The road to romance
Jill Shalvis remembers growing up a “very natural L.A. girl.” She never left the valley in her youth, spending her time on the beach—and in the fiction section of the library. Today, she writes category and single-title romance novels, including the Lucky Harbor books. How did she get from beach girl to bestselling author? When have you had the most [...]
Write to the heart
Kristan Higgins told Laurie Kahn, executive producer of the Popular Romance Project, that when she writes, she’s never satisfied with the easy process. If she doesn’t laugh or cry at the scenes she’s writing, she goes back and rewrites and rewrites again. Only by pushing each of her drafts to make them “bigger, better, [and] stronger” can she reach the [...]
When “nothing happens”
I began writing when I was in third grade, and since we didn’t have kindergarten back in the Paleolithic era, that was only two years after I had literally learned how to write. Poetry became my way to escape when school was boring, when other kids picked on me, and basically all the time. In other words, I have been [...]
Many different lives
In first grade, a teacher praised her reading and set Debbie Kaufman on the road to becoming a lifelong reader. Reading let Kaufman experience a “number of different lives,” beginning with the magical lives of fairy tale heroines. Later, becoming a writer as well as a reader opened the door for Kaufman to use her own many “different lives”—from airport [...]
Romance in Turkey
I am a published novelist and storyteller, and for more than two years I have provided editorial support to Harlequin Turkey. During this period, I have had the chance to translate many Harlequin books written in English into my language and to compare their content with popular romance novels written by Turkish writers. I found several interesting cultural differences. In [...]
My first year published
Remember how much you longed to be a teenager? When I was unpublished, the published state looked just as glorious as the magic year 13 does to an 11-year-old girl. I had no problem visualizing myself signing my name with a flourish and meeting my editor at fancy New York lunches. But First Years are often not exactly as one [...]
Learning to write romance
Over the years when I have told someone that I study the romance novel, a reaction I have gotten more than once is, “I’ve thought about writing a romance novel.” And more than one speaker has added, “Maybe over the holidays.” I have developed a stock response. I smile and say, “What on earth is stopping you?” I know full [...]
Starting out in romance
For Jayne Ann Krentz, writing is like a compulsion or addiction. She felt the need to keep writing and creating stories, even before a publisher accepted one of her manuscripts. She told filmmaker Laurie Kahn “I just racked up a lot of proposals, first 50 pages of a proposal, kind of thing, and then when that didn’t sell, tried another [...]
Building worlds
A writer’s lifestyle and place in the world can be physically (if not digitally!) isolating. Jessica Andersen, author of romantic suspense and paranormal romances, notes that many authors prefer to “be in our pajamas in front of our computer not having to be social and not having to be extroverted.” However, the fictitious worlds of authors are boundless, and can [...]
Love and literacy
Last week, we had our first post by Darlene Clark Hine, a professor of both African American studies and history at Northwestern University, who feels strongly that romance fiction is nothing to be scoffed at. This week Hine gives two more reasons that popular romance matters! Is reading a revolutionary act? Is reading romance even more so?
