Romance and its authors have garnered lots of publicity recently, especially in light of Laurie Kahn’s recent (and excellent) documentary, Love Between The Covers. Numerous articles are swirling around the internet, refuting many of the myths about romance novels and the people who write them. Here’s just a sampling:
I love that people are challenging the notion that romance is lesser, that romance writing is simplistic, that romance is dismissible. Those of us within the community have long known those things are false, of course.
The same can be said of indie publishing: its image is transforming from consisting of only poorly written, barely edited trash thrown up on the internet, to being a viable alternative to traditional publishing, featuring numerous talented, cutting edge authors. Many indie romance authors have become certified rock stars in the genre, including Courtney Milan, Bella Andre, Katy Regnery . . . I could name many more.
But as a newbie indie romance author, I’m suddenly realizing what an uphill battle I have to get people to take me seriously: not fellow romance authors, perhaps (although of course I need to prove myself to them, as well), but friends, acquaintances, and anybody not tuned in to the romance and indie communities.
I know this, because I’ve been talking–online and in person–about my debut novel, A Man of Character, which hits the market May 26th. People are excited for me, and I’m so grateful for that. But several times, after friends and acquaintances asked me what I’m writing and/or who’s publishing it, their expressions changed, their faces fell or took on a humoring expression, when I replied, “romance, and I’m indie publishing.”
Writing romance is dubious enough, apparently–add indie to it, and you’re really not welcome at the table.
I could be misreading their reactions. I could be projecting my own self-doubts and fears as this book goes public. Yes, I’m nervous. Yes, I realize there will be people who don’t like my book. Yes, I’m sure I can (and will) improve my writing as I continue down this career path. And that’s OK. Because that’s what it is to me: a career path.
Don’t hand me that black sheep fleece, because I won’t wear it.
I am a writer. I write romance, and I love it. I’m an indie author, and proud of it.
Thank to you everyone who’s supporting me, encouraging me, and cheering me on. Thank you to my critique group, to my beta readers, and to my editor, Tessa Shapcott: all of you helped shape A Man of Character into what it is–a book I’m thrilled to claim as my own. Thank you to my fellow romance authors, an amazingly welcoming group of women (and men) willing to provide guidance, advice, and valuable insider information to newbies following in their footsteps. .
And thank you to everyone who’s purchased A Man of Character, or will purchase it–your willingness to take a chance on a debut author means the world to me.
For the second year in a row, I was privileged to attend the Love Fest romance panels at the Virginia Festival of the Book (this year extended to two days, instead of just one – huzzah!).
Spending time in the company of romance authors and their fans is a hoot, y’all. Pretty much every author I’ve encountered has been delightful in person, and many of them have zany, witty, wildly entertaining personalities, as well. I love the romance community.
Day 1 of the VA Love fest was composed of three panels:
Bless Her Heart: Why We Love Quirky Southern Characters in Romance Fiction
Pamela Morsi, Terri Osburn, and Kieran Kramer
Pamela Morsi, Terri Osburn and Kieran Kramer discussed writing those quirky Southern characters we all love. I tweeted from the event (as my form of taking notes). One of my favorite tidbits was this one from Pamela Morsi: “If you’re writing fiction, you’re always writing in a small town, even if your story is set in London.”
They Lived Happily Enough for Now: Challenges in Writing Modern Fiction
L to R: Kimberly Kincaid, Tracey Livesay, Carey Heywood, Delancey Stewart
In the second panel of the day, panelists Kimberly Kincaid, Tracey Livesay, and Carey Heywood affirmed that contemporary romance plots often look to internal rather than external conflicts, because there are fewer external barriers now. Kimberly Kincaid reminded us that great conflict starts with great characters – and that flawed characters are the best characters, as long as there’s a reason for the flaws.
Wicked, Witchy, & Wonderful: Strong Heroines in Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy
L to R: Melissa Marr, Mary Behre, Jaye Wells, moderator Caryn Moya Block
Panelists Melissa Marr, Mary Behre, and Jaye Wells discussed kick-ass heroines during the final Saturday LoveFest panel, as well as gender(ed) issues often encountered in romance. Melissa Marr affirmed that she writes strong heroines to show boys and girls that girls are cool. Jaye Wells says she uses magic in her books as a metaphor for power, as a useful way of showing women that they have power, and helping them determine how to use it.
Day Two likewise had three panels:
LoveFest Workshop: “Screaming To Be Ignored” — Capturing the Reader’s Attention
L to R: Moderator Kimberly Kincaid, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Terri Osburn, Mary Jo Putney, Joanna Bourne, Mary Burton
Day Two of the VA Love Fest moved from downtown Charlottesville to Barnes & Noble, where we gathered to hear writers’ reactions to submitted queries and/or sample pages. Joanna Bourne succinctly summed up what does and does not belong in a query (and reminded us that the best and simplest dialog tag really is “said”.). Other panelists included Rachel Kramer Bussel, Terri Osburn, Mary Jo Putney, and Mary Burton.
LoveFest Workshop: Q&A About the Romance Biz After Publishing
L to R: Avery Flynn, Sabrina Jeffries, Mary Jo Putney, Mollie Cox Bryan, Mary Burton
Next up, published authors Avery Flynn, Sabrina Jeffries, Mary Jo Putney, Mollie Cox Bryan, and Mary Burton talked about changes on the publishing front, conceding that digital books have driven word counts down, and reflecting on whether the pressure to publish quickly is driving down quality, as well. Mary Jo Putney reminded us to always put the story first: “Do not sacrifice quality for quantity, for readers won’t buy your next book.” When asked whether they would go the traditional or indie route were they newbie authors starting out today, most said they would follow the hybrid model of doing both.
LoveFest Book Signing: Meet & Greet Romance Authors
With Pamela Morsi!
We capped off the day with a delightful “Meet & Greet” session. I got my picture with Ms. Jeffries for the second year in a row (wahoo!), and also with the fabulous Pamela Morsi, and chatted with many more authors.
I recently had the privilege of attending the advance screening of Laurie Kahn’s Love Between The Covers documentary (which chronicles the romance community), as well as the day-long What Is Love?: Romance Fiction in the Digital Age conference. Both were sponsored by the Library of Congress and the Popular Romance Project. Both were free. Both were absolutely fantastic.
As a writer working toward publication, nothing feels more encouraging, more energizing, more inspiring, than sitting in a room full of people who are as enthusiastic about romance as I am – if not more so.
The Q&A panel at the screening of the documentary, Love Between the Covers. L to R: Laurie Kahn, William Anderson, Elizabeth Essex, Joanne Lockyer, Beverly Jenkins, Len Barot/Radclyffe, Eloisa James, and Kim Castillo
The documentary was amazing – I learned so much, and just delighted in seeing the community, authors, and books I love so well-represented on the screen. A Q&A with director Laurie Kahn and a number of the film’s featured personalities, including Eloisa James, Beverly Jenkins (who is a HOOT, y’all), Radclyffe, Elizabeth Essex, Joann Lockyer, and Kim Castillo followed the screening. The film was warmly received, and listening to the speakers afterward, fantastic. (Yes, I’m full of adjectives, but really, I cannot describe how immensely enjoyable this all was.) Please consider donating to the film; it needs more money for final production, so that it can be shared with the world.
The day-long conference featured four panels focusing on different questions/issues facing the romance community. Each panel had five to six commentators. The caliber of the conversation, both from the intelligent, erudite, and often hilarious commentators, as well as the insightful questions posed by the audience, was top-notch.
I note here my own limited take-away observations from the four panels. Luckily, each panel was filmed and will be available at the Library of Congress. I, like many others, tweeted salient, informational, or humorous (or all three!) points throughout the day under the hashtag #PopRom. Kiersten Krum storified these tweets (all 1100+ of them!), and you may find them here.
1st Panel Members, L to R: Susan Ostrov Weisser, Eric Selinger, Nicole Peeler, Beverly Jenkins, Radclyffe
There are perhaps three basic romance canons: the historical canon, the academic/literary canon, and the reader’s canon.
Gay/lesbian romance and African-American romance are relative newcomers.
Eloisa James posited “Perhaps there is no canon,” that romance changes very fast and reflects the cultural moment in which it’s written.
The HEA (Happily Ever After) is the defining aspect of romance. Beverly Jenkins said, “If you’re going to kill somebody at the end, get out of our category.”
Women’s sexual empowerment is a key aspect of romance.
Modern depictions of love do NOT reflect thousands-of-years old archetypes, as the understanding of romantic love today is a recent construction, stemming from the end of the 19th century.
Words are not transhistoric, so can we use modern terminology to address the past?
The 12th century marked the beginning of the idea that love makes one stronger, not weaker, and is seen as a pushback against the church, especially since many love stories of the period were written in the vernacular.
People look to assuage anxieties and needs through different kinds of novels; for many, it’s romance.
We have to be aware of how race/class/gender affect sexual expression and culture.
3rd Panel Members, L to R: Sarah Wendell, Candy Lyons, Anne Jamison, Brenda Jackson, Robyn Carr, Kim Castillo
24% of all e-book sales are romance sales; romance readers are voracious readers.
Readers are transforming publishing, and digital publishing has given us this power.
The RWA was the first professional organization to accept indie publishing.
Women’s genres shape more of current culture than any other media.
Three Digital Elements to watch: DIY media, social media, visual/multimedia.
Discoverability – This is becoming harder with the deluge of books; the key is to write more books, write more books, write more books.
You need to know who/where your readers are, and what they want.
New technologies are changing the way stories are told.
I attended this conference with my best friend, fellow writer Annika Keswick, so the nerves I might have had if I had attended solo were gone. But I needn’t have worried; at the documentary screening, we met several other women and struck up immediate conversations, even walking back to the metro with a fellow romance junkie, sharing stories along the way. The next morning at the conference, after choosing seats near the front (I wanted to see and hear well, and gawk at the romance celebrities, people), we met Regency author Elizabeth Johns, whom I learned also utilizes the enormously talented Tessa Shapcott for editing purposes. Ms. Johns also introduced me to Julie Cupp of Formatting Fairies, and offered other helpful advice regarding indie publishing. “A lot of people helped me,” she said as a reason behind her friendly, pay-it-forward attitude, an attitude discussed in the panels later on as a rather unique hallmark of the romance community.
At lunch, my friend Annika and I scoured the cafeteria for an empty table. No luck. We asked to sit with a woman who was on her own, and again, immediately struck up a friendly conversation, discovering much in common and talking as if we’d known each other longer than a few minutes. Turns out we’d found Kathryn Barrett, a contemporary romance author. She, Annika, and I continued discussing the joys and challenges of writing as we briefly visited the painting of Romance and saw the Great Reading Room of the Library of Congress. When we returned to the meeting room for the second half of the day, we discovered she’d been sitting right behind us!
The ever-charming historical romance author Eloisa James and me.
I also managed to work up the courage to ask Eloisa James for a photo with me. She was nothing but gracious, folks, a warm and welcoming lady who spoke so insightfully on many of the topics of the day (not that I was surprised). Spoke to the room, I mean, not to me – I was too star-struck to do more than grin like an idiot.
All in all, it was a spectacular day, chock full of great discussions, useful information, and wonderful people. Thank you so much to the Library of Congress and to the Popular Romance Project for putting on this program and hosting us all. Well done, and thank you to all who helped put on this marvelous production.
The Historical Romance Network is inviting one and all to Fall Back In Time today with historical romance by posting a selfie with a historical title on various social media outlets.
I’m all for that, so here I am with one of my favorites from my most beloved romance author of all time, the fabulous LaVyrle Spencer!
I started reading romance when I was ten years old (sorry, mom). Our local library sent a bookmobile down to the elementary school near us once a week, and one my favorite activities was browsing the kids’ books to find new reads. I quickly exhausted the selection, however–what was a bored bookworm to do?
I turned around. To the adult section. Most of the titles didn’t interest me, but I found one book that had a gorgeous woman on it clad in a beautifully flowing emerald-green dress. My eyes soaked it in, and when I flipped it over to read something on the back about a pirate, I was hooked. I devoured that book in a day. It was my first romance. Sadly, I can’t remember the title or author, but I do remember it sparked a life-long love with the romance genre.
After reading through the small bookmobile romance collection, I started saving my allowance to buy romances at the local Waldenbooks in the mall. I think the first title I ever bought was by Phoebe Conn – but again, I don’t remember much else besides loving the book (oh, the many curses of a terrible long-term memory. Stupid brain.). Other romances quickly followed, whether borrowed or purchased: love stories by Constance O’Banyon, Constance O’Day Flannery (who introduced me to my beloved time-travel romances; man, I soaked those up!), Johanna Lindsey, Catherine Coulter.
I found “older” romances and read Bertrice Small, Shirlee Busbee, Kathleen Woodiwiss. I couldn’t get enough, even as my peers and family mocked me for my genre of choice. “When I grow up,” I declared, “I’m going to write romances!” I was trying to legitimize my obsession in some ways through such a statement, but in the back of my mind the idea was always there: write, write, write.
In the late 80s I discovered one of my all-time favorites: LaVyrle Spencer. I LOVED (and still love) her books. I’d read an entire one in an afternoon. I read them over and over again. I couldn’t get enough. To her I added other new author loves, like Jude Devereaux (whose Knight in Shining Armor remains in my Top Five), Kristin Hannah, Elaine Coffman, Pamela Morsi, Dorothy Garlock. I hope I’m keeping the time frame right – forgive me if I’m off by five or so years.
I even bought romances in German when I lived in German in 1989. I have many of Johanna Lindsey’s books auf Deutsch, and even a LaVyrle Spencer one! And yes, I read them, too.
My German collection.
As I headed off to college, I took new favorites with me. Christina Dodd (maybe she was late 90s – again, faulty memory), Jane Feather, Susan Johnson, Laura Kinsale, Betina Krahn, Lisa Kleypas. Ah, Ms. Kleypas. I bought her debut novel. I was stunned to see we were around the same age. That again fueled the belief, the hope, that if she could write romance, so could I. Then I stumbled on to Lynn Kurland. Ah. Lynn Kurland. Another time-travel romance writer who wrote my favorite romance of all time, Stardust of Yesterday.
By this time, I was in graduate school. The goal was to obtain that doctorate in medieval history and land a professorship somewhere. Writing novels seemed so far removed from a viable choice that I didn’t think about it anymore. My novel collection dwindled, as well–after one particular ribbing from my family I boxed up all the books I had and donated them to the library. Score for the library, but oh, how I wish I still had them.
I did the same thing again in the early 2000s; I had gotten married and was now the mother to a young son, and somehow stopped reading romance. I mean completely stopped. Part of me, I think, felt as if a married mother shouldn’t be reading such books (not that my husband has ever cared). Off to the library they went, and I spent the early 2000s reading…I don’t know what. (Probably People magazine in five-minute increments in the bathroom while the toddlers banged on the door, or played on the floor.)
That is, until I stumbled across Julia Quinn‘s The Duke and I. And the love affair flamed anew, fast and furiously. I consumed her Bridgerton series as quickly as I could, then discovered Jo Goodman‘s Compass Club quartet, which was delicious. Next followed works by Eloisa James and Sabrina Jeffries–if you haven’t read them, you are missing out! Not only was I back in love with romance, but I’d found a whole new set of authors and a time period which enchanted me completely. In the past (and still some today) I read lots of medieval romances, American west romances (gotta love those sheriff and schoolmarm ones), some set in Russia, some in Europe. I loved them. I still do. But it’s the Regency which feeds my fantasies now, so most of the books I’m seeking out are set in that era.
My “keeper” shelf.
New discoveries are enriching my romance novel experiences, as well. I’ve fallen in love with Katy Regnery and her emotionally evocative yet simple writing style (even though she doesn’t write Regency!), and Sarah MacLean‘s Nine Rules to Break While Romancing a Rake has leapt into my Top Ten, I’m sure. I’ve a number of Tessa Dare and Erin Knightley books in my To Read pile, and I’m looking forward to them.
In truth, my To Read pile must number at least 100 books, if not more – and that’s not including the titles I’ve downloaded to my Kindle. Will I ever read them all? I don’t know, but it’s the kind of quandary I love to have.
So there’s my recounting of the authors who’ve left indelible marks on my aging brain through the characters and stories they’ve brought to life. I’ve probably missed at least a few.
Now I’d love to hear from YOU. Who are your Can’t Miss authors, whether recent or classic?
