Why I Write.

Pat Davids here.
Someone asked me why I wanted to write romance novels?
Well, its because, once upon a time, I fell in love with a love story.
It was The Wolf and the Dove, an awesome historical romance by the great Kathleen E. Woodiwiss.




After I fell in love with romance novels, I started to read as many as I could. At one time, I could read five or six books a week. Yes, a week. Historicals were my favorite, but I read all kinds of romances. My husband loved to read almost as much as I did and we spent many happy hours browsing in the local book stores. He liked vampires and serial killers, not romances.

Then, a sad thing happened. I began to notice that not all books were created equal. I don't remember the name of the book I was reading, but I remember tossing it aside in disgust and thinking. "That was a terrible ending. I'd never end a book that way."

After that, I began to notice that some characters said stupid things or did stupid things that didn't make sense. I began to grumble more about poor quality writing. I lost that easy suspension of disbelief that is so important in keeping a reader engaged in the story.

All my life, stories had formed in my head and I thought I would write a book when I retired from nursing. Suddenly, I didn't want to wait. I wanted to tell a story that a reader couldn't put down. I began to think that I could write a better story and make a fortune doing it.



Right!

With an inflated sense of talent and zero knowledge of the business, I set out to write a novel. A historical novel set in Canada in the 1880s. Thankfully, it was never finished and will never see the light of day. I actually had a scene in the female grizzly bear's POV. (FYI, it wasn't really a romance.)




Along the way of my writing journey, I joined WARA. I learned what POV was, I learned what pacing was, I learned what publishers were looking for and that it wasn't one of my stories. I learned about rejections. Lots of them. I learned to revise and follow the market trends and I listened to other published authors.

I discovered that my voice fit the inspirational market, a place I wouldn't have looked to become published if not for a speaker I heard at one of our WARA meetings.

I might have fallen in love with romance novels when I was a reader, but WARA made me the writer I am today.

What are some of the things WARA or research has taught you about the craft of writing?

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pat, it looks like you've managed your creative path rather well. It is interesting how they meander and the different stuff in the forest as our paths go forward.
I wouldn't be a writer without WARA. I certainly wouldn't be as sane either.