Last week Dear Author posted a blog topic that got me to thinking. Basically Jane was wondering why it was that more romances didn’t deal with serious issues and when they did, why the issues weren’t always handled as thoroughly as they might be:
“A legitimate criticism of romance as serious literature is it’s often cavalier treatment of important life topics. Too often, war, separation, human indignity, are treated as plot devices, conflict mechanisms, and not given the attention and treatment those important issues deserve. How many romance books are thought provoking? How many challenge your personal concepts of right and wrong? How many portray multi hued individuals as both heroic and villianous? Surely within the umbrella of the romance genre, there is room for these books.
Now, this is not to say that I think we should be preached to. Nor am I saying that romance should be about more serious issues. What I am saying is that the lack of these types of books within the genre does not help its image as frivolous literature.
{….}
I am advocating for more romances to tackle, seriously, hard issues and morally ambiguous characters. I think there is room under the tent for them and I think that those books would lend some grativas to the genre.”
The last time I checked there were nearly 100 comments posted in response. I am responding here and my answer is:
The likelihood is not only readers but more importantly publishers who don’t want romance books that deal with serious issues.
Way back when I first started writing, I blithely sent a query on my first manuscript, a romantic suspense, to Harlequin. Little did I know then how lucky I was that I actually got a request for a full manuscript. I went back and forth a few times with the editorial assistant there with suggestions for changes before I ultimately got a rejection letter.
Undaunted, I dashed off another story. As I recall it was set in southern Louisiana – the heroine was a doctor doing pro bono work at a free clinic in a low income neighborhood and the hero was a reporter. She started running into problems when she noticed a trend of illnesses that she traced back to a factory located close to the neighborhood of the free clinic and with the help of the reporter hero was going to blow the whistle on the factory. Never mind the fact that looking back at this story now makes me cringe. When I sent this story off to Harlequin I got a speedy reply.
Too political.
Terry Odell made a comment on the Friday Feature post with Liz Jasper in which she said that she’d been tagged in a writing contest when she had her hero get drunk after a particularly stressful day and in another instance had a heroine swearing – because it’s not “heroic” behavior. As an author, I’m trying to create a character that people can relate to, with all their human flaws, but it’s this sort of feedback that curtails introducing elements that might offend one group or another.
In short, it’s not always the authors making a choice to avoid serious themes in their books. Publishers have guidelines for story lines, particularly category romance, and they tend to go with character types and story lines that they know will sell.
In the comment thread at Dear Author, Nora Roberts responded and said that she didn’t want to read romance books about “issues” and I’m sure it isn’t just me that agrees with her. I read romance for the HEA. I can handle characters with baggage / tragic pasts that they have to overcome during the course of the story (my favorite sort of story actually) but if I want to read a book about an “issue” then I’ll go find a nonfiction title. (or not)
Does a lack of serious issues make romance automatically inferior to other genres with a more serious tone? I don’t think so. It just makes them different. But I suspect that even if authors started dealing with more serious topics, critics would just find another aspect of the genre to criticize. For people who look down on romance (or sci-fi or horror or any other genre fiction) there will always be something they can find to pick on in even the best written novels.
I do agree with Jane on one thing though – if an author does introduce an “issue” into the story, whatever that issue may be, they owe it to their readers to deal with it realistically, accurately and as thoroughly as necessary.
If I want to hear about issues I can watch TV or read the newspaper. I read romances to relax. I too targeted HQ and Mills & Boon, for two years I submitted three full manuscripts and worked with editors on revisions, but was told it’s not exactly the way they want it. My Cerridwen book To Love A Hero was rejected by them because it was set in a Russian country, one of the taboos area with the Middle East, and others.
by Mona Risk March 31st, 2008 at 12:51 pm