Is Romance a Four-Letter Word?

http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/880000288/post/40013804.html

Romance is Not a Four Letter Word
by Barbara Vey, at the Publishers Weekly site

She's got some excellent points. Romance is my preferred reading genre. And yes, I hear many people disparage it as unimportant, "light", non-significant. Oh, and "aimed only at women" - uh, that means over half the population, over 70% of the regular readers in the US. There's something wrong with literature aimed at women?

When someone tells me they don't read or don't like romances, I always ask them what romances they have read that caused them to dislike the genre. I think you can guess the most common response -- the person has never read a romance. Nope, they are just taking a snobbish attitude that they learned from others -- or unfortunately, from the media.

A related issue is "romance" as a genre. Ever had a non-romance reader concede they're willing to try it, and ask you for a recommendation? Well, that's impossible. There is no such thing as just a "romance" that epitomizes the genre or is the best. "Romance" is as generic a term as "literary fiction". If you really hope to suggest a book the potential reader might enjoy and that would give them a positive opinion on romance novels, you've got to ask what types of books they already like. Historical, contemporary, futuristic/scifi, paranormal? Light and amusing or dark and angsty? Do they want a book with deep emotions that will make them cry, or do they prefer something humorous and entertaining that will lift their spirits? Find out what best fits them, and recommend a romance novel of that type.

So those of us who love romance novels, be we readers or writers, need to proselytize in order to counteract the negative opinions of many people. If you see someone reading a book in public, chat them up -- well, if you can do so without coming across as a stalker, and if they don't indicate they really don't want to be interrupted in their reading. And talk to people browsing the bookstore! Ask them for a recommendation -- that leads to the opportunity for you to offer them one. Always have a good book (preferably a romance, of course) with you, that you can whip out and talk about. That's what purses, briefcases, and pockets are for -- carrying books.

I can't imagine not having a book with me at all times, just like I can't imagine not enjoying some type of romance novels.

Writing "The End"

I've been MIA on this blog for a week and a half because - I finally finished the story I was writing! Okay, it's a novella, so it's not like I've been working on it for the past year. More like two months off and on of writing and self-editing, showing it to critique partners. But, damn, it's such a rush to finish, type "The End" and say "I wrote a book!" It's the second one, but for some reason the feeling of accomplishment is even greater than the first time. I was actually dancing around the room in excitement, which seemed to traumatize my cats. (What, they were afraid I'd step on them?)

Maybe it's because I felt more connected to this story? It's fiction, but loosely based on an incident from my life. Once I started it, the ideas and words flowed the way they never have before, the emotion was a lot stronger -- and I think I was more eloquent in conveying it.

Do all writers feel this way when they complete a story? I don't know, I'd be interested in hearing. I know my critique partners vary in their reactions. One of them hates to finish a story, it actually seems to make her sad to have it done, no more following the lives of those characters.

And now the next step - getting brave enough to submit it.

No More Clean Plate Club For Me!

Did your mama raise you right? Right after "Clean your plate, there are children starving in Africa" came "Finish what you start." For me, and I think many readers, that also applies to books. I spent most of my life thinking that if I read page one of a story, I had to read all the way to the end. It would somehow be a crime or a sin to not finish the book.

No more! I had an epiphany. I do NOT have to finish every book I start. If it's bad, I'm allowed to stop wasting time on it. Now, it took a lot of effort to convince myself of this. There's that hope of "well, maybe it will improve if I read one more chapter". Or the "I'm not enjoying this, but I do want to know how it ends." Or "I paid $7.99 for this book, it would be a waste of my money if I don't read the whole thing."

1) I've been reading for many, many years. (It's rude to ask a lady her age.) I can't recall any book where the first couple pages or chapters really turned me off, but then the book got significantly better. If the author couldn't entrance me with the beginning, it's just not going to get better. Stop hoping and just stop reading.
2) So I'm not enjoying the writing or the plot, but I do have a compulsion to know what happens to these characters. That's what "skimming" is for! I've learned to flip through the pages looking for a particular reference or character name, and just read snatches to grasp the action. Or just jump right to the last chapter to find out how it ends. (However, I'm going to have to keep this under control - I certainly don't want to become one of those people who read the ending first!)
3) The money's already spent. It won't cost me any more or less based on how many pages I read. So why should I now waste something even more valuable and scarce than money -- my time? I've got a TBR mountain - it's unfair to those books to ignore them while I spend time with a mediocre book.

So I'm practicing. I stop after two or three chapters and actually ask myself "Am I enjoying this story? Is it worth my time?" Sometimes the book isn't so bad, it's just that I'm not in the mood for that type of story at the moment. I'll put it aside and maybe I'll come back to it another time. But if I'm truly not intrigued by the story, or the writing style is driving me crazy -- it's time to quit, to put this book in the "take to the used bookstore" bag, and move on to a much better read.

How many books have you not finished recently? And what made you quit? Or are you still the "Clean your plate" type?

Welcome to my world

If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem...

I resisted getting into the blogging trend. There are many things about it I dislike. It eats up time when I could be reading books or writing my own stories. And so many blogs are either merely an excuse for the blogger's ego, or are really negative: out-and-out attempts to create controversy or push some nasty agenda or spread unpleasant gossip.

Then I started visualizing the type of blog I wanted to read. And realized that I should be part of the solution by creating a blog like that. A blog for authors and for readers, where we discuss publishing industry news, provide information to each other, and talk about the books we read. But always in a constructive manner - no flaming, no attempts to discredit or defame any writer or publisher, no revealing info about anyone's personal life. The focus is on the books and the industry. Yeah, a book review can be unflattering - if I don't like it, I'm going to say so. But in context of what didn't work for me in the story, and always about the story, not about the author's personal life. And if there are troubling rumors about a publisher, sharing those with other authors can help us all - but only as long as the information is constructive and is not clearly overblown or an attempt to discredit someone or some company.

So if you are looking for nasty dirt, or want to have arguments, or want to learn intimate details about someone's life, this is not the place for you. But if you want to analyze books - what worked, what didn't - or discuss writing problems and styles or philosophize about the publishing world, please join me in scribbling.