Unusual Romance: The Curious Position of Writing the "Weird Stuff."

Warning: Long Post!!!

(Picture courtesy of the Feebleminds website at http://www.feeblemind-gif.com/)

For years now I've been WARA's resident oddball. I write romance, but I write it in subgenres and categories that aren't the usual. Off-the-wall stuff such as fantasy, futuristic and paranormal romance, erotic romance and fan fiction. Different, huh?

Nina's already talked about the tribulations of writing the "weird stuff" and about the roots and significance of fantasy, futuristic and paranormal fiction. The only thing I would add to her statements is that, for market considerations, an FF&P romance has to have an even balance between the romance and the other genre. All the elements of romance, hero, heroine, sexual tension, and most importantly the HEA, have to be present.

Many novels today are featuring FF&P elements with a strong female protagonist and a heavily romantic subplot. However, to be considered an FF&P romance the emphasis has to remain on the romance aspect of the story. The definition of what constitutes an FF&P romance is fluid, but for most houses the statement I made above is an accurate one.

Which leads me to address my other forms of weirdness. I write erotic romance. Erotic romance, along with chick-lit and women's fiction, garners about 2.9% of the sales in the romance market. Small, but significant.

Erotic romance, like FF&P, has a fluid definition that can vary from house to house. A basic definition of it is a love story imbued with a highly sexual content. There has to be an emphasis on the romance, and it has to be balance with the sexual content. Most erotic romances allow exploration of more controversial elements, such as multiple partners, role-playing, bondage/sadomasochism, etc.

To write erotic romance, sex scenes have to be plotted. They must move the character toward a goal, bring the character into conflict with opposing forces or strengthen or change a character's motivation. You can't just take a story and "sex it up." The sex has to be a part of the character's fictional journey. A good reference work for writing Erotic Romance is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Erotic Romance by Alison Kent. There is also a special interest chapter of The Romance Writer's of America for the erotic romance subgenre called Passionate Ink.

While I have yet to be professionally published in this subgenre, I am gaining experience with it in another fashion. The erotic romance writing I've done has been in the realm of "fan fiction." Fan fiction is writing in the story world of a movie, TV show, book, video game, etc. It cannot be done for profit, only for the love of the characters involved. Like writing everywhere, it runs the gamut from really bad to excellent.

Fan fiction is controversial, and many people do not consider it "real writing" because it is not original work. Some authors and creators don't like it because they feel it infringes on their creation. Despite efforts to curtail it, fan fiction continues and has grown in numbers over the years. Most authors now consider it to be a sincere form of flattery.

Fan fiction is a place where writers can test the waters. It allows a beginning writer to experiment with plot and characters without pressure. They can learn by using settings and characters that are familiar and comfortable. Its main goal is to tell an interesting story and to keep the characters as close to those of the original work as possible. The stories are posted on websites, and other fans of the work are encouraged to give feedback.

For me fan fiction is an opportunity to try out new techniques, like adding sexual elements to a familiar story, and to play. I use it to write about fictional people I've become fond of and to write without the strain of deadlines or editors. If you are interested in this type of writing, check out FanFiction.net at http://www.fanfiction.net/.

I've maundered on enough now. Aren't you all glad I went last? :-)!

Series--Category--Romance

Writing stories about “people” who live in my head isn’t new. I’ve been doing it since I was old enough to put words together. By the time I was nineteen, I was writing reams (literally) of pages about those people. It wasn’t until many years later, when my oldest daughter was in middle school, that I gave serious thought to writing. And I wanted to write for children, specifically middle readers and young adults. Life took a different turn not long after that when my daughter was diagnosed with depression, and writing went by the wayside. But it didn’t stay there. My best friend re-introduced me to romance, and after reading literally hundreds of romance novels, I thought it would be fun to try my hand at it.

It was more than fun. It was almost obsessive. But it took several years to learn the craft and the business, and I’m still learning, even after publishing six books with Harlequin/Silhouette and two more scheduled to be released, one in August this year and the other in January 2010. All of those books are “series” or “category” books.

What’s a series book?

According to RWA (Romance Writers of America),

“Series romances normally have a number on the spine, (ex. # 435 in the Harlequin Superromance or Silhouette Intimate Moments) and are released once a month.”

Series romance is often shorter, ranging from 50,000 to 75,000 words. At present, Harlequin/Silhouette is the only publisher to offer series romance and currently has sixteen different series lines, each with its own special “flavor”. The spectrum runs from Inspirational Romance to the more traditional to Paranormal Romance to the more erotic, so there’s something for every reader and especially every writer!

I truly enjoy writing for Harlequin American Romance, a part of the Home and Hearth theme from Harlequin Enterprises. It encompasses everything I hold dear, with the focus on home, family, community (especially small towns) and the very best of LOVE.

And isn’t love what it’s all about?

Why Romance?

I can’t count how many times I have heard comments or questions about why I read (and write) romance books. “Can’t you find anything of more value” or my favorite “couldn’t you find a good book to read?” It got worse when I was working on my Master’s Thesis in a private Christian College on Marketing and promoting Romance authors and the Romance book industry. The scholars I was surrounded by wanted me to do something that had more of a positive impact on society.

I could go on and on about gender bias, but I in truth that has little to do with anything. In truth it is more about lack of awareness. I could go on about the marketing numbers, and the average age and educational level of the romance reader (Women over 35 with at least a Bachelor’s degree) interestingly enough, in today’s struggling economy where people are tightening their belts and cutting extra’s, the romance book industry is still showing growth. Readership is increasing, to the point that even men are now picking up books by Authors like Nora Roberts and Christine Feehan. Even the Best seller lists are being taken over by Romance Authors (now almost 50% of the books listed are from the romance shelves) .

Romance books reach out to each of us, giving everyone something to look for, Mystery, Suspense, Action, even the closet Fantasy and Sci-Fi fanatics can find something they love. No matter where you turn, there is bad news.. War over seas, crime rates increasing, reports of abuse and crimes against women and children on the rise. Companies closing down, and people losing the roofs over their heads. Where else can you find a great escape, and be guaranteed that the end is going to be happy?

Grinning like a Blogger

Does anyone else secretly grin when they admit they are a blogger? Doesn’t it sound like we should be strapping on work boots, sporting red flannel beneath our denim overalls and hoisting axes over our shoulders while we head high into the timbers? Anyone know any good lumberjack songs?

Hmmm. Me either. I’ll have to ask my husband. Men know these things.

Okay. Just another weird observation. As you might have guessed, I have a lot of these. Most authors will admit to having voices in their heads. To a writer, this is a good thing. It means your characters are doing their appointed jobs and leading you down that long and winding path to the end of your manuscript. This is a normal, even welcoming experience. Needless to say, the voices that occupy my mind tend to sound like Lucy and Ethel, or Martin and Lewis. And on days when I’ve had too much caffeine, I have The Three Stooges performing in full regalia. I can only imagine what a cat scan of my brain would look like. (grin)

Romantic comedies have always relied on slapstick or physical comedy. Not cover to cover craziness but just enough hurled at your hero and heroine to get them into and out of a sticky situation. Good comedy is a mixture of subtle and the not-so-subtle because no matter what, you never want to make it easy for your characters. If you think about it, writing a scene is like building a house of cards. The comedic tension increases as the scene grows on the pages of your manuscript. And you, as the lucky writer, get to decide when to knock it down.

So romantic comedy writers rejoice. Sing your lumberjack songs. Build your house of cards. As long as our characters keep tap dancing in our heads, we'll keep slipping them banana peels.

Hugs,
Reese

PS:

I should have mentioned that if you are a writer, an aspiring writer or just curious about writing then WARA is a great place to be. Feel free to check us out at:

http://warawriters.com

Or come and visit at our next meeting on, May 3rd, at 4pm, Derby Recreation Center.

Ok, now I'm done! Thanks for stopping by.

Becky

Genre. Say what???

Hello friends, both old and new!

As a newbie in the writing world, words like “genre” were escorted by the panic fairies directly to the folder in my brain marked HELP! When I first connected with WARA, just five short months ago, I learned so many new things so fast that at times it was a little overwhelming. But, I always received a kind and informative answer, no matter how stupid I thought my questions were. Someone was, and is, always willing to help.

I grew from a complete greenhorn who only acquired the Internet after joining to: Being part of an email loop and website; writing a blog; entering the Right Hook contest; learning how to add the “creep factor” to my stories as well as the romantic sizzle and pop. Plus so many little details I thought my brain might actually explode at one point! Lucky for me it didn’t but it might have made an interesting story. Ummm, I’ll have to tuck that away in my idea file but how would I work it into a romance? Oops, bunny trail, I must get back to the program at hand.

Let’s see, I’m supposed to be talking about genres. I had to do a little research to make sure I didn’t catch “foot in mouth disease” and this is the result:

Genre: A particular type or kind of work such as art or literature which make it easy for others to recognize.

In other words, if you like Romance novels then you can skip over the science fiction genre and go straight for the books marked, Romance. Unless you like some love and kisses to go along with your (aha!) brain exploding science fiction, which is then called a sub-genre. (I think!) Do you feel educated now? Good, that’s one of the main ideas behind WARA; educating, supporting and tamping down the panic when a “newbie” has a meltdown over doing something new! You know, like blogging, but don’t tell them I told you!!
(Oh, never mind. After at least a dozen emails, I’m sure they figured it out!)

Happy Reading. Romance, of course!

Becky

Whew! Am I done yet?

Why Romance? (Penny Rader)

The romance genre has been my favorite since my pre-teens. It was my escape, my haven when I was a young mom and step-mom. When I decided to give writing a try, romance was the most logical choice for me.

Why do I read and write romance?

* The HEA (Happily Ever After)
* The emotion, the connection between the hero and heroine
* The love, the healing, the renewal, the hope, the redemption
* The empowerment of women
* To laugh
* To cry
* To laugh through my tears
* To lose myself in someone else’s world
* To see how other people work through the difficulties life throws their way.

Who are some of my favorite authors? Some of my favorite books?

* Morning Side of Dawn by Justine Davis
* Jackson Rule by Dinah McCall
* Annie and the Outlaw by Sharon Sala
* Miss Emmaline and the Archangel by Rachel Lee
* Diamonds and Dreams by Rebecca Paisley
* Season for Miracles by Marilyn Pappano
* Maggie Shayne’s "Texas Brand" series

I seem to be especially fond of characters who are wounded in some way, whether it’s emotional or physical. And women in jeopardy stories will have me on the edge of my seat or scrunched down against my pillows, flipping pages as quickly as I can. If the woman in jeopardy is pregnant or a mom and the hero loves the baby and/or kids as though they were his own, well, that puddle right there is me. (Not sure that last part came out the way I meant.)

Currently, my faves are the Virgin River series by Robyn Carr (I just love the characters and the town) and J.D. Robb’s In Death series. I know, the J.D. Robb books aren’t shelved in romance, but they’re written by Nora Roberts and I love watching the relationship between Eve Dallas and gorgeous Roarke grow and develop. I’ve kicked myself numerous times for waiting so long to read this series. It’s futuristic. I don’t usually read futuristic because I don’t usually “get it.” I definitely “get” these books. They’re set 50 or so years in the future and I have no problem figuring out what’s going on.

That’s a bit about what I like to read. Why do you read romance? Who are your favorite authors? Care to share any favorite titles?