or Musings on Romance
The first misconception I have found about the romance genre is that people think it's all about sex, purple prose, and heaving bodices. Which can be a satifying read for some, but I choose to leave those bodice rippers on the rack in the store for others. So if romance isn't about those things, what is it? Well, truth be told, at the center it is just like any other novel - conflict. In romance there are usually three different types - external, internal, or a mix of both.
External Conflict - She's Jewish, He's a nazi (Summer of My German Soldier)
Internal Conflict - "Your character’s internal conflict should exist with or without the hero or heroine. That is to say if your hero’s internal conflict is that he believes all people expect the worst of him, then this is his internal conflict even if he never meets the heroine. What makes the heroine integral to his conflict is that she’s the reason he decides to change and overcome this belief."
SUBTLETY
I have probably said this a hundred times before, but refrain from making everything known. Keep some things hidden. Subtlety works especially in romance.
A PRIORI
No matter what you think, your characters are not a blank slate, they will always bring something into the story. They will bring their issues, predujidices. Remember that, especially involving romance. In my string of romantic shorts beginning with Mercy, my male protagonist is extremely fearful of losing people, so he overreacts when his girlfriend doens't come home. Things like that are good, and juicy, and cause some good ol' tension.
BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP
In most bodice rippers I have read, the woman is always smart and beautiful, and the man is always devilishly handsome. GACK! Stop perpetuating the steroetype. Romance doesn't have to be between two heavenly beautiful people. Look at your own experiences and draw from that.
STEREOTYPICALLY SPEAKING
Speaking of stereotypes, there is one I'd dearly like to get rid of. This idea in many, (I said many, but not all), that a woman needs a man to be fufilled. Another one, I like to bash in, is this idea that most heroine's in romance take that a. they have met the love of their life, b. true love. It seems in countless books I read, true love rears it's head. You don't have to have true love to have romance.
STICK-NOTE: Don't use purple prose, hokey euphemisms, words or phrases that make you, the writer, uncomfortable. Don't let your characters get swept away like they're riding on a cloud of your purple prose.
HUMOR
Use it. For example:
he felt his breath against her lips and
she waited with her heart beating in her throat as his mouth moved closer and
closer until...
He sneezed.
She jumped back and blinked in disbelief. Her mouth dropped open
and all she could do was gape. He looked completely stunned and
mortified. He couldn't believe it, he sneezed! He actually, honest to
goodness, in the middle of a romantic moment, sneezed on the poor girl!
"This will give her a favorable impression of you as a lover, you
great fool," he muttered to himself. Mentally, he bent over and planted a
swift kick to his bum.
"I-I-I'm sorry," he stammered, cursing himself silently, "this
really is quite-er-well..."
Her eyes grew wide and sparkled with moisture.
"Oh great, you bloody sod," he thought, "you ruined it for her. Now
she's going to cry."
Her shoulders started to tremble and then to Archie's astonishment,
she laughed. She held one arm across her stomach and the other gripped
Archie's upper arm.
"Oh...my...God," she gasped, wiping the tears from her eyes, "I...oh,
heavens!"
He stared at her as if she had gone stark raving mad, then
suddenly the absurdity of the situation struck him as well. He gave a light
chuckle before breaking into a full throated laugh. The garden rang out with
their peels of merriment, as they held each other upright.
"I. Think. I. Could. Fall. In. Love. With. You..." He struggled to
get out and pulled her closer.
STICKY-NOTES ON CLICHED PLOTS
#1 - If I see another plot formed on the girl hates boy, boy seduces girl, girl loves boy triangle, I will scream, and/or tear it to shreads.
#2 - Opposites attract, this is not always the case. Most relationship form because people have something in common.
And to end this little ditty, a quote by Nora Roberts:
"In the hard boiled league, try the Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. This is first and foremost a detective novel, one of the best film noirs ever produced. But there is a whiff of romance as Sam Spade falls for the mystery woman -- a woman, who in the end he must not only give up, but turn in. One of Sam's last lines to his love -- and naturally I hear Bogart speaking to Mary Astor -- goes like this: 'I'm going to send you over. The chances are you'd get off with life. That means you'll be out in 27 years. You're an angel. I'll wait for you. If they hand you, I'll always remember you.' That's romance."
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