Oh those scandalous, smutty books! Why, no one with any class would read romance!

On a shelf and everything! In Public! OMG Cover your eyes! Look Away! Look Away! 

Brace yourself. It's not a big drama, more a minor annoyance, kind of indicative of the kind of stigma that writers of romance still have to deal with on a daily basis. Of course, it's also a rather nasty little dig at those who read and enjoy romance.

*sigh* 

Romance novels too embarrassing to even donate to a public library
I think it is definitely showing a lack of "class" to denigrate novels sent in a professional capacity, and rather insulting to the millions of romance readers out there to dismiss the genre out of hand as "creepy" and whatever the opposite of classy is.

Of course, this blogger admits to reading Harlequins back in the day, but they apparently are not indicators of lack of "class" because they didn't have sex. (don't know what decade she's talking about – a brief survey shows that HQN novels have had sex since the 70's – some admittedly more graphic than others)

The presence of sex in a book is the apparent beacon guide by which the "classiness" of a book can be measured. The less sex the more class. 

So glad to clear that up. 

What the heck am I talking about? This blog post. 

http://blogs.clarionledger.com/annieoeth/2013/08/17/romance-novels/

Check it out. Feel free to comment here, or there, with your opinion on the "classiness" of reading and/or writing romance novels. Do let me know if you've ever checked a romance novel out of the library, too! 

What Romance Readers Expect...#2

What The Reader Wants – The Mutation Factor

The original meaning of “Romance” was not a love story with a happy ending. The term originally referred to a medieval epic poem, a tale packed with knights and battles, often scattered about with magic and fantastic creatures. The Song of Roland? Gawain and the Green Knight? Romance. In some, but certainly not all of these tales, a love interest pops up with the emphasis on pure, courtly love. Readers of the day, more often listeners since only a small percentage of the population could read, expected action, grand, life-threatening mistakes, heroic last stands, and noble sacrifices.

Happy endings optional.

The word morphed through the centuries. In the 17^th and 18^th centuries, a Romance referred to a Gothic style tale—horror, dread, supernatural happenings. Hardly the love story we think of today, but the titillation factor was certainly there. Young girls weren’t supposed to read that stuff. Too exciting. In that respect, the Gothic has much in common with the modern Romance, that forbidden, wide-eyed, often loin-stimulating excitement.

Skip ahead a bit to the 20^th century and the classic Harlequin style romance. What did readers expect out of these? A set, predictable formula with set, predictable character types. We lambaste this sort of thinking today (oh, heck, a lot of us did then) but the reader wanted this comfort, wanted to be able to shake off the real world and bask in a world where perfect men exist and the ending is always HEA.

While certain elements still apply, the modern romance has mutated like a virus over the past twenty years, reader expectations both leading and following this constant evolution. Today, the reader tends to be more experienced, more jaded, at least in a literary sense. We know the perfect man doesn’t exist. We don’t want perfect. We know happy doesn’t always last.

The expectations of today’s reader vary, sometimes the gulf between one reader and another enough to toss the well-intentioned author into the pit of despair. Becky wants yummy Alphas, but Max is sick to death of them. April wants only HEA, but Caroline’s content with a little HFN and will even condone a character death if done well. Tabitha wants more sex, less plot. Aaron wants more plot, less sex. More erudite language – challenge us! Less literary language – don’t make us look stuff up!

You get my point. The wonderful part about modern romance is that the reader can have it all. You just have to know what you like, understand where to find those things, and encourage those authors. What do I look for in a romance? I’m not a traditionalist. Give me something different. Give me damaged characters with quirks and twitches. Give me magic and extrapolations on science and society. Give me weird and wild. Just write it well, don’t get lazy, and for the sake of all that’s holy, please have a plot.

What do readers want? Everything. Good thing today’s romance offers a buffet instead of a prix fixe menu. Try a little of everything. Then come back for more.

Angel Martinez is the erotic fiction pen name of a writer of several genres. She loves beer and chocolate if you ever need a good bribe, writes mainly M/M fiction and is a geeky fan girl where several other authors are concerned. Her latest?

Semper Fae: Endangered Fae 3

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-semperfaeendangeredfae3-1045438-142.html

http://www.amazon.com/Semper-Fae-Endangered-ebook/dp/B00B4FD192/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1358951390&sr=1-3

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/274478

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/semper-fae-angel-martinez/1114195365?ean=2940016035383

Zack thought he had a strange job before. Marine medic in a secret government base was odd, but personal assistant to a sidhe prince is downright bizarre. Lycanthropy and loose cannon mages conspire to make a hellish mess out of things - but the real peril begins when Diego Sandoval, Human Consul to the Fae, loses an important piece of his mind.

For more info on Angel’s work, visit:

Erotic Fiction for the Hungry Mind

Romance Readers Expect....

What Do Romance Readers Expect From A Story? A Raven's eye view.

"Simple," you think. "Well duh it's love. And romance," I hear you say, along with rolling eyes and, "huh she say's she's a romance author."

But what is romance?

 All things to all people.

That old well used expression of one persons terrorist is the next person's freedom fighter comes to mind here. (Or horses for courses.) If you ask ten people (like I did) what romance is to them, and what they expect from a story, you'll get twenty answers, most of them differing in some sway. Reaches for wine.

To some people it's all hearts and flowers. They want a story from meet to wedding, and everything in between. Others like it short hot and steamy. Some half way from one to the other. The one thing everyone I quizzed said was, that it wasn't a romance unless there was a connection between those involved. A wham bam thank you sir or ma'am isn't romance. In its place it can be an enjoyable read, but it's not what a romance reader expect from a story—except when…Argh, read on. Wipes brow—opens wine.

How detailed a story is depends on the author and their voice. What sort of romance a person reads depends on their taste. But the one thing that shouts out is connection. Something more than an itch. A deep seated need.

Now that in itself can cause arguments. Define what is a connection. Oh-oh, now were going down the road of hard stares and gritted teeth. Remember the freedom fighter and terrorist? Yeah, yet again its different things for different people.

What seems like a simple straightforward question is a mine-field. Pours the wine. I wondered if I was going to need a referee at times. Luckily this wasn't areal face-to-face meeting. Truly the internet is a wondrous thing.

And at the end of an hour full of giggles, shouts, sighs, drools (and some shall we say 'inspiring' pictures) had I come to a definitive conclusion?

Sadly no. Drinks the wine to cool down after some of those photos. What I decide was that every romance reader expects something different. Something personal to them.

That can only be good news for authors. We all write with our own voice, which suits some but not others. However as everyone expects something different, somewhere, our something is perfect for someone.

'Phew'. Finishes wine.

Did that help? Probably not, but the wine did.

As I said recently, Raven books at the moment are like London buses. Now for a while then lots at once.

March 19^th Will You Dance Miss Laurence, a short Romance on the Go, contempory BDSM themed story from Evernight Publishing.

Dancing lessons were supposed to be fun, but who ever heard of attending them without your knickers on?

Shibari Master Ryan is intrigued by Ava, so when his cousin asks a favor, he is only too happy to help Ava out of the rut she says she is in.

Will her past allow her to enjoy his bondage, or will true submission prove a step too much?

And…

March 22^nd A Rose Between The Thornes, A Regency menage from Breathless Press.

Propriety is a lonely bedfellow, until twin delights show this lady her true desires.

At three and forty Rose Sophia, Lady Symonds has resigned herself to life passing her by. Overhearing her protégée in the throes of passion with not one but two lovers, leaves her wanting and wishing.

That is until she is accosted at a ball by Jasper and Nathaniel Thorne. Newly back in the county the eccentric and much younger twins, have set their sights on Rose, and they are determined to have her, even it means cheating at cards.

Will accepting their wager free Rose and lead her to the heights of passion she craves? Or will their desired drive her away?

Find me here…

http://www.ravenmcallan.com

http://www.ravenmcallan.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/rmcallan (my page)

https://www.facebook.com/ravenmcallan       (author page)

https://twitter.com/RavenMcAllan

Happy Reading,

Love R x