Wicked Wednesday - intelligent people do read romance

Myth: Smart people don't read or write romance.

Truth: Yes, they do. The misconceptions come from tropes that are decades old. There's still fluff out there, but nowadays, many romance novels have solid plots, great characterization, and amazing world building. Sometimes there's a shirtless man on the cover or a buxom woman, but beneath those cheesy covers, you can find truly wonderful stories.

Myth: The Alpha males in romance novels create unrealistic expectations for women in real life.

Truth: Ha! Most of the women I know, myself included, do not want an Alpha like the ones in those stories. Possessive, arrogant, and demanding? No thank you. We can do without the conflict. We know the difference between fantasy and reality. It's fun to read about Alphas, but we're smart enough to know we want a man who treats us with respect and sees us as an equal.

Myth: Romance novels are smut.

Truth: Smart folks know romance books focus on relationships. We love them because they take us on an emotional journey. Sometimes there is sex involved. Just like in real life relationships. Books are safe places to live out fantasies. There's nothing wrong with that.

Myth: The women in romance novels are stupid and weak.

Truth: Not at all. Many heroines in modern romances are smart, strong, and independent. The fact that they swoon over the hero doesn't make them any less so. The heroine knows what she wants and she won't settle for less. She's an admirable role model.

Myth: The happily-ever-after is unrealistic.

Truth: Yes, sometimes it is. Yet that's what makes romance books such a great escape. It helps to lift up the reader emotionally and gives them hope. Is it really so wrong to hope and strive for your own happily-ever-after?

Wicked Wednesday - does love conquer all?

Almost all romances on the market today have a Happily Ever After (HEA) ending. Most publishers request you to have it in this genre. The big presses do require it. We read to escape reality, and readers want to have the protagonist and her love to be together in the end.

Yet does love truly conquer all? In reality, no matter how much we wish it, it does not. There are many sad real life stories out there. A lot of heartache and heartbreak. Surely this isn't what readers want... right?

Some of the most popular love stories of all time are tragedies: Romeo & Juliet, Cleopatra & Mark Anthony, Lancelot & Guinevere, Tristan & Isolde, Orpheus & Eurydice.

Why do people love these tragedies? There are great characters and magnificent stories. The forbidden love, the love that was lost, the lover scorned. Sacrifice, betrayal, and murder. Fierce passion and immense sorrow.

I never set out to write tragedies. If a book I'm reading doesn't have a HEA, sometimes I do feel frustrated. Yet there are a few books I've read that have been magnificent without the boy gets girl ending. If the story is great and the ending fits, I will love a tragedy as much as a HEA.

Paranormal romance is a genre that challenges the HEA more often than any other romance sub-genre. The supernatural elements bring forth many possibilities, and the readers don't seem opposed to a dark ending as much as readers in other genres would be.

I'm a firm believer in never forcing an ending. I have a few manuscripts that do not have a HEA. Yet they have the endings that are right for the stories. It makes them difficult to sell. Even if they were the most brilliant stories of the decade, without that HEA, most editors won't read the manuscripts.

Do you like to read tragedies? And if so, why?

Wicked Wednesday - taboo?

When you're submitting a story to a publisher, there's usually a list on their site that states what they will not accept. These are the taboo topics like incest, rape, pedophilia, and bestiality. The reason publishers don't want stories about these types of things is obvious.

Paranormal romance is a genre that dances around subjects that are taboo. Mainstream novels tend to follow the general romance guidelines in this. Yet there are things you read in paranormal romances that you wouldn't find in other romances.

Multiple partners - Usually we have the heroine and hero together, and the story focuses on them alone. Most publishers require it. There are stories that have the protagonist with more than one person, though. There's a supernatural reason for it, of course. The most popular examples of this are Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series.

Addiction issues - Most publishers won't consider a protagonist that has a substance abuse problem. It takes away from their likability. Yet in an urban fantasy world, things are different. Characters can be addicted to magic or blood. It's apart from our normal reality and thus more acceptable. An example of a protagonist with an addiction problem is Chess Putnam in Stacia Kane's Downside Ghosts series. Awesome novels, and you find yourself sympathizing with Chess rather disliking her.

Forced seduction - Rape is not acceptable anywhere. It might be a traumatic event in a protagonist's past, but that's the most publishers accept. When it comes to paranormal romances, we tend to see a lot of forced seductions. Some think this is just another word for rape and it's hard to see where the line is drawn on this. Forced seduction is where one dominant character forces themselves on an at first unwilling character and then that unwillingness becomes yes, yes, yes. An example could be an alpha male having found his mate, but she's resistant to the big arrogant fellow. He hunts her down, loses himself to the need to take her, and after a little bit of a struggle, she decides she wants him too. A forced seduction book is Elfking's Lady by Hannah Howell.

No HEA - Most publishers want a Happily Ever After (HEA) ending, or at least, the Happy For Now (HFN) one. Paranormal romances bring the possibility that we might never be able to have that HEA. War between supernatural creatures, immortality issues, and the more mundane they're-just-too-different-for-it-to-honestly-work-out reason. Also, sometimes readers like tragedies. A good example of this is The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan.

What are some things you consider taboo in other books but might accept in paranormal romance? Why do you think paranormal romance can cross the line when other genres cannot?

Wicked Wednesday - happily ever after

I know fans of romance love the Happily Ever After ending (HEA). Most publishers require the author to have it. It might be predictable, but it sells. Readers want to escape their lives and experience that HEA moment. They want the reassurance and familiarity of it.

The trick is to write the HEA in a way that is unexpected. Girl will get the Boy at the end, but how? It doesn't always have to end with marriage and kids. The reader just needs to be emotionally satisfied.

Paranormal romance opens the door to all sorts of ways to do the unexpected. Use the genre to create something that will surprise the reader. Magic, strange creatures, or mysterious non-human past resurfacing. You're not limited by conventional reality. Only what you've created for yourself.

A few examples:
1) Your protagonist is a ghost. It's known that once a ghost completes his/her unfinished business, their soul will go on to the next life. How to get a HEA ending from that? Perhaps the business really isn't finished yet. Or maybe the love interest dies and they can go on to the afterlife together.
2) Your protagonist is in love with a werewolf. Pack members are forbidden to take a human mate. Have the werewolf challenge the law and win. Or discover that the protagonist isn't fully human after all.
3) The Romeo and Juliet affair between a demon and an angel. That can't end well, right? Have the demon sacrifice him/herself for the angel and be resurrected an angel. Or have them find out that it was the plan all along to have demons and angels mate because they cannot do so amongst their own kinds.

Sometimes I have problems trying to write an unexpected twist. This is why I don't write mysteries even though I enjoy them. Those are the times I do a lot of procrastinating. Plot twist generators online never helped. (Yes, there are plot twist generators!) I have to wait for the inspiration to hit me. I tend to kill a lot of my darlings and let magic be born out of the sacrifice for a HEA. I need to learn a new trick.

I like the HEA ending, but I don't need it to be happy with a book. If it has a proper resolution even if it's sad, I can be satisfied with it.

Do you prefer a HEA ending? Do you have any tricks that you use for creating twists to surprise your reader?