Guidelines for romance authors
Romance can be a tricky genre at times. It’s all about two people trying to connect together in some form of relationship, and the problems they encounter along the way.
Of course the author generally wants the reader to champion the relationship — they should ideally want it all to work out.
But there are some variables in a romance book that I’d like to call “the ick factor”. They’re guidelines that if broken will cause many readers to have discomfort with what they’re reading.
As for other articles, I took to #amwritingromance on Twitter to find out what people thought!
Caution — some of this will talk about sex and erotica (romance writers and sex huh?), so be warned …
Still with me? Okay, this is how I got the ball rolling,
A brilliant point was made by House SlytherAnne. It’s something you think is obvious, but as she points out you used a lot under the guise of “poor decision making”,
Susan H. Stanley brought up a good point on responsible sex,
As an ex teacher of sex ed (oh, I’ve had a varied career), I wholeheartedly endorse this. In my sci-fi Melody Harper’s Moon, I talked about contraceptive treatments, but very little more about safe sex, and I now wish I had.
Going back to one of my rules about if there’s sex going on in a relationship I’d advise all your characters to be over the legal age of consent. I’m aware in my role as a teacher that underage sex does happen, but if you’re writing about that, chances are some of your readers will find that uncomfortable.
If it’s meant to make them uncomfortable because it’s a biting social commentary, then it’s your story to tell. But some people will find it difficult to continue with solely on that basis.
Emily Wendell pointed out there was a log in Game Of Thrones which is a bit “icky”, and not just Jamie and Cersei,
Tales of sexual exploration and bondage have been around since before Fifty Shades, it’s just Fifty Shades took it mainstream! So here is a bit of advice from Hero West,
Silk Cords additionally added that,
I had a bit of a discussion about how things you’d really not expect “wanted into ick territory”. Prince Charming’s obsession with kissing the dead Snow White (and he seems to do this with tongue as well!).
A recent movie Passengers was supposed to be a romance, but as many have pointed out the way Chris Pratt’s character behaves — is creepy and manipulative. He is woken on board a space ship after a malfunction, and “chooses out the girl with the purdy mouth” to be his mate and companion.
I pointed out that when you think of it, even in Snow White, Prince Charming sees her corpse and goes “I’ve got to kiss her”.
Ew! Something I don’t even thing George RR Martin has done yet!
Is the power thing really always a huge issue? Jem Westbay gave this thought, with M. Bonneau contributing,
On how much description for any intimate scenes …
I of course had to showcase a couple of lines from Melody Harper’s Moon which I’m particularly proud of — but with much of what I do, I’m forever tempted to tweak …
M. Bonneau started off a conversation around descriptions for sex which are either disliked or feel lame [consider yourself warned],
