Romancing the Blog | Romance Authors and Readers Who Blog

I’ve noticed a trend in gay male romance recently, and I’m curious about others’ experiences with this issue.

To me, “series” romance means “category” romance (Harlequin, Mills & Boon, Loveswept, Silhouette, etc.). There are other series, of course, because the term is very loose, and this “looseness” is precisely what I’m interested in. Because “series” can also mean mainstream novels that are connected in some way.

Nora Roberts’ Chesapeake Bay series, where the heroes are adopted brothers, is the one that springs immediately to mind. Traditionally, series like this are connected by characters who are relatives and we’ll meet a hero or heroine of a future book, but not their future partner. But these types of series usually have a fixed end, of course, because the family runs out eventually, no matter how many cousins come out of the woodwork.

In the last ten years, of course, “series” also refers to on-going series like Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series or J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, where each book tells the romance of a different hero and heroine, but characters not only show up in books both before and after their own HEA book, they might start the HEA relationship before their actual book. And the series is generally open-ended.

Then, uniquely, perhaps, there’s J.D. Robb’s Eve and Roarke series, where the narrative focus of the book is the mystery, but the heart of the series is the continuing relationship between the two main characters.

And it is this last one that I’m seeing more of, specifically in gay male romance, but with a twist. While we follow the characters in these stories from their Happy For Now in their first story, through relationship maturation in further stories, both the narrative and emotional focus of the books is the relationship. Unlike mystery series, which we follow for both the continuation of the relationship AND the new mystery in every book, these series focus just on the same relationship, book after book.

Part of the twist in this new (?) phenomenon is that the happy ending of the first book is sometimes not fully satisfying. It’s very obvious that it’s the beginning of the relationship, rather than the happy culmination. Of course, all the HEAs we read are the beginning of a hopefully life-long relationship, but these new “series” seem to deal with a…well, a series of Happy For Nows, rather than a true, complete Happy Ever After.

So, thoughts on this phenomenon? Is this new or have I just missed it? Is it something to be found elsewhere? Thinking about it now, Diana Gabaldon is the obvious example of this happening elsewhere, but Gabaldon herself has always chafed at the “romance” label. And does anyone else reading these series find the HFNs slightly unsatisfying and find the trend that a book labeled a romance might not have a strong HEA rather troubling?

I recently finished a wonderfully written romance. The hero and heroine were ‘perfect’ for each other. However, when I closed that book, I thought to myself ‘Those crazy kids are not going to make it.’

Why?

Because the hero didn’t have a single friend. Not a beloved brother or a work chum or even a comical sidekick. He had to ask the heroine’s brother to stand up with him at the wedding because he knew no one else.

Sad, really. And a little bit scary.

I like my heroes to have friends. I love, love, love Victoria Alexander’s Last Man Standing series about four men vowing not to get married. (The bros before hoes Regency equivalent) I figure a man who has built and maintained a friendship over years has a great shot at building and maintaining a marriage.

Sure, male friendships are often different. My hubby once spent 4 hours with a close buddy without finding out this buddy got married (I found out within the first 5 minutes). They were too busy rewiring speakers in their cars. But any normal, well adjusted male has friends.

They could be work friends whether they are fellow ranch hands, soldiers, or that secretary dating C.E.O.’s executive cronies. J.K. Coi’s Immortal series features a band of men fighting demons. They are linked by their common purpose but they are still friends.

They could even be brothers, whether by blood or another bond. J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood comes to mind and on the other side of the gore-a-meter is Molly O’Keefe’s Mitchell Men.

It doesn’t matter to me how the heroes find their friends, simply that they have at least one. In Amanda Quick’s Rendezvous, I thought Graystone to be a cold though intriguing hero. Then I found out he was friends with the fun loving Peter Sheldrake and I relaxed. Graystone couldn’t be THAT bad if he had such a devoted friend.

What are your favorite romance hero friendships? Or do you prefer the heroine be the hero’s only friend? The lone wolf hero? For writers, how do you choose your hero’s friends?

Do any of you use software specifically designed for novel writers? Now, I don’t mean the kind that “teach” you how to write or who give your muse a jump-start. I speaking more of an organizational software. Like Power Structure or StoryMill?

I’m collaborating on a novel and my partner uses Scivener for the Mac. I’m giving it a try, but I can’t figure out if the software is more help or hinderance.

It’s been really handy for keeping all my notes and bookmark links and outlines in one spot. There is a virtual corkboard where we can “pin” up index cards. We have our characters’ arcs and our plot points and a chapter-by-chapter outline on the index cards. If we want to move something around, we just “un-pin” it (drag) and drop it wherever we want on the virtual corkboard. We can even assign colors to our thumbtacks (pink for the female protagonist, blue for the male, or whatever).

The other thing I love is the split screen. I can have the index cards or notes or even a website on the upper half of my screen (as a reference point) while I write on the bottom half. I can put anything I want in the upper half, like photos of my characters or of the setting. It will even hold movies or audio tracks all the while I’m writing away in the bottom half of the screen. If I want to change the upper screen, I simply click on the folder list to my left and up it comes. Very nice.

I do have a complaint, though. It it isn’t a word processor. So, the actual writing of the novel is done in something equivalent to Notepad or TextEdit. And that drives me nuts. I need all the bells and whistles my Word software provides.

So, I’ve ended up going back to Word for the actual writing, but using Scrivener for organizational purposes. What about you? What do you use to write your novels in?

No, I’m not talking about all the sweets I’ve eaten for Christmas and my fear of rotting my teeth out, but morning breath. Oh come on, you know you’ve wondered about this too…you’re reading a really great romance, it’s the morning after the big love scene, the hero rolls over and tries to feel for the heroine’s tonsils with his tongue and all you can think is…ew, morning breath! But heroines never seem to have morning breath. They also always seem to taste like something wonderful…vanilla, sugar cookies, oranges and they always have an amazingly fresh, sweet scent. I admit it, I haven’t kissed many girls but truly, I don’t think this seems very realistic.

So that’s my weighty question for the day after Christmas, when you’re stuffed full of good food, rich desserts and wondering who’s going to be responsible for the dishes and picking up the bits of tinsil the dogs have shredded all over the house. How much reality do you want in your romance?

This question isn’t a new one, it comes up often in the context of condom use in romance. I’m firmly in the “if it’s contemporary, there’d better be a condom or she’s an idiot” camp, but I know a lot of people say they don’t want the fantasy of the book interrupted by the condom.

There’s not just that, though, but there’s the reality of historicals. Have you ever noticed how many authors, writing books in long ago England or Scotland, always seem to have heroines who like to bathe? Doesn’t that seem like an odd thing to have to include? But those were some unwashed times and if a reader were to think too hard on it, anyone doing the naked mattress dance together wouldn’t be too sexy because all you’d be thinking about was if she was going to be suffocated by the smell radiating from his armpits. Urgh. Too much reality, right?

And we won’t mention the reality of a hero/heroine sharing a cabin on a pirate ship…a cabin with a chamber pot. Yeah. Let’s not mention that.

So how much reality is too much reality, and when is there not enough? Do you want your heroines to bring a toothbrush and your heroes to have an emergency condom on hand every time? Or would you rather everyone taste like sugar and no STDs or accidental pregnancy exist in the land of fiction?

With thanks (or possibly apologies ) to Clement Clarke Moore…

It’s Christmas Eve and all through the house
Not a creature is stirring (and hopefully there’s no mouse).
Well, that’s not entirely true, as I’m sure you’re all aware,
As all the mom’s and dad’s are bustling to make it look like St. Nick has been there.

The children pretend to be snuggled in bed,
While visions of Nintendo dance in their heads.
And Dad with his beer and my fingers playing a tap,
We both settled in – I had presents to wrap.

Out on the lawn the snow fell with a smatter,
I shrugged my shoulders, because it didn’t really matter.
Knowing I was organised this year, I tightened my belt sash.
Just look around at all the gifts, all had cost hard cash.

The moon glinting off the new fallen snow,
Made it look all sparkly when looking out the window.
But no matter how beautiful it might appear
It was cold as heck outside, no sign even of reindeer.

Good thing I had thought long and hard,
Good thing I had thought quick.
What is there to do when it is so cold in the yard?
What to do when you’re the one playing St. Nick?

Now Rowling, Now Brennan, Now Roberts and Patterson
On Evanovich, On Burton, On Krentz and Kellerman.
To a wizard, to killers (who sink so low) and some who rise above.
To a bounty hunter’s antics, to adventure and passion, but most of all to love.

I was very satisfied as I glanced around,
If there was a book to fit a person, I’m sure it was found.
For my husband, my daughter and even my sons,
For friends and for family, there is a book for everyone.

I sighed as I wrapped the very last gift
All those pretty packages sure gave my heart a lift.
Now I grabbed the book I was reading and I turned on the light
Snuggling in to read it, I whispered “Merry Christmas to all,
And to all a good night!”

At last count, I read 84 books in 2008, the most I’ve read in the three years I’ve been setting a goal of reading 50 books per year. The majority were historical fiction – I blame The Tudors – but there have been some amazingly good books on my list. Here’s a handful of titles I enjoyed:

The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch
Private Arrangements
To Taste Temptation
Garden Spells
Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
Dark Roots and Cowboy Boots
Trial by Fire
Luxe and Rumors

I’d like to take this opportunity to say Thank You!!! I’m looking forward to 2009’s releases ever so much!!

Happy Holidays!!!

by Special Guest Virna De Paul

In the immortal words of David Bowie, “Turn and face the strain. Ch–ch–changes.”

The times are changing and, with the new year approaching, many of us are feeling a renewed sense of hope and invigoration—for our nation, yes, but also for our personal and professional lives. In the two years that I’ve been seriously pursuing publication, I’ve been through so many ups and downs—painful ups and downs, in part because I am not someone who likes change.

Ironic, isn’t it? Because I’ve finally realized that in pursuing something—anything—it is specifically change that I’m seeking. Sure, it’s a particular change, one that I view as beneficial to me, but how crazy was I to believe that I could have change without change?

Change is strain.

It is volunteering to be president of the Black Diamonds RWA Chapter even though I secretly fear I will single-handedly make our membership numbers creep backward instead of forward.

It is leaving a fabulous agent for the black abyss of the unrepresented until I am able to get another equally fabulous agent.

It is writing another 400 pages even though the last 400 pages I just wrote haven’t been submitted, and contemplating writing something different that might fit my voice better.

Change is silencing the pessimistic voice in my head, the one that I’ve tolerated and clung to for over thirty years, to make room for a new voice. One of optimism, kindness to self, and get-up-and-go gumption.

Finally, change is, in its simplest form, the one thing that is absolutely necessary to a career in writing—action. Just as action is what reveals character and drives plot, action (or inaction) is what means the difference between success or lack of success. That’s why I’m a great fan of this quote (author unknown):

“Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work at it.”

Maybe the action we take is getting up in the morning and telling ourselves we can write. Maybe it is writing a page, or ten, or twenty. But whatever it is, our actions promote change and bring us one step closer to success. In fact, as long as we keep acting (especially in the face of hardship) we have already succeeded

How fitting is it that this year’s RWA Conference will be in Washington D.C.? It is the heart of our nation and the place where we will see both change and a renewed commitment to the greatness of our country.

I wrote my first newsletter article as the Black Diamond’s President. I accepted representation by my new fabulous agent. I started writing those next 400 pages. Even writing this article, and putting my name out there, and trying to be genuine and open and hopefully a little funny, is a change for me.

I’ve changed, I’ve faced the strain, and I’m feeling powerful. I won’t always feel that way, so right now I’ll say “Bring It On” and keep David Bowie on my I-POD for another day.

How have you seen the benefit of unwanted change?

I’ve always been a hopeless romantic, a believer of true love, of destined souls finding each other, meant to be together, longing for each other. The type of loves we read and write in romance novels and love stories. I really do believe in that.

It’s funny to me when I look back at the relationships I’ve been in. I can say I’ve only been in love, in deep and true love once. The others, perhaps were just infatuations. But then I think to myself, maybe not. Maybe I truly was in love with each of them, in that moment it felt right, it felt true and real. Is it possible to have more than one soul mate? Do we have many choices or is there only one soul destined to be ours?

I wonder this as I sit in my New York City apartment. This is not the life I had imagined myself to have when I was 16-years old, a Junior in High School. I thought by now I’d be in the back of limo, walking the red carpet, having lunch with the President and chatting with Barbara Walters. I thought I would have rescued my family from poverty, sipping champagne on my yacht and flying in my private jet. Things haven’t turned out the way I always imagined they would. No, they’ve turned out better.

I have had the greatest time, loving and feeling pain. Experiencing extreme highs and extreme lows. The kindness of true friendship and the betrayal of friends once loyal. I’ve had the most amazing passionate romantic evenings that would blow your mind and felt the stale cold touch of the one you know that the love has long since left.

I’ve been invited to private parties hosted by Oprah, felt the victory of Obama win on television with members of the United Nations and I’ve felt the lowest of depths as I lived in my car with my mother as a teenager, our only friends the pet cockateil sleeping between us and our turtle at our feet. I’ve experienced it all and at 32, my mother says there’s so much more ahead.

I look back and although life hasn’t turned out exactly as I had imagined. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I finally like myself exactly the way I am and I wouldn’t be here today without all that I’ve experienced.

I do believe love exists, real true romantic love. I know it, I feel it, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last 12 months it’s that I cannot and I will not put my life and happiness on hold until I meet “the one.”

Sometimes when I look up at the night sky, even in the bitter cold cloudless New York City nights, when everything’s quiet but the occassional scruffy sound of footsteps from the homeless men searching for a warm place to lay their heads, I look up at the big monstorous moon and I think to myself, “Look at that moon, Jeff. That’s the same moon I’ll be looking at when I meet the true love of my life. And that’s the same moon they’re looking at now too.”

That’s how I know that soul mates really do exist, cause that silent but powerful voice inside me, that feeling, that knowing tells me so and who am I to argue?

Jeff Rivera is the author of the award-winning novel, Forever My Lady (Grand Central Publishing)

I understand the purpose of the pseudonym. Some writers desire anonymity, some use them to differentiate between genres, and I suppose some simply don’t think their own name is catchy enough. If I were to write the sort of books that I like to read, I would no doubt use one for a bevy of personal reasons – an elderly, very modest mother, and several conservative, religious relatives and family friends, just to name a few.

What I don’t understand is how some authors come up with their pseudonyms. What’s wrong with ordinary or classic names? Do they think that readers are going to take seriously someone whose name conjures up visions of a lingerie catalog – Scarlet Corsetta, Velvet Slippers, or maybe Demi Cupps? Will naming yourself after various acts of nature i.e. Stormy, Windy, Breezy or Misty, put you on the bestseller list? Or will you simply remain a symbol on a meteorologist’s weather map?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t find these names cute or professional and I’m not inclined to spend my money on books written by someone with a totally ridiculous name.

What do you think of the use of these types of names? I’m certain they’re intended to be catchy, but I find them silly and juvenile. Maybe I’m missing out on the work of some incredibly talented authors because I can’t get past their names. Does anyone else feel this way? Do you think the name you choose is truly important when it comes to marketing yourself?

I hate it when romance novelists toy with me by withholding story details for no good reason. It annoys the heck out of me when an author hints and hints and hints at a character’s inner conflict, for example, but doesn’t spell it out because she believes teasing readers will keep them turning pages.

Sorry, but I don’t appreciate being manipulated. If your story is so weak that you must resort to cheap tricks to keep me reading, I’m not going to finish the book.

I’m not talking about subtle references to legitimate mysteries that a story might hinge upon, but about the relentless, Chinese-water-torture-style repetition of hints about facts it wouldn’t hurt the reader to be told early on. Here’s a made-up example from an imaginary book:

In Chapter One, we read: …but after what her twin brother had done to her, how could she ever trust any man?

“What did he do?” we ask, and we read a little faster.

In the next scene, we learn that …she hadn’t felt such helpless anger since the day her brother betrayed her.”

“What did he do to her?” we ask again. We keep reading, certain we’re about to find out.

In the next chapter, we find yet another reference: …but how could she ever forgive her brother, after what he had done?

By this time, we’re shouting: “WHAT DID HE DO?” But the coy author is still not giving up the secret. A chapter or two later, we see another mention of the brother’s treachery, and then another. Readers who stick with the story (I’ll be long gone) will eventually learn that the Big Internal Conflict that Makes the Heroine Distrust All Men is simply that her twin brother copied the answers off her math final in the eleventh grade and told the teacher his sister had been the one to cheat. So the sister failed the class and the brother got an A.

“That’s it?” the readers will ask. “Why couldn’t we have been told that in the first chapter?”

All right, that’s a ridiculous example. But do you see what I’m getting at? Unless an author has a darn good reason to keep readers in the dark while repeatedly reminding them about something they don’t yet understand, those readers might very well feel abused when all is–finally!–revealed.

Does anyone else get cranky about this kind of writing? Don’t tell me I’m the only one!