who writes or reads romances?

 

One thing that many people don't know is that men also write romances. Some do it under their own name or a pseudonym, but others in different genres. Westerns often have a romance in their story, though it won't be at the core. Examples are Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour.  

The thing is relationships are at the heart of many books, whether key or alongside the action. Because reality is human interactions are what makes the world go round, not just babies but moving forward. My romances are all heterosexual but there are good romances out there which are not. It's all about thee strong connection. 

 Because so many are prejudiced against the idea of romance as a key part of a book, I know I always lose readers here who challenge that as realistic. Romance novels have a bad rap, probably about the equivalent of soap operas. Who reads them? Maybe women a lot like I was when I did.

My first romances (to read that is) came when I was in the end of grade school and began checking out from the library some of those sweet stories like Paintbox Summer by Betty Cavanna (I had forgotten the author's name but still remembered that title which led to the author).

Those books were pretty much like the little films of the time on the Mickey Mouse Club with Spin, Marty and Annette (if you aren't in your sixties at least, you probably have no idea who they were). The stories were sweet. Sex, drugs, and alcohol rarely intruded in the lives of those teens; or if they did, they were shown as negative. I was living a life a lot like those books; so they suited me for a few years.

Then in my early teens came the westerns which really were my first romance reads of an adult sort. I was as interested then in the western life as the romantic parts. The women in Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, etc. stories were often learning to live a western life and toughen up. The men they were attracted to were as tough as the land.

From this came more grown up fare by authors like Frank Yerby and Ernest Hemingway (yes, he did write stories with romance even though it usually didn't end well). The romances I read during that period had history as more important than the romantic parts, and the endings might or might not have been happy.

It wasn't until I was married and I think had my first baby that I actually read my first romance novels of the bodice ripper sort, which had only recently come into popularity with authors like Rosemary Rogers, and I might add were considered wicked back then. For me, those books were quite enlightening, and I went for enlightenment in a big way for a while.

Then I realized I didn't think it was healthy when any rape was romanticized or glorified which means even by the hero. I still read romances but less frequently and a bit more carefully chosen; until, boom, I lost interest in all of them.

More on this next week as to a defense of the genre.