The Wedding Date; A Romance Subgenre

The story of a woman needing a date for a family wedding isn't that rare. It's almost a subgenre, like Secret Baby books. The main plot involves an event like a wedding or class reunion where the heroine (it's always the heroine) wants to prove that all those people in her past were wrong about her, that other people--better people--value her the way those people never did. There's always a tinge of desperation about the heroine because she fears those people have a near-magical ability to make her doubt herself the way she did "back then." This desperation drives her to find an escort who is so good/handsome/funny/charming/rich/wonderful (pick any or all) so that no one will be able to make her feel like that fat/shy/clumsy/homely/gawky/stupid (usually one will do) girl she believed herself to be "back then."

These stories speak to a lot of us who remember too vividly how awful it felt to be so awkward, out of place, and doubtful about our worth. It's also possible that they hold their power over us because we have unresolved issues about that part of our lives. We expect to achieve a vicarious resolution through these stories, and woe to the author who doesn't deliver.

That's what happened with a book I just finished. In this case the heroine's long-time buddy agrees to play the loving beau and escort the heroine home for her evil step-sister's wedding. Of course, thrown into this close proximity, sparks fly. The couple denies the attraction; they argue; nearly step over the line; back away, and then . . . Then, to my total dismay, the hero allows the truly evil step-sister to seduce him on the eve of her wedding.

I finished the book. Mostly to see if the writer could recover from this misstep. I was skeptical that it could be done. In the end, though she came close, the author failed to rescue the story. Why? Not because he had sex with someone other than the heroine (although that would be enough for some readers) but because the hero betrayed the heroine with her arch-rival. He slept with the one person who was capable of and willing to drive a stake through her heart. Even though, in his mind, it was "only sex," the magnitude of this betrayal made it unforgivable. Some things are. 

Have you seen behavior in a romance that you felt was unforgivable? If not, what would qualify?

Modern Mythology 101: What Are You Teaching Your Audience?

Mythologist, teacher, and author Joseph Campbell said that the purpose of mythology was to teach people how to live their lives. That would explain why so many myths endured for so long.

As different as our modern world is from ancient times, it's nearly impossible to see how these stories apply to the lives we live today. So where does our current mythology comes from? I think it comes from books and movies. Maybe even video games. That kind of makes what we write today really important, I think.

But isn't romance just light, fluff reading? Housewife porn, some call it. Surely nothing to take seriously. Only suitable for air-headed girls.

But doesn't the romance genre speak to us about how we should treat each other? About how to value ourselves? About what a relationship between men and women should be? These are important lessons. And the audience is bigger than we think it is.

Some time ago, I read Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ayaan was raised as a Muslim in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya. She later became a member of Parliament in the Netherlands and this is her story. It's quite an amazing story, too, and I recommend it highly. My point in mentioning it here is that one of the fascinating tidbits she relates is how she and other young Muslim girls used to read Harlequin category romances on the sly. These books were her introduction to the idea that a woman might be treated as a man's equal. The one-man, one-woman relationships made these stories almost fairy tales, they were so far out of her frame of reference. The stories didn't cause any sudden liberation tendencies in these girls, but they did put a seed in her mind. One that helped her adjust later, when she so bravely left the Muslim world behind.

One of the lessons I learned from her story is that you never know who might read your story or what the impact on them might be. Even if what you're writing is "only" romance.

I'd love to know what modern "mythologies" took seed in your mind and how they shaped your thinking.

Typecasting Readers

I read a comment in a blog the other day that advised writers to read outside their genre and made the comment that romance readers were more like to read Harlan Corben than visa versa (or was it the other way around?) Either way, I was a little offended. I read both (love Harlan & I've read every one of his books) and I realized that to categorize a reader is just ludicrous. I'm not a "romance reader" or a "Harlan Corben reader." That would be like saying, "I'm a corn-flakes-box reader." I'm a reader.

It seems silly to me to put readers in a box. You've got "romance readers" over here and Harlan Corben readers over there, segregating them as though they can only be one thing. Today I may be a romance reader, tomorrow it may be science fiction, the day Harlan's new book comes out, I will be a Harlan Corben reader (I'm rabid about his books.) The day after it may be Frank Turner Hollon. Or Dean Koontz. Or Barbara Hambly. Or Milton Friedman. (all of these authors have books on my keeper shelf.) And I think that when someone says it's a stretch for a Harlan Corben reader to pick up a Jennifer Crusie, they've bought into the propaganda that romance isn't as "smart" as other genres. Too many people already look down on romance, just as they looked down on SF&F in the 30s and 40s because so much pulp was published. It took SF&F a long time to live down that reputation, and I think when those within the romance genre perpetuate the image that readers of more complex, "smarter" books won't stoop low enough to read a romance it does a disservice to the genre.