I write 'Romances'. I also, like many of my fellow RWUers, write in other genres. I write stories that are fantasy, suspense, and what I think would be termed urban or futuristic fantasy. However, all of my works have a romance in them. But…and you knew that was coming, didn't you?…the tales I write in others genres are not 'Romance' stories. In my 'other' stories, the story arc is not about the relationship and romantic love between two people. I do admit they do have, mostly, an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Hey, I am a 'glass is half full' kind of person! (I should thank Wikipedia for helping me with a standardized 'romance' definition!)

Many, many 'main stream' and/or 'literary' novels, new and old, have romantic love in them. Nicholas Sparks is clearly an author who incorporates romantic love in his novels. As for F. Scott Fitzgerald, Hello? What crib sheet doesn't list 'romantic love' as a main theme in The Great Gatsby? Anna Karenina, please, do we need to go there? Of course, not all these stories have the emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending a 'Romance' novel does. However, they *do* have one key element, a romantic love which enmeshes itself so firmly around the story line that the novel would not exist without it.

In other genres romance is also a frequent element. Fantasy novels are rife with 'life bonding', 'soul mates' and other pairings. In these stories the pairings are not the main thrust of the story arc. However, the romantic relationship (or forced non-relationship) between lead characters can intertwine intimately with the development of the plot. Here you more often have the second element, the 'happy ending', that you don't always with literary novels.

I could go on, but I think you see my point: within many 'non-Romance' genre books are romances. There exist outside our 'genre' stories where the relationship and the romantic love between two people impact the story line.

To that end, I'd like to share with you, and I hope you share with me, some favorite 'non-Romance' genre writers whose 'romances' you have enjoyed. Or at least found memorable. ;-)

My list to start us off:

Piers Anthony: Many of the Xanth Series

Kristen Britain: Green Rider Series (with only two out, I'm still on tenterhooks how the romantic element in this will be resolved!)

Julie Czerneda: Particularly the Species Imperative Series

Sharon Shinn: Particularly Summers at Castle Auburn

Mercedes Lackey: The stand-alone By The Sword

Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter

Elizabeth Peters: Any Vicki Bliss Novel, although as I recall all have a romance element

And, of course, Jane Austen (a preemptive strike to avoid getting sixteen posts about her :-) ).

I could go on, but what novels or authors would you list?

Labels: Britain, Czerneda, favorite books, genres, Romance Writing, romantic love, Sparks

We all have authors we admire, usually for their craft in writing, but sometimes for more. Who can't help but admire JKR for her perseverance and dedication to writing the Harry Potter novels? (No, I do not want a discussion on the merits of said novels). Or Stephen King for creating The Haven Foundation, a nonprofit organization which makes grants to freelance writers and artists experiencing career-threatening illness, accident, natural disaster or other emergency or personal catastrophe?

Those authors deserve our admiration, without a doubt. However, for me, the authors I admire as much are ones that are kind and helpful to novice writers as well as those that extend a sympathetic ear to a new author's worries, trials and tribulations. Clearly some of my admiration simply has to do with the more personal level of interaction I have observed and experienced.

Thus, this week, I want to pay my respects to a favorite author known as much for her thought provoking 'what if' scenarios as her kindness and support to writers: Julie Czerneda.

I was recently reading the forward to a novel by Ms. Czerneda. Yes, I read forwards, I am geeky that way, and I was struck, yet again, of why I admire her, not just as an author of fiction, but also as a chronicler of the writer's life.

As I read the passage below, I thought: Yes! I need to put *this* in the blog. Not only because of how well she has phrased what being writer is like; but also due to how well her sympathy and understanding of a writer's life extends out to the reader in this piece.

The book I am referencing is the ten-year anniversary edition of A Thousand Words for Stranger issued by Daw. In her new introduction, she says, and I quote:

Writers are a curious species; the writing life even more so. We tell ourselves stories,not the way regular people do, but with word-by-word effort. Dreams become insufficient. We're compelled to lock them down, polish them, hoard them on hard drives and paper. We dare to compare them to the work of others. Worst of all, after months and years of labor, we hand our most treasured fantasies to strangers. And wait.

So here I am, given a chance to voice my opinions and thoughts on the RWU Blog; however, when someone else has expressed something so well, so eloquently and so compassionately, I daren't do more than share her words. Particularly when I admire her so much.

Julie, I bow to you. Not just for your wonderful, thought-provoking writing, but also for the kindness, understanding and encouragement you give to new writers (and established ones as well).

And please, remember, NO FAN LINKS. People who know her know where to find her.

Labels: Czerneda, Daw, JKR, Julie Czerneda, Mentor, new author, Romance Writing, Stephen King, Support, Thousand Words for Stranger