Why Am I a Romance Writer?

We're currently visiting our kids--it's been great fun spending time with our darling Grandboy and getting to share his birthday with his other Grandparents (that's Namaw and Tapaw) and spending time with our kids. We had a terrific birthday party/summer party on Sunday. Kids tumbled and scurried everywhere, watched over by their parents and the other guests, including Grandboy's godmother, who is a charming woman. Caro and I are good friends and as we sat around at the party, the conversation turned to my novels. She asked me, "What made you choose to write the genre you write?"

An interesting question, don't you think? What made me choose romance novels rather than sci-fi or cozy mysteries or paranormal or young adult or even literary novels? I didn't choose romance because it's what I read exclusively because it surely isn't. I read everything, from Jane Austen to Clive Cussler to Stephen King to Hemingway. I always have. I remember discovering Daphne du Maurier mysteries when I was about fourteen and reading Agatha Christie before that. I read teen romances as a very young "tween" as well as the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Pretty much, I was a voracious reader--anything and everything. My mom encouraged us to read and didn't censor our reading material very often.

I discovered romantic fiction when I was a young mom--a friend and I subscribed to Silhouette Romance's monthly book club and then found the used book store where we could trade our books and get even more. Kathleen Gilles Seidel, Anne Stuart, Diana Palmer . . . I fell in love with stories about falling in love! When I started writing, stories about happily-ever-afters were what came naturally to me. I loved reading them, so writing them just felt right.

I did have a good time creating the small mystery in The Summer of Second Chances, but the story was mainly the friends-to-lovers trope that is all romance. I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic. So the answer to Caro's question is simply this: I didn't choose romance--romance chose me. Writing happy endings and passionate romances makes me happy, which to me is a great reason to be a romance writer.

What about you, wranglers? What made you choose the genre you write? Let's talk . . .

Comments

  1. I'm like you--it chose me. I wanted a HEA, my mind won't build mysteries (though it likes reading them), I don't care for suspense or sci-fi... Oh, and I could never make myself read Hemingway. :-) Nice post, Nan.

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    1. Funny how we look for that HEA, isn't it? I think that says something really wonderful about us--we're basically happy and we like to find the happy in everything. Glad you came by, mon amie!

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  2. Yep, this. Almost word for word.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, A.D. and know what? I could've guessed that about you! Hugs!!

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  3. Exactly, I love the HEA. (And like Liz, no Hemingway for me either - read enough of that in high school and college)

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  4. Hey Carolyn! I loved Hemingway in high school and college and still read A Moveable Feast every few years to get my fix. The movie Midnight In Paris really captured Papa Hemingway for me. But, I need my HEA, too! Thanks for chiming in!

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  5. ooh, good question...Like Liz, because of the happy-ever-after, but I also like exploring all those dark bits of personality and character...but mostly, it's the HEA

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  6. I'm going to go with, I write YA because I'm young at heart. LOL. Okay, it just so happens that is where my natural voice seems to lie. I do venture out once in a while, but I always seem to return to YA.

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