Shewanda Pugh's Blog: The Wandering Mind of a Romance Writer - Posts Tagged "romance"

Welcome to the ramblings of my mind. So delighted you could join me. Sit back, pull up a chair and allow me to offer you a cup of coffee. I'll leave the sequencing of events to you. Meanwhile, let's delve right in, shall we?
Often, when considering my novel, Crimson Footprints, the painful issue of genre is brought up. At first glance, the question seems simple enough. After all, historical fiction, sci fi, horror and romance have specific criteria that must be met to properly apply the title. Horror is generally a body of work that aims to instill--you guessed it--horror in the reader. Historical fiction is one that takes place--you're absolutely right--at a given point in history, and romance is a tale of two falling in love.
Hmm. This last one irks me.
What if the story of love takes place in the year 1732? Between a Native American and European? And both the hero and heroine change fundamentally because of their love?
Sounds like a romance novel I read last week, you might say. But in addition to romance I've included the defining criteria for historical fiction and literature (that of the metamorphosis of character)in our made up romance.
Funny, they say that romance is all fluff.
Think I'll create a new subgenre. We'll call it serious literary romance. More about that next time.

Welcome to the ramblings of my mind. So delighted you could join me. Sit back, pull up a chair and allow me to offer you a cup of coffee. I'll leave the sequencing of events to you. Meanwhile, let's delve right in, shall we?
Often, when considering my novel Crimson Footprints, the painful issue of genre is brought up. At first glance, the question seems simple enough. After all, historical fiction, sci fi, horror and romance have specific criteria that must be met to properly apply the title. Horror is generally a body of work that aims to instill--you guessed it--horror in the reader. Historical fiction is one that takes place--you're absolutely right--a given point in history, and romance is a tale of two falling in love.
Hmm. This last one irks me.
What if the story of love takes place in the year 1732? Between a Native American and European? And both the hero and heroine change fundamentally because of their love.
Sounds like a romance novel I read last week, you might say. But in addition to romance, I've included the defining criteria for historical fiction and literature (that of the metamorphosis of character)in our made up romance.
Funny, they say that romance is all fluff.
Think I'll create a new subgenre. We'll call it serious literary romance. More about that next time.

The term “women’s fiction” is broad and encompasses a wide range of work. Among its breadth are romance novels, so-called “chick lit” and many works otherwise thought mainstream. What they all have in common is that they are deemed “marketable to women.”

Sexist language aside, women’s fiction is often described in muddled, near incoherent fashion by an industry who oft-times seems as confused by what constitutes the genre as those who actually seek the answer. “Books marketable to women” is a definition so vague and borderline offensive as to be deemed worthy of dismissal. Yet, it is the description most often relied upon. On FindmeanAuthor.com, women’s fiction is described as able to “touch the reader in ways other fiction cannot. Relationship stories, generational sagas, love stories and women's commercial fiction must touch on subjects women can relate to in their real lives. Put another way: Women's fiction taps into the hopes, fears, dreams and even secret fantasies of women today.” Agent Scott Eagan states that women’s fiction must “follow the female journey and learn what it takes to be a female.” This is the most concise and approachable definition I’ve found to date.

Since women’s fiction encompasses a range of specialties, it runs the gamut from superficial to sobering. Romance novels have been around for a few hundred years. Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded was an early romance considered a breakthrough on two fronts. One, romance was the primary force of the story. Two, said story was told from the view of a female protagonist. Richardson would pave the way for Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and publishers Mills and Boon and Harlequin, which succeeded in marketing romance to the masses. Romance novels, while largely criticized as fluff and thoughtless fiction, or, at times referred to as “bodice rippers” are the bread and butter of publishers. According to Romance Writer’s of America, romance is and continues to be the largest producer of book sales in the industry. Not only did romance fiction generate $1.358 billion in sales in 2010, but also it remained the largest share of the consumer market at 13.4 percent. The following is a breakdown of sub-genre’s the organization claims under the umbrella of romance and the associated sales:

Romance Subgenres Published in 2011

Romance fiction: $1.358 billion in estimated revenue for 2010
Religion/inspirational: $759 million
Mystery: $682 million
Science fiction/fantasy: $559 million
Classic literary fiction: $455 million

More information on this phenomenon can be found here.
The category known as “chick-lit” was ushered in with Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary in 1996. Traits of the work include a light-hearted approach to the issues of modern woman and, according to Suzanne Ferris, author of In the Classroom or In the Bedroom, “often feature a career-driven heroine, an obsession with appearance, and a passion for shopping.” As a monster unto itself, chick-lit is a major enterprise, with television shows and movies like Sex in the City garnering a tidal wave of fans.

Chick-lit and romance aside, the rest of women’s fiction is a conglomerate of paths, ideas and works all deemed to be “marketable to women.” Each deals with the female experience—whether that be how she relates to her mother/sister/husband or children, or, in any context in the outside world. It cannot be stressed enough how broad and all encompassing this definition is, thereby defying any all-inclusive definition altogether. Many of the literary world’s best known authors write women’s fiction, imcluding Amy Tan, Sue Monk Kidd, Lisa See and Jodi Piccoult, leading us all to beg the question of just “what the heck is women’s fiction,” once again. For a novel that finds itself women's fiction and romance (circular argument, I suppose), check out my debut, Crimson Footprints, today.

"Maybe, Deena likes to think, it happened the day her white mother killed her black father. Or maybe, it was always a part of them, like DNA gone bad. Whatever the case, Deena knows that her family would never approve, hell, never acknowledge her fast-growing love for Takumi. And had he never made love to her that way, in that unraveling, soul-searching sort of way, she could ve done the same. But love s a devil that way."
~ Crimson Footprints

That still gives me chills. A hundred times over, in fact. I mean, c'mon. Who doesn't find forbidden love delicious? You may say, "Shewanda. Really--(You may call me Shewanda, yes, it's perfectly acceptable)--Shewanda, it's 2012. People love who they want, when they want." And my answer to you would be a resounding, "sometimes. Lots of the time. But definitely not always."

I'm sure we can all think of examples, especially in an eastern world that may or may not be especially far from your reality. But truly, forbidden love is all around us--in that guy you're not too keen to bringing home to dad, in that girl who dresses just a little too racy for mom. So many seem to hesitate at the notion of forbidden love, as if it's some unrealistic concept. I dare say, those are the folks that are being unrealistic.