Romancing the Genre

I, Angelica French, write romances of varying degrees of heat. Unapologetically. Other nom de plumes accompany other genres I write. Why have alter egos? Why don’t I write all my books under a single name?

Well, I think it could be awkward for someone who enjoys my culinary mysteries to pick up Streetwalker and go hunting for non-existent recipes but while hunting find explicit sex scenes that simply never occur in a cozy mystery. Sharon Arthur Moore, Angelica French, Caroline Adams, and River Glynn can have their own audiences.

Angelica enjoys romance of various types depending upon her mood. Romances are quite as variable as my panoply of pen names. Do you read romances? Do you wonder why people read romances if you do not?

When discussing the romance genre, several questions arise:

1) What are the various romance genre? Why so many?

2) Who reads romance?

3) Why do they read romance?

4) What makes a romance “good”?

1) What are the various romance genre? Why so many?

Romance genres heat levels range from sweet to erotica. By the way, pornography is not a romance, since romance requires more than sexual acrobatics. By definition a romance has to have, well, romance.

“Sweet” romances depict love with yearnings not backed up by action (certainly not outside of marriage), whereas, some accuse “erotica” of not having any subtlety at all--it’s all about “the act.” Erotic romance, on the other hand, does keep a relationship as a central component.

There are multiple levels of heat along this continuum and when authors submit to a publisher, they must identify the heat level according to each publisher’s guidelines. Even the erotica publishers have their limits, however. No pedophilia, bestiality, and other acts generally deemed offensive or illegal.

Within the heat levels, there are categories of romance genres. These include historical, contemporary, inspirational, paranormal, suspense, mystery, and so on, as in general fiction categories. And, as with general fiction categories, historical romances might be the Old West, Regency, Civil War, Pre-World War I, Post World War II, and so on.

It’s pretty obvious why there are so many categories and heat levels. If there weren’t readers, there wouldn’t be books produced. That simple. Lots of folks like romances, men and women.

2) Who reads romance?

There’s been a good bit of research to identify the demographic for romance readers. In a study by Romance Writers of America (RWA) a few years ago, 42% of romance readers had at least a bachelor’s degree, and 15% earned or were working on post-graduate degrees. While still mostly women, nearly one-quarter of romance readers are male.

In the RWA study, half of romance readers were married, four percent were divorced, thirty-seen percent were single, one percent were separated, and eight percent were widowed.

Most romance novels readers in the study were ages 35-44. The next largest group was 25-34. The third highest age group of romance readers were ages 45-54. Only seven percent were 17 or younger.

After I (Angelica) finish the trilogy for my “Sex Sells” series, I am going after crone lit. There are LOTS of older women looking for romance and titillation in their reading. Old folks can have and enjoy romance and sex, too!

3) Why do they read romance?

People read romances, I think, for the same reasons they read anything. A peek into how and where others live. An escape from their own reality. An examination of how others solve a problem they have. A chance to live in another world for a while. Maybe a bit of titillation and fantasizing.

4) What makes a romance “good”?

A good romance shares the same things that make any fiction book good--interesting characters you care about (Gone Girl is a notable exception), unpredictable twists and turns that still make sense, authenticity of setting/characters/events, or learning about another place/time/event.

Romance, more than most genres, has been criticized for being clichéd and formulaic. I admit to boredom with those overtly predictable stories as well. The best romances, as in any genre, provide surprises that weren’t foreseen but were still logical in the story. I also am weary of the women who must have a man in their lives to define them and solve their problems. Give me a romance with a woman who takes charge of her own life, and then, oh, by the way, falls in love with a fellow (or gal).

Chick Lit, one of the categories in romance, is characterized by the growth of the woman (apart from a partner) who with humor and good will stumbles around in life and relationships before finally getting it all together.

The Romance Writers Report, journal of the Romance Writers of America, published an article about the canon of romance books. The author took on a critic of romance genres who was critical that there was no set of generally agreed upon representative books.  

According to the author, a canon is not necessarily those books that are the best in the genre so much as game-changers, books that initiated a change of direction in format or content. It was a pretty compelling article. “Is There a Romance Canon?” By Wendy Crutcher, June 2014, 34 (6), Romance Writers Report.

It’s interesting to me how romance genres are more likely than any other genre I know to be denigrated. And, on the other side, hotly defended. Do you read romances? Are they one of your guilty little secrets? Or do you disdain romance readers as unsophisticated and naïve?

Help more people find this article. I’d be very appreciative if you’d share this on your social media. Here are some copy/paste messages to post. Thanks!

Facebook: What are romances, who reads them, and why? Angelica French has all the answers (well, a lot anyway). http://bit.ly/2f8nqla

Twitter: What are #romances, who reads them, and why? @RomanceRighter has all the answers (well, a lot anyway). http://bit.ly/2f8nqla

Blast from the Past: "5 Types of Women Men Go For" and Other Internet Articles

Because I am tied up with NaNoWriMo all month, I decided to re-run one of my popular past posts. Enjoy! FYI, my word count is ahead of schedule! Yay!

I can’t help myself. The fact that you clicked on this link to read this blog means you’re just like me. Admit it.

The Internet is rife with articles about how to interview, how to know if he’s really into you, what it means when she wears certain clothes. I’m hooked. Cannot resist collecting these things.

But, I have an excuse. Several in fact. I write blogs about relationship sorts of stuff. I tweet daily (@RomanceRighter), and I maintain my Angelica French Facebook posts. Oh, and I write erotic romances. So that’s why I collect this stuff. I use it!

One article I’ve been hoarding for a while is “5 Types of Women Guys Go For” (http://bit.ly/10TlGdT). How could I not have been drawn to it?

In this article, you are given character sketches--for free--of women to include in your stories! How cool is that? I mean, think about it. You read the description and come up with some questions about plot lines and BINGO! A book!

Let’s try one. But first, here are the five types:

Type #1: The older woman

Type #2: The woman who’s “just one of the guys”

Type #3: The free spirit

Type #4: The intellectual

Type #5: The seductress

Here’s my process:

Remember I’m into Crone Lit. Old rules!

So, Type #1: The older woman is described as a sophisticate who’s been places, seen things, and done lots more. She knows who she is and what she wants. She can act as a mentor to both younger men and women helping them gain perspective on life. Being desirable isn’t an age but a way of being. A man needs to find ways to please a woman who isn’t looking to start a family.

After listing the traits from the article, I generate questions for me to answer:

What has she accomplished? What are her goals at this time of life?

Is she looking for love? What gives her the greatest satisfaction?

For conflicts, I can contrast her with male or female characters who are opposite her goals and accomplishments.

Then to the what-ifs:

What if a woman who just lost her husband and son met a man on a cruise who looked like her son but acted the opposite?

What if this guy is oblivious to her curiosity about him?

What if he is attracted to a younger woman who is so wrong for him and the older woman wants to save him?

What if in the process of distracting him they discover a mutual interest?

And so on.

After that, list your ten key events and build out to 35-40 scenes from them. 

Your turn! How would you exploit the remaining four types? Comments?

SAY SOMETHING Anthology

It all began after a book signing, the “Authorpalooza”, at Melanie Tighe’s Dog Eared Pages in Scottsdale, AZ earlier this year.

Three of us had dinner and the idea of taking some popular song lyrics as inspiration for romance stories came up. We brainstormed how wonderful that could be. An anthology of writers would create short stories either using characters in our books or as complete stand alones.

I signed up! And now we have the product to share. The title of our anthology, SAY SOMETHING, comes from A Great Big World’s song of the same title. Listen to it and imagine your own story. As the seven authors listened to the lyrics, they got inspired to write seven very different tales.

Today I am sharing our book cover with you. In a couple of weeks, I’ll talk about the authors and stories included between the covers. Available for purchase on December 1, 2014

Jennifer’s Secret - Virginia Nelson

Behind the Scenes - Morgan Kearns

A Nordic Knight in Henry’s Court ~ Part One – Kris Tualla

Angel Rising - Deena Remiel

Meant to Be - Camelia Miron Skiba

Moving On - April London

Why Not Ask? - Angelica French

Streetwalker Excerpts

Here are two teasers from my erotic romance, Streetwalker, out August 1 from Sizzler Editions. I hope you go to Amazon and download your copy onto your Kindle after reading a bit about Carrie and Harlan. The book opens with a decision point for Carrie:

“Oh, Baby! Oh, yeah, Baby. Oooh, oooh, yeah, oooh. Unhhhhh!” The dock worker held her down while he screamed his release, his hot breath redolent with beer. The smell of diesel fuel on his hands sickened her, dandruff showered her face from patches of thinning hair as he hard-rode her, pinning her shoulders to the thin mattress. The biting jab of aching muscles meant she’d be swallowing another Flexeril after he left. Her skin split where his broken fingernails dug in. He threw back his head and jerked into her two more times before he collapsed, the bulk of him spilling onto the space on either side of her body.

Long ago, Carrie learned to go to “not here” during sex. She tolerated the body pumping into hers if she went somewhere else.

She looked down at his greasy hair covering her tits. She restrained herself from lifting off the dead weight of her John. She knew the rules. He initiated the withdrawal of his limp cock from her pummeled body. He owned her for the remainder of his fifteen minutes. Nine minutes to go.

She waited, still beneath him, afraid her stirring would get him going again. While waiting out her time, she rehearsed the steps of her escape from this hellhole of a whorehouse. After tonight, if it went as planned, everything would be different. No. More. Fucking. Ever. Ever. Again.

Later on, Carrie is telling Harlan about her past. She finds herself attracted to him but fighting that feeling:

Carrie convulsed and her laughter sputtered out. "Only you, Harlan, would worry about SPF levels when you take a girl on a picnic. I love you," then realizing what she had said, she tacked on, "like a brother. Oh, God, no. Not like a brother," remembering her past a beat too late. "Like ... a business partner."

He shook his head. "That's better. I do not want you thinking of me as a brother!"

If you wonder what the book is about, here’s the blurb:

Carrie is a smart woman with a dark past and more than her share of heartache. Determined to retire early from hands-on sex work, she uses her skills as an exhibitionist to bargain for partial ownership of a high-end, brownstone bordello in New York City with the erudite, handsome and powerful Harlan Ledbetter.

But even though she's only 22, Carrie's already been in her line of work far too long. Besides the fact that sex has been little more than Work for most of her adult life, Carrie also has to contend with painful memories of abuse at the hands of her stepbrother. Could sexuality ever truly belong to her? Could it ever become something she would want?

Harlan, meanwhile, certainly wants more than a business partnership with this stunning woman – and the feeling may be mutual, if Carrie can let herself want him as much as she fears she does. But she has a long way to go before she can give her heart and body to a man willingly. How will she get there? If there's one thing Carrie has learned, it's how to negotiate. She has a feeling this skill will come in handy with Harlan in more ways than one.

Carrie approaches Harlan with a unique business proposal – one that offers more than just a way to run their bordello, but a whole new outlook on life, sexuality and love. Intrigued, he takes her on...

Streetwalker is Part One of Angelica French's exciting new "Sex Sells" trilogy.

You can buy Streetwalker here:

http://amzn.to/16lT5Xg

Also check out the Angelica French author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/angelicafrench

The Cover for Streetwalker

I just got this last night, and I am so excited. I am grateful for all the work of my editor, Sascha Illyvich, for Sizzler Editions (an imprint of Renaissance E Books), and my publisher, Jean Marie Stine.

Here is the cover for the first book in my "Sex Sells" trilogy. Streetwalker is coming out late this week and will be available on Amazon for your Kindle.

Carrie is a smart woman with a dark past and more than her share of heartache. Determined to retire early from hands-on sex work, she uses her skills as an exhibitionist to bargain for partial ownership of a high-end, brownstone bordello in New York City with the erudite, handsome and powerful Harlan Ledbetter.

 

But even though she's only 22, Carrie's already been in her line of work far too long. Besides the fact that sex has been little more than Work for most of her adult life, Carrie also has to contend with painful memories of abuse at the hands of her stepbrother. Could sexuality ever truly belong to her? Could it ever become something she would want?

 

Harlan, meanwhile, certainly wants more than a business partnership with this stunning woman – and the feeling may be mutual, if Carrie can let herself want him as much as she fears she does. But she has a long way to go before she can give her heart and body to a man willingly. How will she get there? If there's one thing Carrie has learned, it's how to negotiate. She has a feeling this skill will come in handy with Harlan in more ways than one.

Carrie approaches Harlan with a unique business proposal – one that offers more than just a way to run their bordello, but a whole new outlook on life, sexuality and love. Intrigued, he takes her on...

 

Streetwalker is Part One of Angelica French's exciting new "Sex Sells" trilogy.