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Scribus Administratus

Registered: 01-2004
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Posts: 939
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Re: Elements of Romance


Well, that's just an example; there are lots more romance publishers out there.

On a side note, I was recently helping my brother research the size of the writing community in North America. The Romance Writers of America boasts the largest membership number of the many writer's organizations I checked out on the web. 9000. By comparison, SFWA had about 1500.

I'd say there's a romance market out there. And I hear it's a highly lucrative one, too.

Sherry

---
Reading: Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
Writing: short story: Of Snow-Jewelled Hills and Ice
4/17/2005, 10:21 pm Link to this post Send Email to SFGirl   Send PM to SFGirl
 
TheScribe Profile
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Master Scribe

Registered: 02-2003
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Elements of Romance


I know there is a market. We only have to look at the romance section in a bookstore to see that.

For fear of offending someone, I think I'll shut up now.

---
Karen Lee Field
Author of The Land of Miu series
Available from: Smashwords or Kayelle Press
4/17/2005, 11:56 pm Link to this post Send Email to TheScribe   Send PM to TheScribe
 
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Master Scribe

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Re: Elements of Romance


My apologies. Let me try again.

I know there's a large market for the romance genre but I suffer from a preconceived idea that the genre is lower class. Coming from me that is an awful thing to say, because I hate all such things.

Yet I have to be honest and I'd like help in over coming my short comings in this regard.

I feel that if I were published by Harlequin that I'd be ashamed, although having said that, I wouldn't feel the same if I was published by Luna Books (who is Harlequin anyway).

I'm not sure when or why this is the case, and I know the problem is my own doing. I know it's not easier to write romance, as it's not easier to write anything, so why do I have this notion that Harlequin books are sub-standard.

I mean no disrespect with my words. And it must be remembered that although I have these strange feelings, I have a parial romance manuscript sitting on the back burner.

---
Karen Lee Field
Author of The Land of Miu series
Available from: Smashwords or Kayelle Press
4/20/2005, 1:44 am Link to this post Send Email to TheScribe   Send PM to TheScribe
 
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Scribus Administratus

Registered: 01-2004
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Posts: 939
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Re: Elements of Romance


I think we all have our hang-ups and biases when it comes to genres other than the ones we like to read/write. It crops up all over the place: literary writers scorn commerical writers, sf writers deride fantasy writers, mystery writers snub horror writers, and everybody seems to gang up on the romance writers. I don't know where we pick up these preconceived notions or why we develop these ideas, but we all seem to have them to a certain extent.

I do think we're better off if we can shake these notions. I don't think there's any area of writing that's so easy to do that anyone can do it. If there are some that are easier to break into than others because the market demand is huge, we have a choice: try to write for that market, or not. But if we don't choose to write for it ourselves, there isn't really any reason to look down on those who do. I try to remind myself that the writers in those genres are working just as hard as anyone else at telling their stories in a way that is meaningful for themselves and for their readers.

Personally, writing romance per se doesn't really interest me, although there are often romantic elements or sub-plots in things I do write. But like you, Scribe, I don't aspire to write for Harlequin. If I did happen to write a romance, I probably wouldn't submit to them, more because of what I know about their contracts than anything else. However, I know what you mean about how you feel toward them.

For me, and maybe for you too since I know we're contemporaries age-wise, it might have something to do with the fact that I read tons of them when I was a teenager (I could rip through one in an afternoon then, they were so thin) and then "grew out" of them and into other things. My interests changed and I've never been interested in reading romance since then. That might have something to do with it.

If you'd like to change your attitude but find it difficult, maybe you should consider reading one or two recent titles from their line. If you do, and find a well-written, entertaining story (even if it's not what you'd normally choose to read), it might be easier for you to shake your preconceptions and feel a little less guilty about them.

I recommend, if you can find it anywhere, Bruce Holland Rogers' excellent article "Peacemaking at the Barricades" (I think it's in his collection "Word Work: Surviving and Thriving As a Writer" ). He talks about these attitudes among writers in different "camps" and why we should work at changing them. He says, "The longer we stand at the barricades, flinging erasers and recounting the myths of how deluded the other side is, the harder it becomes to cross the street and find out what those other successful writers know that we don't. And that's a shame."

Sherry
P.S. I hope this doesn't sound preachy. That's not what I was going for. ")

Last edited by SFGirl, 4/20/2005, 3:06 pm


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Reading: Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
Writing: short story: Of Snow-Jewelled Hills and Ice
4/20/2005, 3:03 pm Link to this post Send Email to SFGirl   Send PM to SFGirl
 
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Re: Elements of Romance


That wasn't preachy at all. emoticon

Actually, it was well worded and I already feel a sense of relief to know that I'm not alone in my feelings. It's also true that writers should stick together - who else knows what we're going through?!?

Thank you, Sherry.

---
Karen Lee Field
Author of The Land of Miu series
Available from: Smashwords or Kayelle Press
4/20/2005, 8:52 pm Link to this post Send Email to TheScribe   Send PM to TheScribe
 
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Apprentice

Registered: 02-2005
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Re: Elements of Romance


Hi Scribe!

I'm writing a romance also right now, about half way complete and I'm not necessarily looking to publish with Harlequin. I have no ill feelings towards them or any of the genre's because, well, they all interest me.

If I can get published through Harlequin, I'm sure I'd be thrilled. Until your post and Sherry's I had no idea there was an interal rivalery between the different genres. Hey, you learn something new everyday. :-)

Reading your first post, I have never heard that a requirement was put on sex. I guess maybe for someone like Ellora's Cave. LOL!

If your book is a feel good book, then yea, by all means I think you should finish it and try to get it published, because there are so many different lines out there. My aim is more for AVON or St. Martins.

Anyway, good luck on your story!



---
Keri
***
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Writing: SS The Magical Mate
4/28/2005, 1:17 pm Link to this post Send Email to klbjork   Send PM to klbjork
 
TheScribe Profile
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Re: Elements of Romance


Thanks, Keri. I do plan on finishing it (one day). There are a few manuscript ahead of this one, however. emoticon

---
Karen Lee Field
Author of The Land of Miu series
Available from: Smashwords or Kayelle Press
5/2/2005, 2:15 am Link to this post Send Email to TheScribe   Send PM to TheScribe
 
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Scribus Administratus

Registered: 01-2004
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Posts: 939
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Re: Elements of Romance


It's a long time since there's been a post in this thread, but I was thinking about it the other day.

I recently read a book that would be classified as "mainstream" I guess, but at heart it was really a romance. The romance was the main thrust (no pun intended) of the book, although there were issues of family and grief and other things swirled into the mix as well.

So I think that while there are formulaic "elements" that some publishers demand, there are other ways to write a romance that goes beyond those elements or treats them in a different way or weights them differently in terms of the whole of the story. This opens the manuscript up to a different market while its essence remains the same.

Sherry

---
Reading: Celtika by Robert Holdstock
Rewriting: One's Aspect To The Sun (novel)
Writing: The Book of All Fictive Things http://fictivethings.blogspot.com
10/15/2005, 8:59 pm Link to this post Send Email to SFGirl   Send PM to SFGirl
 
TheScribe Profile
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Master Scribe

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Re: Elements of Romance


Well, I have a fantasy that has a romance thread through it. It's quite a strong thread too. When I wrote the manuscript I believe I was really writing a romance but covering it up with a fantasy setting.

Later, I tried to tone down the romance threa and wrecked the story.

Now, the whole thing needs to be replanned and rewritten. I will probably do that one day, but I don't know for sure. Maybe that story was just for me. That's what I have to find out.

---
Karen Lee Field
Author of The Land of Miu series
Available from: Smashwords or Kayelle Press
10/18/2006, 9:33 pm Link to this post Send Email to TheScribe   Send PM to TheScribe
 
Lady Romance Profile
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Apprentice

Registered: 10-2006
Posts: 39
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Re: Elements of Romance


I write romance, and for a while, when asked what I wrote, I would lie or ignore the question. (that was a looooong time ago..well, back in 10th grade and that was like, close to ten years ago). I knew that we were 'looked down upon'. But I quickly got over that. Everyone is different and writes different things. I'm a romantic, and that's what i (mainly) write. I don't think anyone should look down at someone else. That's just my opinon.
10/25/2006, 5:55 pm Link to this post Send Email to Lady Romance   Send PM to Lady Romance
 


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