Or romance woes part 2
Let me start by saying I love romance, both reading and writing it. When I started writing, I didn’t consider writing anything else. With as much sorrow, murder and general mayhem as there is in the world, I loved the idea of a book with a guaranteed happy ending. But lately for me (and for many others) the bloom on the rose has begun to wilt.
Recently a woman I know and respect greatly who writes both romance and mainstream said to me, “one thing about romance is that you can put all kinds of stuff in there that no one would buy in a regular story.” Although true, this statement encapsulated my recent disaffection with romance.
I could live a thousand years and be happy if I never saw another secret baby, marriage of (in)convenience or great misunderstanding that lasts an entire book when a single conversation will do. It’s the romance equivalent of the stubborn family that refuses to leave the possessed house after the demon screams, Get out.” You want to take these people and shake them until some reasonable human motivation and action kicks in. If these folks acted like normal people, the story would last about ten minutes.
I also admit, I see less of this sort of thing than before, but it irks me more. Sure, as I’ve said before, romance is fantasy. We want the hero to be strong and sexy, the heroine to be pretty and bright. They meet, are attracted, fall in love, all while some reasonable facsimile of real life unfolds around them. The end.
It is not the hackneyed plot elements that romance readers hunger for. It is the emotional intensity between a man and a woman that you don’t find in other sorts of novels, not even many books marketed as love stories. That’s the fantasy readers buy into, not the idea that any reasonable person would succomb to Old Aunt Hattie’s irrational posthumous demands without first trying to break the will.
Considering that romance is leaching readers (especially younger ones) to other genres such as women’s fiction, chick lit and the like, which do not bear the same stigma (or the same sense of unreality) that romance does, maybe it’s time we did away with some of the more contrived elements of the romance genre for good and focused more on great, emotionally charged stories and leave the cliches behind for good.
I couldn’t agree more with your blog. There seems to be a great deal of mediocrity everywhere you turn. It’s in our music, it’s been in television, and now it seems to be making it’s way into literature. I think this stems from blaxploitation taking different forms. In the 70s it hit the movie industry, through the 90s it hit rap music, and now it has touch our authors. The publishing companies seem to want to peddle street fiction with a slight mix of love, and that’s causing the product to become deluted. I too would like to read a simple, beautiful love story without the Bonnie & Clyde theme to it. I’m longing to see authors reach deep down for some creativity. I know extra marital affairs exist. I know there are some brothers on the down low, but let’s hear something different. Write about a man loving the hell out of his woman. Write stories that make it seem like you haven’t lived until you’ve loved someone. All of this gangsta mess is getting a little old.
I never bought into the really gooey stuff, but I believe marriages of convenience exist widely. Indeed, if we look at life with a more jaundiced eye, we might find that, in years past marriages of convenience were the most widespread. They also lasted longer than the love marriages, most of which are based upon that ephemeral something called physical attraction that passes for love. What I don’t like about romance is the fact that the writer is constrained by stipulations issued by someone who couldn’t write his or her way out of a peanut. Lovers don’t say please, sweetheart and darling during the sex act. It’s all nitty gritty. The woman orders the man to do what she wants and she says it with an urgent tone. The man does not tell her a bunch of sweet things until after it’s over, and the majority of love affairs do not end happily. The average persons may experience several before settling for that happily ever after. I’m not cynical, just realistic. I write both romances and mainstreams, but I have a hard time keeping the realism out of the romances. I just wrote a zex scene that blew my mind. What did I do? I forgot about that sweet syrupy stuff and wrote it like it is. i always do.
That was a very interesting insight, D. I’m a true romantic. I’ve been one since i read my first Johanna Lindsey novel when I was just 11 years old and i always believe inside of all of us are sexy heros and heroine not matter what the outside looks like, LOL. I think we are losing our focus on romance and although there is no new story to tell anymore, I still feel there will always be a better creative way to tell it. We as writers just have to find that way and do it well!
You know I think that’s what makes romance unique. It has a little for everybody. As much as you dislike those secret baby books. There are hundreds who love them.
My only complaint is, I want it be labeled as such. If I buy from a publisher and I know they print romance. I want to know what type of romance. If its paranormal or suspense, say it is. I get so many complaints saying, that wasn’t a romance. It was romance + something else.
I believe you lose readers that way. They pay their money expecting a romance and get something else.
LaShaunda – I’m blogging now check me out – http://lashaunda.blogspot.com/
Dee, interesting post…I’ve been reading romance since high school and I love the genre…especially when there’s a little suspense added in.
gwynne,
I’m not saying that marriages of convenience do not exist. I know of one, in fact, for the purpose of one party getting a green card. Unfortunately, he was the only one aware that was the sole purpose of the marriage. LOL
What I mean is that most folks do not marry someone at the drop of a hat without exploring other options. I have never met anyone (and never hope to meet anyone) who actually marries someone simply to get their family off their back about not being married. I don’t know anyone so desperate to have children that they hook up with the first person with the right gonads to sire offspring. Outside of a romance, these people would be poor pathetic candidates for the Jerry Springer show, not heroes and heroines of any sort. Here’s a tip: If you’d want to sic the men in the white coats on your next door neighbor if he/she behaved the way your characters do, that’s probably not a good thing.
My only complaint is, I want it be labeled as such. If I buy from a publisher and I know they print romance. I want to know what type of romance. If its paranormal or suspense, say it is. I get so many complaints saying, that wasn’t a romance. It was romance + something else.
I agree with you completely here, LaShaunda. That’s why am so distressed by the cover they wnat to give Body of Truth. I wouldn’t mind if i’d written some sweet, kissy-face romance, but BOT is a heavy-duty romantic suspense that sees several people maimed or murdered before the story is over. I know I’m going to get letter from readers complaining what they got wasn’t what they figured on. I don’t understand the logic of it, but nobody asked me.
As far as those plot contrivances go, all I can say is DIE, SECRET BABY, DIE!!