Pretty much by chance I met an agent who has worked with authors that you would all recognize the names of if I were to write them, which I won’t, to protect the agent’s identity. She has decided I might be right for some of the racier lines of romances that are coming out lately, after looking at some of the novel’s I’ve written.
I find it pretty weird to think that I might be writing romances. Mrs. Evil Captor is all excited … she’s having all sorts of fun thinking up nom de plumes for me. I have convinced her that “Fifi LaRue” is right out, but she’s still having fun with it.
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
That is very exciting!
(I’ve been meaning to send in a variety of manuscripts for…oh…well…a long time.)
Oh, yeah, a few years ago I’d noticed that a lot of them dealt with women captured by pirates, or (pre 9/11) Arab princes for their harems, etc., and I’d read a couple, but there was generally a ton of heaving bosoms and trials and tribulations before they got around to doing any deeds of interest to a guy. But the ones I’ve checked out since this romance novel writing gig came up have been MUCH HOTTER than the ones that were being written just a decade or so ago. And the upcoming lines are even more forthcoming with the hotness. I’d always thought the day might come when the difference between what I’ve been writing would be pretty close to romances, given my interest in having plot and characterization in my stories, but I didnt’ think it would be so soon.
It would SEEM that way. But ya know, I’ve always maintained that even John Norman’s Gor novels were halfway to being romances, especially the ones written from the slavegirl POV. I mean, typically they run a lot like romances … Earth woman is kidnapped by aliens, transported to Gor, where she meets hunky Gorean male whom she falls for in a big way (generally without initially realizing it) then she wanders around Gor being captured by this Gorean master and that, and running away from them and being stolen from them and whatnot, while the Gorean master, longing for her, has all sorts of adventures hunting for her, then they meet up and live happily ever after.
Granted, she lives as his slave and all, but still the structure is romantic in nature, even if the content is not.
And of course, my stuff is nothing like Norman’s in many respects.
Like I said, Gor novels are romances in terms of their construction, not their content. In a romance, if a heroine ever found herself chained to the foot of the hero’s bed, it would turn out to be a horrible mistake on his part, or maybe something he had not intended to do, and he’d spend the rest of the novel making up for it.
I think you’d make some serious sales being more hardcore Gorean, but I don’t see any way to blend it with modern sensibilities. How are you going to speak to a woman’s dom-sub fantasies in an emotionally appealing way without being utterly politically incorrect… or am I mis-understanding the nature of the modern romance novel?
Actually, there is a long tradition of women in submissive roles in romances. Generally, they must tame heart of some rowdy dude (th3e one who kidnapped/enslaved/etc. her, typically.)
I’m reading a modern piece, though, about a woman who kidnaps a hunky reporter on behalf of the cops and keeps wanting to do him. She hasn’t done him yet, but she keeps having to make “emergency” stops in hotel rooms and finding excuses to disrobe him. While keeping him cuffed, etc., all the time, and I’m only on page 44.
Yeah, I think there mightbe room for more Gorean antics than in the past.
Here’s an interesting bit from someone on another message board about trends in romance novels:
One of the lines I may be writing for is not yet out, and is intended to be steamier than the lines cited in the bookselling newsletter. Hmmm. They may wind up soliciting John Norman himself. That would be a hoot.
“Tarl looked at Thumbina with the slitted eyes of a larl. Thumbina stared back at him, wide-eyed. She had satisfied him muchly, in the manner of a woman satisfying a bold man with flashing blue eyes and a hunky body who comes from the wild lands where men are men and chipmunks are chipmunks. But how could she hope to find favor with such a man as this, with his skintight’ sable pantaloons and his soft leather vertskin boots, and his puffy shirt made of finest silk?”
First, if you get published, you’ll have to immediately let me know–romance novels are a guilty pleasure of mine, and I don’t even feel that guilty about it. I try not to buy the ones with open-shirted beefcake on the cover, but there’s still a whole lot out there that won’t get a raised eyebrow and a knowing “God, you’re desperate” grin from the checkout guy at Borders.
I probably will shyly announce if I get published. I just brought a list of lines in and had the bookstore manager help me select some. I was hoping he figured it was for Mrs. Evil Captor (who does not read romances) but I would be OK if he didn’t. I’m really not easily embarrassed.
“Finders Keepers” by Shirl Henke, number 61 in the Silhouette Bombshell line of romances, Oct 05, so it’s relatively recent and should be easy to find. Has a picture of a smirking woman driving a car with a bound and gagged guy in the back seat.
