What do query critiques, blogs, and men fumbling through romance on Valentine’s Day? This week’s fabulous lectures! Join us for an enlightening and entertaining line-up of Visiting Professors.

Mon, 2/6 – Monthly columnist C.J. Redwine returns with a critique of a reader submitted query letter. Join C.J. as she celebrates the release of her query book and kicks off QUERY PALOOZA! http://cjredwine.blogspot.com

Wed, 2/8 – RU columnist and agent Sara Megibow shares her thoughts on blogs. Are they an effective tool in an agent’s toolbox? http://www.nelsonagency.com

Fri, 2/10 – Handsome Hansel’s humorous take on the trials, tribulations and occasional triumphs men experience while attempting to pull-off romance (with some form of sincerity) on Valentine’s Day. It seems most men still don’t have it figured out. http://thedanceofromanceonline.com/

All Romance University lectures are generously provided by our Visiting Professors. RU is a tuition-free zone!
All our best,
Tracey Devlyn, Jennifer Tanner, Becke Martin-Davis, Kelsey Browning, Adrienne Giordano, Robin Covington, and Carrie Spencer

Welcome back, Damon!

Depression, disaster, and disillusionment are the secret throbbing heart of romantic fantasy. As Hitchcock once pointed out, “The stronger the evil, the stronger the film.” While it may seem obvious to apply that rule to the crime genre or action-adventure, darkness is the mainspring of all stories: fear, anger, brutality, and deceit. Think I’m bonkers? Look to the personal suffering that drives your people and the bigger shadows cloaking their world. In a real sense, the thing that makes romance compelling is not the happiness of its ending but the gloom that make that ending possible and satisfying.

Every love story has a painful core that makes its pleasure possible.

Haven’t we made the McRomance mistake at some point? One of the most common traps for young romance writers is to invent two dazzling protagonists, concoct a saucy meet-cute and then let them have exactly what they want as they march in lockstep to their predetermined life as cheerful automatons…which is about as entertaining as watching oatmeal simmer. Without highs and lows, grist and grit, nothing can happen…no one can changes… Hell, without friction even SEX doesn’t feel good.

The thing is, for a romance to feel satisfying, protagonists need to change and develop, and in fiction (as in life) real growth is never a cakewalk. Who’s gonna take your hero’s epiphany seriously if it doesn’t come with a cost and a real impetus? Certainly no reader who has ever faced adversity, that is to say, anyone who has ever drawn breath. To get your characters out of their status quo you have to hit them where they live and hit hard. Destroy their old selves so that their new selves can emerge, together. The satisfaction in romance fiction is not that the ending is happy, but that it overcomes overwhelming odds by unlikely people.

To put it another way: love stories are unleashed not by license, but limitations.

Take a look at your work-in-progress. All catastrophes are not created equal and every story deserves its own distinct shading. It’s up to you to determine the lower limit you’re willing to broach: whether it’s cutting glances from trusted friends or madwomen in attics. The dark patches don’t have to be violent or event depressing, but they need to provide chiaroscuro for your fictional folks. Evil produces context and sets up the limits of the world you’re building. The personal voids within each character draws on the powerful forces shadowing the book and vice versa. What is the worst thing that could possibly happen to your characters and how soon can you make it happen? I’m only half-joking.

In the weakest romance fiction, perfect couples amble through a few mild complications before snicking into place like a greased lock. In essence these books telegraph their endings from page one, not because they end happily but because they start happily and stay that way for long stretches. A jog through the daisies, as some folks would have it…contentment but not joy. Most books that fail for me blow it by wrapping all their characters in cotton wool and completely skipping the kind of “Dark night of the Soul” that might transform the protagonists and their world.

Love hurts.

Think back over romance novels you’ve loved or the genre-defining books that drive our industry. The most unforgettable stories and characters spring from crushing opposition. What we remember about romance novels is the darkness that drives them. Three hundred pages of folks being happy together makes for a hefty sleeping pill, but three hundred pages of a couple finding a way to be happy in the face of impossible odds makes our hearts soar. In darkness, we are all alone.

So don’t just make love, make anguish for your characters. As you structure a story, don’t satisfy your hero’s desires, thwart them. Make sure your solutions create new problems. Nurture your characters doubts and despair. Make them earn the happy ending they want, even better…make them deserve it. Delay and disappointment charge situations and validate character growth.  Misery accompanies love. It’s no accident that many of the stories we think of as timeless romances in Western Literature are fiercely tragic: Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, Cupid and Psyche… the pain in them drags us back again and again, hoping that this time we’ll find a way out of the dark.

Only if you let your characters get lost will we get lost in them. And that, more than anything else, is what romance can and should do for its protagonists and its readers: lead us through the labyrinth, skirt the monstrous despair roaming its halls, and find our way into daylight.

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RU Crew, how do you create anguish for your characters so they really deserve that HEA at the end of the story?

Join us Friday for Extreme Makeover, Writer’s Office Edition with Jeanne Adams.

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Bio: Damon Suede grew up out-n-proud deep in the anus of right-wing America, and escaped as soon as it was legal. Though new to M/M, Damon has been writing for print, stage, and screen for two decades. He’s won some awards, but counts his blessings more often: his amazing friends, his demented family, his beautiful husband, his loyal fans, and his silly, stern, seductive Muse who keeps whispering in his ear, year after year. Get in touch with him at DamonSuede.com.

Mon, 1/30 - Get the inside scoop on how the three RU co-founders have handled their careers progressing at different paces.

Wed, 2/1 – Join Damon Suede as he explores the role of the dark moment in romances in making your happy endings even more satisfying to your reader.

Fri, 2/3  – Join Jeanne Adams for her before and after Extreme Maker Over, Writer’s Office Edition.

All RomanceUniversitylectures are generously provided by our Visiting Professors. RU is a tuition-free zone!

Best regards,

Carrie Spencer, Kelsey Browning, Adrienne Giordano, Tracey Devlyn, Jennifer Tanner, Robin Covington and Becke Martin Davis.

Ed Gaffney, Suzanne Brockmann and Jason Gaffney

About a year and a half ago, I took a break from writing legal-thrillers and I co-wrote a screenplay called “The Perfect Wedding” with Suzanne Brockmann (my wife, who is a New York Times bestselling author) and our son, Jason. We liked the result, and we went on to produce the movie. (It’s an ensemble romantic comedy featuring Hollywood veterans James Rebhorn and Kristine Sutherland. It’s in post-production now–we’ll be submitting it to film festivals starting in February or March.)

As the film went through the long journey from idea to completed picture, I got a front row seat to the radical differences between telling a story through novel-writing and telling a story through movie-making. For those authors out there considering pointing their talents (and their keyboards) in the direction of the big screen, here are a few things I’ve learned.

Actor Eric Aragon ("Paul Fowler"), Director Scott Gabriel, Line Producer Matt Dunnam

Lesson One – When you complete the final draft of your screenplay, it is not even close to being finished.

One of the joys I experience as a novelist is reaching the end of the journey with my characters. I really like getting through the climactic moment of the story, tying up the loose ends, and bringing the book to a tight, neat closing. A closing that is very much defined by me typing the words: The End.

And I have never had a reader come to me after reading one of my books and say, “You know what? I think you should change the end of chapter three, and the dialogue in the scene at the diner between the lawyer and the investigator should be tighter.”

It’s not that I write perfect books — it’s just that everyone understands that when the book is out there for sale, it’s done. No changing the end of chapter three. No tightening the dialogue in the diner scene. A reader may or may not like any particular part of the book, but there’s no changing it. It’s published. It’s done.

So I was far from prepared when virtually everyone who read the completed script (I’m talking about everyone — the director, the actors, the investors, my mother-in-law — you name it) acted as if our completed, finished, and very very polished screenplay were just a draft.

Because for the writers, we were done. We’d gone over the screenplay many times, and we’d gotten it just the way we wanted it. We’d written the final scene — we’d written FADE TO BLACK and CREDITS at the bottom of the last page.

And yet, everyone assumed that the script wasn’t finished.

You know what? They were right.

(L to R) Actors Eric Aragon ("Paul Fowler") and Jason T. Gaffney ("Gavin Greene")

The problem is that for book writers, when you’ve gone through revisions and editing, and you finally stand up from the computer for the last time, the writing really is finished. The manuscript goes to the printer, printed books get shipped to the stores, and then (fingers crossed) books get bought by the readers. But when you’re telling a story through the movies, when you stand up from the computer after the last page of the screenplay is written, you’re just getting started. Because what ends up on the screen isn’t necessarily what you wrote on the page. And that’s thanks in large part to something else that I learned about movies….

Lesson Two — Every screenplay has a million co-writers.

There is a very real possibility that dozens of people who work on the movie that you’ve written might end up suggesting or creating something that adds to, or replaces something in your script. The script that was already finished, and that you had deemed just right. And as unnerving as that might sound to a writer, when the right people are on the team, that kind of collaboration can sometimes lead to something very special.

For example, in The Perfect Wedding, a critical moment arises when Richard (played by James Rebhorn) attempts to reassure his wife, Meryl (played by Kristine Sutherland) that despite his recent diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s, no matter what happens, he will never forget her or their children, Paul and Alana. Richard’s dialogue includes the following passage: “They haven’t invented a disease that will make me forget you, or Paul, or Alana, or how much I love all of you. Maybe my body will stop working. Maybe even my mind. But my heart — Alzheimer’s isn’t going to touch my heart.”

No matter what else Suz, Jace and I changed about the script as we went from draft to draft, we always left that section alone. We felt like we’d gotten it just right. The emotion, the language, the content, everything.

And then, our big star, Jim Rebhorn, took me aside and asked me to change it.

I had no idea how to handle the situation. Jim had appeared in over a hundred movies and televisions shows, including blockbusters (Independence Day, Meet the Parents), Oscar nominees and winners (My Cousin Vinny, Cold Mountain, The Talented Mr. Ripley), and Emmy winners (30 Rock, Seinfeld, Homeland). And on top of all of that experience, he was nice, he was smart, and he was really talented. Yet every instinct I had was telling me that the message that Richard was delivering, and the way the language flowed, was going to make this monologue and this scene one of the emotional high points of the movie. I was sure that changing it would weaken the writing, and the scene.

(L to R) Actors Kristine Sutherland ("Meryl Fowler") and James Rebhorn ("Richard Fowler")

But Jim was concerned that Richard’s message to Meryl might mislead people into believing that all Alzheimer’s patients needed to do to counteract any loss of memory was to will themselves into remembering. So he suggested adding some language to make clear that Richard was speaking in an emotional context, not in a clinical one.

And while we certainly did not intend to leave anyone with the impression that Alzheimer’s patients had some control over the loss of their memory, we really didn’t want to tinker with what we’d written.

And then, I got an idea. I suggested that Richard start to say the words that Jim wanted to add, but then get too emotionally caught up to continue. So the new line read, “…Maybe even my mind. But my heart, that’s where … Alzheimer’s isn’t going to touch my heart.”

And you know what? The addition of those two words — “that’s where” — made the scene better. You should see what Jim and Kristine did with that moment. It’s one of my favorites in the movie. And it never would have happened it without Jim’s input.

Lesson Three — You are not in control of your story. (A less delicate way to say it would be: It’s not really your story.)

Imagine this: You’ve written a book, a time travel story, set in Phoenix. The story isn’t dependent on taking place in Phoenix, but that’s what you’ve imagined, and like any good writer, you carefully weave the story into its setting. You think it would make a good movie, and so, as an exercise, you decide to write a screenplay version of the book. You show the screenplay to some people in the film industry, and they’re impressed. One (an agent) decides it’s so good that he wants to try to sell it.

(L to R) actors Apolonia Davalos ("Alana Fowler"), Kristine Sutherland ("Meryl Fowler"), Eric Aragon ("Paul Fowler") and James Rebhorn ("Richard Fowler")

Fast forward a few years. Nothing has come of the screenplay, and you are back to writing books.

Then, one day, you get approached by a producer/director (let’s call him “Mr. Hollywood”) who would like to make your Phoenix time travel book into a movie. And when you show Mr. Hollywood your screenplay, he’s thrilled. He’s even more interested in doing the movie.

And then imagine learning that Mr. Hollywood has met with an investor, and everything is a go, as long as the movie is set in Pittsburgh, and not Phoenix. Because the investor lives in Pittsburgh, and would like to fund a movie that’s set in Pittsburgh.

This really happened to Suz some years ago. And because she wanted to see her book made into a movie, she busted her rear end, researching Pittsburgh and the surrounding area to rewrite the screenplay so that it would believably take place in Western Pennsylvania.

She overhauled the script in a week, in order to have it ready for a big meeting between the investor and Mr. Hollywood.

Talks stalled, and the movie never happened.

(L to R) actors Brendan Griffin ("Kirk Corbett") and Apolonia Davalos ("Alana Fowler")

So what’s the take-away? Unless you write, produce, direct, and star in your own movie, you aren’t in control of the screenplay that you write. Your six-foot tall African-American hero? Now he’s five-foot eight, and he’s from Japan. That beautiful scene in front of the waterfall? Didn’t have the budget — now it’s going to take place in a grocery store parking lot.

And you know that scene with the young girl and the dog? Can’t do it. The actress is allergic.

It’s probably going to drive you crazy.

But if you enjoy sharing the creative process with dozens of others, and if you are lucky enough to be a part of a caring, bright and respectful team, you might find yourself in the middle of an unforgettable and a truly enriching experience.

As long as you’re okay setting the whole thing in Pittsburgh.

I’d write more, but I’ve got to go. Because despite the fact that we wrote the screenplay for The Perfect Wedding nearly two years ago, and despite the fact that we filmed it last year, and despite the fact that we’re less than two months from submitting it to film festivals, I’ve got to help write some more dialogue for the sound edit. Because the screenplay isn’t done yet.

I’m not kidding.

***

Have any of you attempted screenwriting? What difficulties did you encounter that were different from novel writing?

We have a full week – not just our usual Mon-Weds-Fri, but EVERY day! Tomorrow JO ROBERTSON of the Romance Bandits is our Visiting Professor. Hope you’ll join us!

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Bio:

2009 Edgar Award Nominee ENEMY COMBATANT

Ed Gaffney is an attorney, an EDGAR nominee for his legal thriller Enemy Combatant, the critically acclaimed author of three other novels (Premeditated Murder, Suffering Fools and Diary of a Serial Killer), as well as the co-producer and co-writer of the off-Broadway production Looking for Billy Haines, the writer and director of the independent feature film Jolly, and one of the writer and producers of The Perfect Wedding. He lives in Florida with his wife, New York Times bestselling author, Suzanne Brockmann.

Ed’s website is here: http://edgaffney.com/

LIKE The Perfect Wedding on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ThePerfectWeddingMovie

Mon, 1/23 - Author Ed Gaffney – husband of Suzanne Brockmann – discusses how writing a screenplay is different from writing a novel.

Tue, 1/24 – Jo Roberson of the Romance Bandits focuses on when indie publishing is a viable option for writers.

Wed, 1/25 – Wednesday’s guest is weapons expert Adam Firestone, who advises writers on choreographing action scenes and how to accurately bring on the big guns.

Thu, 1/26 – Best-selling author Shannon McKenna shares her writing process with us.

Fri, 1/27 – Melinda Leigh tells us how she gives an animal a character arc.

All RomanceUniversitylectures are generously provided by our Visiting Professors. RU is a tuition-free zone!

Best regards,

Carrie Spencer, Kelsey Browning, Adrienne Giordano, Tracey Devlyn, Jennifer Tanner, Robin Covington and Becke Martin Davis.

Mon,  1/16 – New York Times bestselling author Teresa Medeiros puts your opening scene to the test. If you can answer “yes!” to Teresa’s three questions, you might have the next best seller. Teresa’s giving away a copy of her Dec 27th release THE PLEASURE OF YOUR KISS to one lucky commenter. #bookgiveaway http://www.teresamedeiros.com

Wed, 1/18 – Author Wendy S. Marcus talks about reader reviews and how an author should handle the not so pleasant ones. Wendy’s generously giving away two copies of her latest release ONCE A GOOD GIRL.  http://wendysmarcus.com

Fri, 1/20 – Theresa Stevens, publisher of Star Publishing, stops by to give us her monthly dose of good writing advice! This week: The goods on line editing.  http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/

AllRomanceUniversitylectures are generously provided by our Visiting Professors. RU is a tuition-free zone!

Best regards,

Carrie Spencer, Jennifer Tanner, Robin Covington, Kelsey Browning, Becke Martin-Davis, Adrienne Giordano and Tracey Devlyn

Question for Paige – Were you already a published author when you and Paul met? If not, at what point did the two of you start working together?

A. I wrote stories before we met, but I wasn’t published yet. I really didin’t get serious about making it a career until five or six years ago. I started writing that first book – SAMANTHA AND THE DETECTIVE – myself, but I was a panster, which got me into trouble quickly. Paul, who is much more organized than I am, told me if I wanted to be successful, I should outline books before writing them. I told him I wasn’t very good at that kind of thing, then gave him my best butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouth look (he knows the one!) and asked if he’d help me. How could he say no, right?

Question for Paige – How many books have you had published? Out of that total, how many has Paul worked with you on?

A. I have thirty-nine books published to date, plus another coming out in Nov. (a Christmas story called SANTA’S WAYWARD ELF!) and he’s helped me on all of them!

Question for Paige and Paul – Would you say working together has been good for your marriage overall?

A. We wouldn’t necessarily say it’s been either good or bad. It’s indicative of how we approach marriage. We try to be very supportive of each other’s goals and dreams. Sure, writing has led to some heated disagreements, but we handle them the same way we do any other argument. (i.e. I let Paul vent for a while until he’s ready to listen to me and agree that I’m right. LOL!)

Question for Paul – How did your working relationship with Paige begin? Did you offer to help, or did she ask for your input?

A. Originally, Paige would ask for my thoughts on how a story should flow, and I’d try to dictate random thoughts to her as she typed. That didn’t work out too well. So, I started writing bubble outlines similar to a flowchart on paper and she’d use that to write the story. The more we started working together, though, the more it made sense for me to outline the story on my computer, then give it to her when I finished. I started to add a lot more detail, especially to the action scenes, which helped her get the books written faster. I like her to write fast. Fast = more money! I’m a bottom line type of guy.

Question for Paige – Did you find it awkward when Paul first started reading your stories, or have you always shared them with him?

A. Not awkward, no. But when he criticized something, it hurt my feelings in the beginning. Which was silly, especially since his suggestions were usually good ones, but I’m a very sensitive person! The more books we worked on, though, the better I got at taking his suggestions – and his criticism! LOL! Paul’s nudging me, saying he got better at giving worthwhile suggestions instead of just ranting.

Question for Paige and Paul – What happens when you disagree over how a scene should go? Are you more likely to argue over a sexy scene or, say, an action scene?

A. We’re more likely to argue about an action scene. As a guy, he’ll approach it like an action flick, instead of a romance book. I tell him women don’t want read about all that gross stuff, so we’ve had to tone down some stuff. He’s getting better at that, though! We also disagree about overall plot development sometimes. Paul can get too focused on the story or the suspense or the paranormal elements, and forget it needs to be first and foremost a romance. As far as how we deal with that, it’s a work in progress. I worry I’ll hurt his feelings if I say I don’t like something he put in the story. He tells me I have complete creative control, though. Two people can’t write a book equally – one person has to be in charge.

Question for Paige and Paul – Would you describe your writing process? What are your “areas of expertise”? (Oh man, that sounds really suggestive, but I’m aiming for plotting vs. dialogue type answers here. Although…!)

A. LOL! Cute! We start by coming up with a story idea, then talking about it before putting anything on paper. Paul then writes the outline, initially focusing on the plot and actions scenes which I read while I’m working on writing another book he’s already outlined. That way I can keep him on track with what my vision is for the story. When he’s done with the outline, I write the book, then we edit it together. As to what we’re both good at, I love getting to know the characters and getting inside their heads, adding emotion to the story, as well as writing dialogue. Paul’s much better with action scenes and plotting the overall story. When it comes to sex scenes, Paul focuses on the mechanics – where all the hands, feet, tabs and slots go – while I concentrate on the emotions and pillow talk. Just a side note – we do some of our best thinking at PF Chang’s!

Question for Paul – Have you ever considered writing a book yourself?

A. Not really. I could certainly outline and draft a story, but it would lack depth and soul. Those are the key elements that Paige adds to the mix. Also, it sounds bad to say, but after I had an outline done, my creative interest would wane, and I’d be more likely to want to jump to the next outline. In the business world, I’d be the one getting the start-up business going, but then turning it over to someone else once the wheels are all rolling in the right direction.

Question for Paige and Paul – What are some of the benefits of writing together? What are the drawbacks?

A. You have a built-in critique partner, sounding board, editor, research assistant (in every sense of the word!). You also have someone who gives you a fresh look at a story and can tell you when it’s headed off track. He’s also my emotional support, too. When I get a crappy review, he says opinions are like a-holes – everyone has them. Plus, he lets me vent! We don’t think there are any drawbacks (Paul says being forced to look at guys with six-pack abs on my covers is a drawback, but I don’t agree!)

Paige and Paul, thank you so much for answering all these questions!

***

So, all you writers – do your spouses read your work? Do you ask for their input when you’re writing?

Join us on Monday when debut author NANCY NAIGLE visits with us!

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Bio:

Paige Tyler is a full-time, multi-published, award-winning writer of erotic romance. She and her research assistant and writing partner (otherwise known as her husband!) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their easy going dog and their lazy, I-refuse-to-get-off-the-couch-for-anything-but-food cat. When not working on her latest book, Paige enjoys reading, jogging, doing Pilates, P90X, going to the beach, watching Pro football, and vacationing with her husband at Disney. She loves writing about strong, sexy, alpha males and the feisty, independent women who fall for them. From verbal foreplay to sexual heat, her wickedly hot stories of romance, adventure, passion and true love will bring a blush to your cheeks and leave you breathlessly panting for more!

Look for her stories at Ellora’s Cave, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid and Blushing Books, as well as Amazon, All Romance eBooks and Barnes & Noble.

Paige’s Links:

Website: http://www.paigetylertheauthor.com
Blog: http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1111715782
Facebook Newsletter: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1111715782#!/groups/28772293974/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/PaigeTyler
Email: paigetyler@paigetylertheauthor.com
Email Newsletter: Just email me with “Add Me to Your Mailing List” in the subject line!

Welcome to RU, Damon!

I love romance.

Actually I love mysteries, sci-fi, thrillers, fantasy, erotica, historicals, and pretty much any well-written prose that tells a gripping tale… but there’s something about romance that pierces some secret core of who I am. I write M/M but I have been reading every species of romance since I learned what my heart was for.

Romance is primal. Every one of the genres I mention above (and most every one I didn’t mention) features romantic situations even if they are not literal romances. In fact this strange overlap has birthed a litter of subgenres which continue to mutate and revitalize romance in general (and M/M by extension). In many ways, people coming together, loving each other, and reaching positive resolutions is how you build a universe filled with power and possibility.

Now… secretly I believe that romance is the Ur-genre; I argue this often and I have yet to find a reader, critic, or author who can disprove it. Much of what we think of as fiction comes from much-derided “sentimental” novels of the nineteenth century. Take THAT, romance bashers! After all, it’s no accident that roman is one of the oldest words we have for novel in several languages! The adventure of falling of love has fascinated humans as long as primates have spent time together… which is to say, since the origin of the species.

Typical of a tenacious organism, Romance (in all its configurations) has used subgenres to conquer new mental terrain and widen its audience. Folks who never would have touched a romance get converted to fans by cross-genre titles featuring felonies, vampires, robots, and more. Subgenre offers a perfect Trojan Horse to breach the walls of anti-romantics and authors have embraced it. And for existing fans and stymied writers, paranormals, gothics, and regencies (et al) can offer entire worlds to explore and expand without betraying their essential DNA. These narrative crossbreeds allow Romance to go off road without driving it off a cliff because the dominant traits of ancestry will out: they remain love stories that end positively.

The explosion of M/M as a genre speaks to this eloquently. Written primarily by and for heterosexual women, M/M pushes all kinds of boundaries yet orbits the fundamental questions of intimacy and tension that drive all human relationships. That homoerotic relationships in these books focus on men says more about readers’ willingness to set aside prejudices, preconceptions, and the “tried-and-true” in favor of something unexpected. No surprise that alongside its mass-market M/F cousin, M/M has proliferated so quickly and with such adaptive gusto. Blood is thicker than bias, after all. Naturally M/M thrives in cross-pollinized ideas and any subgenres. A simple gender shift in protagonists opens entire vistas of unfamiliar romantic possibility for the writer and reader. Small wonder so many M/M readers eschew “het” romance because they’ve gotten bored with (what they perceive as) its well-worn ruts and gender-rigid roles.

Paranormal and historical readers often level similar criticisms about the “mundane” contemporaries comfortable sticking with the tried-n-true. Subgenre has allowed Romance to explore wild new territory without shunting love stories to the side. It lets romance bend rules without breaking them and keeps us all on our literary toes. Comparing Stewart’s Touch Not the Cat, Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic, and Meyer’s Twilight will change the way you see all of them. Dissecting Jane Austen and Barbara Cartland and Nora Roberts in tandem might blow your mind. As Picasso once said, “No artist is a bastard. We all have forebears, and we build on the work of others.”

Well, naturally.

At the same time, subgenres complicate the path from “meet cute” to “dazzling sunset” in productive and infuriating ways. Fertile ideas breed like bunnies. Sometimes the fantastical elements or baffling puzzles enrich the love story and sometimes they (frankly) get in the way. Any kind of worldbuilding runs the risk of distracting rather than impacting the lovers and their transformation. Striking the balance is tricky, and I doubt it’s possible to accomplish it “perfectly” because readers and critics vary so wildly in expectations and preconceptions.

What are your expectations and preconceptions? Have they adapted over time?

Recently I’ve gotten into the habit of tracing the romantic DNA in every novel I read. Even the grimmest mystery, the most detached sci-fi, or the driest historical fiction contains strands of Romance… Like any good mad scientist examining a creature, I imagine ways that the book in my hands could have become a love story or even the small nudges that forced its mutation into something that is not. I constantly analyze ways my fellow lunatics work with subgeneric species by sampling and comparing their experiments. Such research pays extreme dividends. Writer’s block becomes impossible when you let fertile ideas roam wild.

At the moment, I’m deep in a steampunk M/M novel that has been kicking my asterisk. I didn’t even know it was steampunk until the characters insisted. I wanted to surprise myself and my readers and so I got funky with my inner Frankenstein. Working in a sub-sub-subgenre like gay steampunk romance has gotten me thinking about the nature of Romance and the ways we nurture our stories to different ends.

In essence, every subgenre novel must survive as a conjoined twin, neither side neglected and sharing their vitals. The genres which have crossbred successfully share certain narrative genetics: nature and nurture, natch. Back at the dawn of the current vampire boom, paranormal could blur into romance because Rice and Whedon had laid the seductive groundwork in decades of pop culture. Early sci-fi romances drew heavily on Roddenberry’s Star Trek universe and other sexy space operas which had established certain charged relationships and gender roles in far flung futures. And of course, romantic suspense and other mystery hybrids started earlier than any, because mysteries grew out of Gothic. They shared nearly identical DNA; their separation at birth remained largely cosmetic and the amalgam as seamless as an organ graft between twins.

In the process of all this experimentation, Romance has scraped off some of the shakier, shadier elements of generations past: women no longer need to be passive and dutiful to the point of self-destruction; rape isn’t glamorized, chastity isn’t compulsory and protagonists need not be white, heterosexual, physically perfect, or technically alive; love stories enshrine more than bourgeois values and majority norms. Most of the formulaic tropes associated with the genre by nonreaders (and nonwriters) are fossils of an earlier romantic strata. We recognize them as relics of our honored forebears, and evolve. Romance honors and revisits its heritage in a way few genres do (or can). Stasis is unnatural! That may be one of its greatest strengths: a sense of past that urges us towards possibility.

Consider the books you read and write. Who are your literary ancestors? What will your artistic legacy be?

Evolution requires active participation. Opposable thumbs don’t appear out of thin air! Vestigial organs and dazzling mutations only make themselves known in active interaction with the environment. If Romance is the DNA, and novels are the critters, then I’d argue that authors and readers are the natural forces that shape the progress and prospects. Every time we put proverbial pen to paper, we nudge the species by our choices and our mindfulness. Every reader engages in literary husbandry by reading and recommending stories. Romance offers that power and that responsibility because the same genetic thread that connects us to these books connects us to each other as readers and writers.

Romance lives and evolves, not an “it” but a fertile She. Our genre remains a sturdy, supple creature and even though she dominates bookshelves without effort, she IS the fittest and she wants more than mere survival! The subgenre explosion of the past decade erected menageries and jungles of the mind where new visitors and old friends feel welcome. As you read this, thousands of authors discover new strains and more startling hybrids daily while tinkering in their literary labs. Millions of readers prowl bookstores on safari, waiting and watching for the next unexpected delight, the next familiar miracle.

I love the structure of genre, but mainly because structure makes Life possible. Knowing my story’s forebears and imagining its descendants keeps the ideas fertile and fresh. Rather than obsessing about the framework and mechanics, I want to face each Romantic subgenre as a hybrid creature with needs and breeds of its own. All artists experiment, considering where we’ve been and where we’re going, keeping Art alive.

My steampunk story started pouring out of me in a rush this morning. Hallelujah! After a week of halting, scuffed steps, the characters and the world have been tick-tock-clicking along –well– less like a well-oiled steam-powered M/M machine than a living, breathing, thundering beast.

Which, I am reminded, is only natural.

Romance is the pounding heart of all stories: the delicious friction between people, powers, ideas and ideals. And that is why I call Romance the Ur-genre; she less resembles a mere species than Nature herself… a loving, fertile, ferocious Nature that is read in tooth and claw.

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RU Crew, what are some of your favorite amalgamations of sub-genres? Do agree with Damon about romance being the Ur-genre?

Don’t miss Wednesday when we host a panel of freelance editors–Lisa Stone Hardt, Rhonda Helms, Deborah Nemeth and Cindy Davis!

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Bio:

Damon Suede grew up out-n-proud deep in the anus of right-wing America, and escaped as soon as it was legal. Though new to M/M, Damon has been writing for print, stage, and screen for two decades. He’s won some awards, but counts his blessings more often: his amazing friends, his demented family, his beautiful husband, his loyal fans, and his silly, stern, seductive Muse who keeps whispering in his ear, year after year. You can get in touch with him at DamonSuede.com.

What’s it like to be a man writing romance? What’s it like to be a black man writing romance in a predominantly Caucasian and female romance industry? We are thrilled to have Wayne Jordan here to give us the in-his-shoes perspective on publishing in romantic fiction.

People always ask me – Since you’re a man, what is it like writing romance?
On one level writing and reading romance isn’t easy. I started reading romance while in my teens and I’ll be 50 next year, so it’s been a long time. I endured years of silent ridicule at school, college and even in the workplace because I read romance. For a few years, in the early 1980s, because I thought a literature major should be reading ‘proper’ literature, I gave up my secret fantasy…or should I say fetish.
But as any romance lover knows, it’s not easy to give up reading romance novels, so I returned to the genre. However, I was a bit more mature now, and found that, I really didn’t give two ‘hoots’ what anyone thought of my preference for romance. I was a man who loved reading romance!

In high school, I discovered that I loved writing and ‘had a talent for it’, said my teachers. Scenes from stories would flash in my mind’s eyes, and I’d quickly write them in my never-ending supply of notebooks. Like the stories I read, there would always be a beautiful heroine and a handsome hero. In the stories I created, I would become that hero and in the end too, I’d get my heroine and swoop her into a passionate embrace. Even then, writing romance came naturally. The words flowed freely from my brain. I created wonderful heroes and heroines, placed them in situations with intense, sexual tension, the customary misunderstanding, but eventually I’ve give them their ‘happily-ever-after’.

I submitted my first romance novel years ago (the late 80s), submitted a query and was rejected. Now I look back on that attempt, I’m not surprised that it got rejected. It was almost twenty years later that I submitted my first ‘fit-to-be-published’ manuscript to BET Book for their Arabesque line. I received the CALL. Today, I know a lot more about romance and have published eight books; my ninth, To Love You More, will be released in April 2012 under the Harlequin Kimani Romance line.

However, almost six years after my first book, Capture the Sunrise, went on sale I still feel like the ugly stepbrother of romance. Why? You ask me.

Because, I have two things going against me….I’m still a man (lol) and I’m black.

I’M STILL A MAN
I’m still very much a man writing in a woman’s world and that’s definitely a negative when it comes to writing romance. I’m not saying this is a problem with all readers, but the majority of women still believe that a ‘real’ man can’t write romance.
Have you ever heard these? Or even heard them echoed in your mind?
A man can’t write romance because:
• He would find it difficult to get into the mind of woman.
• He lacks the sensitivity needed.
• He can’t be emotional.
• He can write about sex, but he definitely won’t be able to able to write love scenes.

Crap! Or should I say poppycock!

For me, there are two important factors which define the ‘good’ romance writer. There are others, but these are significant.
1. An individual (male or female) who knows and loves the genre.
2. An individual (male or female) who loves to and knows how to write.
Those are the qualities I possess and have helped me to create the stories I write. I know I’m a good writer. But I also know I still have a lot to learn to become a great writer.

I’M BLACK!
In the world of romance, black writers are the ugly step-sisters! While the acceptance of and respect for African-American romance writers is slowly changing, it’s far from the equal acceptance that should be the norm.

When I started reading romance novels in my teens, I never found it strange that the hero and heroine looked nothing like me. In fact, since my reading at school was comprised of the works of Shakespeare, Keats, Dickens and many of the British elite, I didn’t find it strange at all. It was only when Sandra Kitt’s Harlequin American, Adam and Eva, that I realized that stories could be written about people just like me. In 1999, with the increasing number for African-American romance writers and the growing success of the Pinnacle Arabesque line (eventually sold to BET who created BET Books) I created a website, www.romanceincolor, which focuses on promoting African-American romance authors and their work. Since then, I’ve become a strong advocate for African-American romance. My dreams of being a romance writer changed. I wanted to write about characters who looked just like me.

The state and acceptance of African-American romance in 2011 is still of serious concern to me. The works of African-America continue to be segregated and shelved under the African-American romance, thus limiting the audience potential. While this is technically true, I’m yet to hear a category called Caucasian romance. For me, romance is romance and love is love and has nothing to do with the color of the reader’s or author’s skin. This can change and has to change.

I have the ideal solution. The same way black readers have been embracing books with Caucasians hero/heroines for decades, the reverse is necessary. I read a wide cross section of romance. I have a diverse taste and enjoy all. I read from several Harlequin series lines (Love Inspired Historical, Blaze, Romantic Suspense, Intrigue, Kimani Romance, Superromance, Desire and Presents). Along with this, I read from several other genres (mystery, suspense, mainstream). My favorite authors are Brenda Jackson, Nora Roberts, Beverly Jenkins, Catherine Mann, Mary Balogh, Maureen Smith, Tami Hoag, Marie Force… and the list goes on.

How many of you can say without hesitation that your reading is a diverse are mine; that when you pick up a romance it’s not about the color of the hero and heroine, but the promise of a story that will transport your into a world where love conquers all.

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What’s on your bookshelf?  What are your thoughts on the distance between the races in romance fiction? Do you have favorite authors who are males writing under a pen name? Do you have any questions for Wayne about how he handles the female perspective in his books?

C.J. Redwine continues her HolyCowAwesome story series on Monday.

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Wayne is giving away two copies of his July 2011 book, SAVED BY HER EMBRACE to to two lucky commentors

After dumping her cheating boyfriend, Sandra Walters doesn’t trust men…especially men in white coats! So when she runs into Troy Whitehall in Barbados, she vows to steer clear of the heart-stoppingly handsome surgeon. The passion they once shared is something she’ll never forget, but she isn’t going to let down her defenses again. Even if the good doctor has a bedside manner no woman can resist.

BIO

For as long as he can remember, Wayne Jordan loved reading, but he also enjoyed creating his own make believe worlds. This love for reading and writing continued, and in November 2005 his first book, Capture the Sunrise, was published by BET Books. Wayne has always been an advocate for romance, especially African-American romance. In 1999 he founded www.romanceincolor.com, a website that focuses on African-American romance and its authors.  Wayne is a high school teacher and a graduate of the University of the West Indies. He holds a B.A.  in literature and linguistics and an M.A. in applied linguistics. He lives on the beautiful tropical island of Barbados, which, with its white sands and golden sunshine, is the perfect setting for the romance stories he loves to create. Of course, he still takes time out to immerse himself in the latest release from one of his favorite authors.

We are thrilled to have Josh Lanyon with us at RU!  When you think of sexy, well-written, and riveting M/M romance and gay fiction  – Josh is the first one who comes to mind.  His witty, evocative prose and tightly woven mystery plots have created fans of anyone who picks up his novels.  (I picked  up the first Adrien English book and lost a weekend reading all five in the series).  Josh joins us today to discuss key questions to ask when creating believable male characters in your M/M fiction.

The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit

Probably the number one question I’m asked by women hoping to write m/m or gay romance is how to make their main characters believably masculine. Usually the primary concern revolves around the sex scenes, but the sex scenes — the insert tab A into slot C are actually the easy bit and any biology book should be able to tell you what you need to know if you’ve never actually enjoyed sexual relations with a man (or you kept your eyes and ears shut the whole time).

No, while I do totally understand why so many writers prefer to pay closest attention to the most obscure details of sexual relations in the interests of “getting it right,” it’s actually more when it comes to male psychology that most of these books fall flat. Alas, I can’t give you a magical tip for capturing The Male Psychology anymore than one size fits all when it comes to female psychology.

What I can do, though, is offer you five super easy tips for adding believing dimension to your male characters by answering the following questions.

1 – What is your main character’s political affiliation?
I’m not saying turn your character into a vehicle for pushing your own ideological agenda, but it’s fascinating to me how few characters in m/m fiction have any political thought beyond that of gay rights. Most of us identify with a political party and a set of political beliefs. Would it surprise you to know that there are gay Republicans out there? Gay does not automatically equal Liberal. There are gay socialists. Gay independents. Gay people who have never voted and don’t think beyond the next party. And I don’t mean political party.

Your character’s political beliefs probably won’t come up in the course of the story, but thinking them out ahead of time will give you fresh insight into exactly who this man is.

2 – What’s on your main character’s bookshelf?
This is another one that intrigues me — how few characters in m/m romances have ordinary reading habits. They either don’t read at all or they’re fabulously well read and spouting Shakespeare at the drop of a hat. None of them seem to own Kindles or Nooks. Few of them take anything other than a generic newspaper. And yet there’s no better way to get insight into someone than taking a peek at their bookshelf. Likewise, if your character is someone who doesn’t read beyond thumbing through Car and Driver occasionally or looking up a recipe, that tells the reader something too.

Ask yourself: is your main character the kind of guy who kept his treasured childhood favorites? Or was the last thing he read a high school textbook? Does he glance over the National Enquirer headlines while standing in the grocery checkout? Does he subscribe to Mother Jones or the National Review? Does he read Lee Child on long plane flights or Agatha Christie? Does he strictly read non-fiction? Any or all of these mentioned in passing will tell your reader something interesting about the character and make him more real. The character, I mean. Hopefully the reader is real.

3 – Does your character believe in God?
Most of us have some opinion on whether God exists. Again, it doesn’t have to play a role in your story, but answering this question about your character will give you a different perspective on who he is. Almost always it’s going to reveal aspects of his personality that you hadn’t yet considered.

4 – What music does your character listen to?
There’s a standing joke in the mystery genre that all hardboiled PIs listen to jazz. Usually classic jazz, at that. In m/m fiction, an inordinate number of characters listen to classical music or classic rock and roll. Nobody wants their character to confess to a love of musicals or Liza Minnelli or Snow Patrol or Emmy Lou Harris or girl bands or boy bands (unless the characters are in a boy band). But the fact is, almost all of us listen to music.

Think about how interesting you find someone’s taste in music when you’re first falling in love with them. We expect to gain insight into the person through their taste in music — and we’re not far off. Well, think about it. You want your readers to fall in love with your main characters, so it’s only natural that those readers would find your characters’ taste in music of interest.

5 – What does your character wear?
Clothes maketh the man and I’m not talking about boxers or briefs. M/M fiction is clothed mostly in jeans, tee shirts, kilts, and Italian suits. And, yes, it’s about that generic. There’s nothing wrong with any of these choices, it’s just that digging a little deeper will tell us more about the character. What slogan or graphic is on the T-shirt? Or does your guy have an aversion to free advertising? What colors does he like? There’s a difference between a guy who chooses designer jeans and a guy who prefers button fly Levi’s. Is your character self-conscious about his weight? Does he wear pajamas to bed? Does he pay to have his suits tailored? Would he rather be garroted than wear a tie? Does he use shoe trees? Does he travel with garment bags?

There’s a very good chance that having painstakingly answered these questions, you won’t use a single piece of this information in your m/m romance. But having this insight into your characters will make them both easier to write and more grounded and real to your readers.

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Do you struggle with trying to create believable masculine characters? Have you considered writing M/M fiction but are afraid to take the plunge? Josh will be here today to answer your questions.

Stop by Friday when Wayne Jordan, Kimani Press author, talks about being a man who writes romance fiction.

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Three lucky commentors will win a downloadable copy of Josh’s October 2011 release, MUMMY DEAREST

Drew Lawson is on the clock. He’s got twenty-four hours to authenticate the mummy of Princess Merneith and get back in time for his boyfriend’s garden party. What the wound-too-tight professor didn’t calculate in was a centuries-old curse, a reality TV show crew, and handsome, brash Fraser Fortune.

Drew just might not ever make it home in time for that garden party. What’s worse, he just might not care.

Josh also has DEAD RUN coming out on September 13.

Dead Run
Book #4 in the Dangerous Ground series
Contemporary, Action-Adventure, Law Enforcement

The boys are back in town — and Paris is burning!

For Speical Agents of the Department of Diplomatic Security, Taylor MacAllister and Will Brandt, the strain of a long distance relationship is beginning to tell after eleven months of separation. A romantic holiday could be just the thing to bridge the ever-growing distance, but when Taylor spots a terrorist from the 70′s, long believed dead but very much alive, it’s c’est la vie.

Now instead of sipping wine and seeing the sights, the boys are chasing a wily and deadly foe through the graveyards and catacombs of Paris.

Of course, it could always be worse — and soon it is.