Romance Weekly: #LoveWriteChat

Writers, especially of the romance variety, can be an interesting breed. Just how different are we? Keep on reading to find out!

For those of you who are new to the Romance Weekly blog hop, each Tuesday a rowdy horde of romance writers spill all the intimate details about their writing process.  This week's questions come from Victoria Barbour. If you found me by way of J.J. Devine, welcome. I hope you'll enjoy your stay.

Alright, it's time to dig in and get our hands dirty. You ready? Me, too!

Question #1:  Have you always written Romance?

Actually, no. I have dabbled in writing short plays and stories for kids. Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing at the time, and have some pretty hefty edits to make before any of those stories see the light of day again. 

My mom was the one who encouraged me to write romance. When I was a teenager, vacations were filled with camping, fishing, and reading. Dad and my sister fished while Mom and I read. As soon as my mom was done reading her book, she'd shout, "DONE!" and chuck her romance book at me. It became a contest to see who could read the fastest. She really fostered my love of reading, and later writing. Over the years, Mom  dropped not-so-subtle hints that she thought I should try my hand at writing a romance story. I supposed she figured I'd had enough disastrous romantic mishaps of my own to keep me writing for years to come. I guess Mom's always do know best, huh?

Question #2:  How do you deal with critiques about the romance genre?

Shortly after I published Redemption For Liars, a female co-worker and I somehow found ourselves on the topic of romance novels. She was telling me that her friend had been reading "one of those trashy smut books". 

I had to laugh. "You do realize that I write those trashy smut books, right?"

She looked completely baffled. "No, you don't. It's not the same thing."

But it was. Call them what you like: smut books, trashy stories, or bodice rippers, I'm proud to call myself a romance writer. 

Question #3:  What’s the one thing about our genre you’d like people to know?

Writing well is tough to do. But writing romantic suspense is downright damned hard. Don't believe me? You try developing two different main character POV's and their love saga, and then balance that with a villain and his/her mystery or suspense plot. Two different story arcs have to be seamlessly woven together so that one can't exist without the other. It ain't easy!  

Even simple story lines take a ton of work. The amount of research, world-building, and character development can be a daunting task. It's not as simple as just tossing two characters together to see if they fall in love. There has to be some semblance of believability to it, which can be tough to do. Every detail has to be thought out and then worded just so. Women want to feel as if they are the one falling in love, like every feathery kiss is igniting their own skin. They don't just want to get to KNOW the main characters, they want to BE the main character. 

You know, now that I think about it . . . In a roundabout way, we keep wives horny and marriages together. No need to cheat when you can read a book to get the same feelings! 

Ok, so maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but there's got to be some sort of statistics out there to back me up. 

Well, that's it for today. Come back next week for another healthy dose of Writer's Weekly. Up next on the Blog Hop is Eden Ashe. Oh, and don't forget to enter the Romance Weekly Giveaway for a slew of prizes, including a Kindle Fire preloaded with a ton of free e-books for your reading pleasure. Click on the link below to enter. 

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