Sunday, February 14, 2010

Romance is in the Air

Valentine's Day seems a good time to discuss the romance genre. All the time I was growing up, romances were considered 'a bit of fluff', read by lonely women who didn't have the brains, after all, to handle a story with any kind of substance to them. Yes, I'm that old.

Eventually, having finished all the other genres while I was working at a library, the head librarian suggested a particular writer to me. She wrote historical romances, but one couldn't hurt me, right? I've read a lot of romances since then. Most of them are 'a bit of fluff', but since my pleasure reading is for the purpose of escaping, that doesn't bother me.

According to the statistics I've been able to find, romance comprises over 50% of the mass-market fiction paperback sales, and very nearly 40% of ALL fiction sales. One would think that would make it easier to get your fiction story published, if you write romance.

But even if you do write romance – no matter what you ultimately choose to write – it needs to be the best story you can make it, with the best plot, the best characters, the best complications you can come up with. If something is worth doing, then it's worth giving your all.

I'll be on the road most of the day next Sunday. Maybe that will give me time to ruminate what to put in my blog, or maybe it will wear me out completely. Therefore, I might get my blog posted on Sunday, or maybe not until Monday. See ya then. Trudy

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