual bad guys/gals, they may just be the wrong guy/gal for our hero/ine. How far this character is willing to go to keep our leads in their lives determine where they fall on our villain – antagonist spectrum. Or they may be someone (a well-meaning, or not, relative?) who feels these two should not be together and will do whatever it takes to keep them apart. Often though, what is keeping our lovebirds from their HEA isn’t a who so much as a what – their flaws or internal conflicts. I’ll discuss more on this next month as well.

What traits do ya’ll think are necessary for our hero/ine to be identified with and loved?