"Romance is not real writing"

So I'm screwed since I'm writing an SF Romance. Great, my mom always said I chose the hardest thing to do when learning a new skill.

lol, Lyra. I'm writing vamp romance. So the first question everyone asks me is..

"what, like twilight?"

*head desk* THERE IS OTHER VAMP ROMANCE!

A lot of people say a lot of stupid things. Honestly, my default position is to not care.

MissMacchiato said:

lol, Lyra. I'm writing vamp romance. So the first question everyone asks me is..

"what, like twilight?"

*head desk* THERE IS OTHER VAMP ROMANCE!

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So is it like "True Blood"?

shadowwalker said:

As I said, I used to be addicted to romances. For several years (back in the 80s), that's practically all I read. But then, I started noticing that the books - even the brand new ones - all seemed the same to me. Different names, different locales, but otherwise same story. Now, maybe I was just over-dosed on them, but could this 'not real writing' come from that formula thing? I know that no matter how 'strict' the formula is, it still takes a great deal of imagination and work to make the story unique. But if the 'general public' has this perception that romance writers are just taking that formula and "plugging in" their characters... ?? Or maybe (probably) things have changed in the 30 years since I was reading them and that's not really an issue now...

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Oh, YES

The romance genre has changed a lot since the 80s. Much more diversity. I took a break during the early 90s for the same reason, then was pleasantly surprised. Give us a try again!

scarletpeaches said:

I was with you up until Sparks.

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I will admit to never being able to finish any of his books; the syntax alone makes my retinas itch.

But he sells reliably, across age and sex brackets and in non-English editions.

Which, I think, says something. Probably a lot of somethings.

Bubastes said:

Sparks insists that he doesn't write romances. In fact, he does everything he can to distance himself from them:

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Doesn't matter; the marketing folk and the stock systems say his books are dual shelved.

Bottom line; authors write the best book they know how to write, but then it's off on its own, subject to the whims of marketing folk, meta data creators, stock clerks, and reviewers.

Chaucer wasn't kidding with his "Go, litel book, go, litel myn tragedye,"

'side's you've got the definition of romance all wrong.

I had a creative writing professor who said he had a romance author in one of his classes. This got a couple of snorts across the room. He pointed that he was extremely impressed with romance writers as a whole because they were creative enough to take essentially the same story of boy meets girl and make it new and interesting for their readers. His attitude seemed to surprise some of the students who thought they were too good for genre writing. I hope the message made an impression on them. I have nothing but respect for people in this genre, not only is it difficult to come up with something new, but what is more interesting than a well-told love story? Not much, if you ask me.

I used to make fun of romance authors.

Now I are one.

job said:

Almost always, when someone says one type of writing is important, genuine, lyrical, well-written, innovative, significant . . .
and another is not,
it is the second type of writing that makes money.

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QFT!

The other day, I stopped in a little used bookstore. After I made a couple laps around the store, I asked the woman behind the counter to point out the romance section. "We don't have the room for romance," she said with a look of disdain on her face. I was shocked. The look on her face let me know she thought they were too good for romance. I glanced around and pointed out some available spots. She wasn't interested, so I left.

I've seen the same look before when I tell people what I write. I'm used to it now.

Wow, most used bookstores I go to are like 80% romance and 20% everything else. At least it feels like that.

Lyra Jean said:

Wow, most used bookstores I go to are like 80% romance and 20% everything else. At least it feels like that.

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Indeed. Every bookstore new and used always has a large romance section that i've frequented.

When I was working at a library, there was one woman who came in every Saturday and took out 10 Harlequins at a time.

Anyone who wants to try to convince me romance isn't real writing is more than welcome to take a look at my piles of notes, and stacks of reference books (I write historicals), and my hundreds of manuscript pages scribbled with notes and tell me it isn't real writing.

Lyra Jean said:

So is it like "True Blood"?

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BenPanced said:

When I was working at a library, there was one woman who came in every Saturday and took out 10 Harlequins at a time.

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The library wasn't in Southern Colorado was it? I went through a phase a few years ago where not only was I buying all of them on the shelf each month, but checking them out from the library too. (I was pregnant and on bed rest... so it passed a LOT of time.)

justme said:

The other day, I stopped in a little used bookstore. After I made a couple laps around the store, I asked the woman behind the counter to point out the romance section. "We don't have the room for romance," she said with a look of disdain on her face. I was shocked. The look on her face let me know she thought they were too good for romance. I glanced around and pointed out some available spots. She wasn't interested, so I left.

I've seen the same look before when I tell people what I write. I'm used to it now.

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I think the key words there were "little used bookstore". Elitism isn't edible, thank God.

MissMacchiato said:

lol, Lyra. I'm writing vamp romance. So the first question everyone asks me is..

"what, like twilight?"

*head desk* THERE IS OTHER VAMP ROMANCE!

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My sister in law told me that I must have picked my pseudonym (Myles) so I could be shelved next to Stephenie Meyer and wasn't I clever???

I tried pointing out that there is a lot of space between Meyer and Myles, and that we're not even the same genre and thus wouldn't be shelved together anyhow, but I got the blank stare.


Going back to the OP's question, though, I do get defensive when people start to crap on romance, because the conversation usually starts to veer toward questioning my own intelligence (How can you like such stupid formulaic stuff???) or sneering from other genres. I refuse to believe that my stuff is stupid because I write about vampires and angels...but they are writing about mystery-solving knitting enthusiasts or robots and elves and THAT STUFF IS JUST FINE DARN IT.

Pot, kettle.

(FWIW, I like robots and elves. I just don't like being sneered at by their authors.)

Jersey Chick said:

Anyone who wants to try to convince me romance isn't real writing is more than welcome to take a look at my piles of notes, and stacks of reference books (I write historicals), and my hundreds of manuscript pages scribbled with notes and tell me it isn't real writing.

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I actually still have the printout I made of my first round of edits on my first manuscript, complete with highlighting, notes from Mme. Editrix, and proofreading marks I'd made in red ink. During the course of my edits, I cut a good 1/3 from the manuscript, so yeah, it ain't that much work at all.

Oy.

My reaction to the first round of edits on By the Book was to think of my editor and wonder, "Why the hell did she..." [and I can't believe I'm about to say this] "...buy the book?"

scarletpeaches said:

My reaction to the first round of edits on By the Book was to think of my editor and wonder, "Why the hell did she..." [and I can't believe I'm about to say this] "...buy the book?"

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Do we have the same editor?

Sheryl Nantus said:

Do we have the same editor?

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Don't get me wrong. I liked the novel. Of course I thought it was ready to be subbed, otherwise I wouldn't have done so, but...after a revise & resubmit, and some further tweaking, even then there was a buttload (and yes it is M/M) of editing to be done.

Mainly on my addiction to ellipses and some back-and-forthing with my editor regarding Britishisms and Americanisms.

But track changes, all over my lovely manuscript? I thought, "This is shit. Why on Earth did she offer me a contract if it's this bad?"

You're soooo not alone. I think that with each one. I'm surprised none of my editors have had their heads explode, based on the amount of red on the pages.

Jersey Chick said:

You're soooo not alone. I think that with each one. I'm surprised none of my editors have had their heads explode, based on the amount of red on the pages.

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I think I made mine cry. Or at least added to the grey in her hair.

Of course, this was after my husband had to talk me off the proverbial roof with the first round of edits in my hand, crying like a baby and wondering if they'd sent me the contract by mistake...