Wordcraft -- Romance vs. suspense: he writes, she writes

Was there an unintended pun in the subtitle of the panel at the Readers & ’ritas convention last weekend: “The Difference Between a Straight Mystery and a Romantic Suspense”? Because the three authors who addressed a room full of romance fans turned the word “straight” on its head.

In fairness to the convention’s organizer, Fresh Fiction, the panel was supposed to consist of three women authors. But when one had to cancel, the moderator tagged the first male author invited to the convention, swashbucklingly gay author/writing teacher Damon Suede to fill in. Joined with mystery writer/Italian translator Traci Andrighetti and suspense writer/scientist Lara Lacombe, the result was a gleeful hour spent tugging at the boundaries of romantic fiction, mystery, and male-female viewpoints.

After reminding the audience that the etymology of “romance” derives from the original word for a novel, Suede, Andrighetti and Lacombe played with ways to define “romance”, “mystery” and “thriller/suspense” in modern terms.

The function of a mystery, Suede posited is “that things will be untangled when they go wrong”; that of a thriller/suspense becomes “maybe no one will help you” and that of a romance is “someone will help” when those tangled things are going very, very wrong. In other words, the overwhelming characteristic of a romance, both readers and authors agreed, is that the relationship between two people is paramount.

Still, in drawing the line between mystery/thriller and romance, “I think it’s often a shame that mystery writers forget there’s often a love interest involved” in their books, Andrighetti said.

The problem, she believes, often lies in the sexual stereotyping of books. “We say women write romance and men write mystery.”

Suede agreed. And that the stereotyping works both ways.

He was told by other romance writers that he wouldn't be able to write romance, “because I’m a male writer. I think many more guys read romance than we think. I have a fire house in Austin that reads all my books (Hot Head, Seedy Business, Grown Men, Horn Gate, Bad Idea) ¾ and they’re straight guys. They say, now I can talk to my girlfriend about this stuff.”

“In my family,” Andrighetti counters, “my dad and brother are really uncomfortable reading my books (Limoncello Yellow and Prosecco Pink). (But) I read in Italian, and I was inspired by a woman named Gabriella Genisi, and 70 percent of her readers are male.” (She’s also thrilled at the prospect of translating Genisi’s work for English-speaking readers.)

And then, ahem, there’s the stereotype that romance readers, well, maybe any readers, don’t want to try anything too challenging. Which brought the panel back to the dilemma of Lacombe. Make that, Dr. Lacombe, with a doctorate in immunology and microbiology. Mild-mannered science professor by day, she writes suspense with romantic elements (Lethal Lies, Fatal Fallout, Deadly Contact ) by night.

Do you find it hard to dumb down your books?” an audience member asked.

Not even an issue, Lacombe insisted. The thought that readers may consider themselves “dumb” distresses her. “I think you’re taught to think you’re dumb. That’s not right. I try to write the books with a bit of knowledge that lets people say, now that’s interesting.”

Leading to an aha moment from the game theory book, A Theory of Fun, Suede said. “There’s a balance between fun that’s too hard and fun that’s too easy.” Finding the right balance between easy and hard is the challenge. “If it’s too much of either, it’s boring.”

For more about Andrighetti, Lacombe and Suede, as well as the Readers & ’ritas convention, see the site for convention sponsor Fresh Fiction, at http://freshfiction.com/.

Wordcraft -- Romance with the strangest beings

Dear Romance Writer -- I can’t figure my boyfriend out. One minute, he’s normal, the next he’s grown fangs that would give an orthodontist nightmares. And even though I have visions about him (literally), I can’t tell whether the scene where he mistakes an obnoxious relative for a turkey is about the coming Thanksgiving dinner or from a past life. Is it safe to bring him home to meet my family? Signed, Desperate in Dallas

With apologies to paranormal romance authors, Vicki Lewis Thompson, Jaye Wells, and Shannon K. Butcher, Desperate in Dallas’s letter is a sample of world they write about. It’s a twenty-first century world, but one where heroine and hero face more challenges than Jane Austen ever dreamed of on their way to finding happiness together. But although the heroine’s family may be witches and the hero’s beasts, love still wins if lovers can keep their wits as sharp as their fangs.

It’s a subgenre dominated by the world of the internet and e-books, and a panel discussion of “All Things Paranormal” drew a standing room only crowd at the Readers & ’ritas conference in Allen, Texas this month.

What draws writers and their readers to this genre of romance and the supernatural?

“It’s so engrossing,” Butcher said. (Yes, she is married to paranormal fantasy author Jim Butcher). “You live in this other world, keeping true to the laws of physics you set up. I‘ll reverse engineer a world to evoke a particular emotional response, to forge an emotional landscape.” (And for more about her and the world of her stories, see http://shannonkbutcher.com/.)

Wells agreed. “World building is the organic, play part for me. I find it hard not to write paranormal. When you’re writing paranormal, if things slow down, you can always throw in a demon.”

“What I do when it’s getting boring is throw in some sex,” Thompson said, drawing a hearty response from the audience. She admits to being the most light-hearted of the group. “Since I like humor, I’m going to have humorous stuff in the world.” In addition to more traditional romance series, the latest in her “Wild About You” series, Werewolf in Las Vegas, is due out next spring, according to her site,
www.vickilewisthompson.com/.

Wells asserts that the devil beams her wittiest lines to her through her dental fillings, and otherwise indulges her hand at humor under the pen name Kate Eden. Her (Wells’, not Eden’s) next book is the first of an upcoming series, Prospero’s War, is about a female cop out to clean up the traffic in illegal and addictive dirty magic. For more updates and to read sample chapters of this and other Wells’ series, see
http://jayewells.com

Butcher’s upcoming Willing Sacrifice, due March 2014, opens with a vision heroine Rory Rainey declares can’t be expunged from her mind with all the brain bleach in the world.

Given that they’re writing about sex, magic, the supernatural, and decidedly un-normal characters, have they ever written anything bizarre enough for their editors to delete?

“I try things,” Wells said, “thinking my editor’s not going to let me get away with it, but she never does. The only thing she insists on is that it needs to drive the story action.”

“I’ve never had an editor call me (on writing),” Thompson said, “but my daughter is my beta reader and she’s called me!”

And for those wanting to learn more about writing romances (the biggest-selling book genre in the U.S.), see the Romance Writers of America website, at
www.rwa.org/.