I have a confession: I have never been into romance books.
I read one in college at the bequest of my roommate and while I did actually enjoy it, and it was a well-written and engaging (while generally cliché) story, I just never bothered to pick up any more afterward. I don’t even remember the name of the book or author now.
I am almost exclusively a sci-fi and fantasy girl. Sometimes a literary fiction, sometimes a non-fiction. But mostly just sci-fi and fantasy, whether adult or young adult.
Then, as most of you know, I attended the RT Booklover’s Convention in Kansas City, MO this year, and for some strange reason was utterly blown away by the popularity of all classifications, shapes and sizes of romance novels. You would have thought I would have already known this, as I’m sure probably everyone else does, but for whatever reason – maybe because I just was never all that interested myself? – it never occurred to me the genre was as popular as it actually is.
While my own stories tend to have a subtle romantic subplot within them (it seems to be habitual), the entire focus of my stories has never been that two people fall in love and get together. But maybe that’s not even really the point of romance novels any longer? I’m not sure, because I never read them.
Recently, however, all because of a $10,000 possible advance and publication prize, I decided to buckle down and write a love story for a contest. An unconventional love story. In my mind, this meant an unconventional romance. (Does love story = romance?? Who knows….) I came up with the idea (or rather, tweaked a long-standing idea that’s been marinating in my head for many years) for this contest entry novel and have been working on it since mid-June.
The thing is… it’s still not working out as a classic romance novel. I alternate between being frustrated about this and being okay with it. After all, these days, there are a huge, huge range of romance novels that sometimes aren’t even recognizable as even being in the romance genre. I keep trying to convince myself to just write the damn story however it needs to be told and don’t worry about classifying it until later.
Then, I saw a little blurb news show about Nora Roberts. And I thought, maybe I should actually read some romance novels. Because, you know, the best way to become a better writer is to read a lot. I don’t get much chance to read these days, but for all the reading I have done and get to do recently, I am super, super deprived in the romance area. So I thought, maybe if I read some romance novels, I’ll get a better feel for them and can really figure out how in the world to label this current WIP of mine (and maybe even how to write it in a more… uh… romancy way!?). Because sure, labels don’t really matter… but they do. You have to typecast your book, even if you don’t want to. Even if it crosses genres, you need to know where it’s going to go on that shelf, or nobody will want to buy it because they won’t know how to market it.
So after much struggle and debate over what romance novel to read first (taking suggestions from friends), the friend I am visiting right this moment in Baltimore happened to have one of Nora Roberts’ books! HA! Written as J. D. Robb, it is one of her “sci-fi” romances: Seduction in Death. This is perfect, I thought. It’s not just a straight, classic romance. It’s a “romantic suspense with a sci-fi slant” … which is something my current WIP might even be able to be labeled as. PERFECT.
Curious, I cracked open the book to the first page right upon being handed it and read the first line.
And then the second, and third, and fourth… I read half the damn first chapter just standing there in the hallway with book in hand.
I have another confession: Despite the large popularity of romance novels, and despite my previous one good experience with them, I was still under the impression that they were generally poorly written clichéd terribleness that was devoured precisely because of their terribleness. I’m sure some are exactly like that. But not all of them.
I admit… I was extremely, extremely impressed by the first chapter of this Seduction in Death book. I will not make assumptions about her other 209 or so novels, but for this one, she’s got me already – hook, line and sinker.
Despite being a crime drama (omg can anyone find anything else to write about/film other than homicide detectives/doctors/lawyers??!?!? O_o), I am completely willing to go along for this ride. Reading as a writer, I have been closely studying her techniques, rereading each page to drink it all in. I have noticed several things that are very well done immediately, which I felt I should document for my own purposes, and because some of you might be interested as well, especially if you also are not very inclined to read romance novels. 😉
- Killer first line: “Death came in dreams.” OMG. Just walk up to me and say that and I’m instantly interested. Followed by “She was a child who was not a child, facing a ghost who, no matter how often his blood bathed her hands, would not die.” Um, WHAT!? Are you serious!?!? I MUST KNOW MORE!!! In addition, she echoes the first line of the first scene in the second scene of the first chapter with, “Death didn’t only come in dreams.” FABULOUS. Reader interest accomplished.
- Immediate character bonding. She does not warm her engines by any means before getting started on the story. She opens with a horrifying nightmare – though you are not certain it is a nightmare until later – featuring an eight-year-old child terrified and in pain. Immediate sympathy accomplished. Immediate bonding, as well as immediate immersion in her female lead’s backstory without giving us a dull narrative of facts. By knowing this backstory, as soon as we realize this is a nightmare with the adult character, we are already invested in her. We already know so, so much about her, even without having read any of the other books in the series.
- Great world-building. No info dumps here. This takes place in the future, as evidenced by the terms and technology and slang. No paragraphs of horribly boring details. What details there are weave into the action and amplify it instead of drag it down. We are given just enough and not too much and not too little. No time is wasted explaining the tech and how it works. It’s explained through use by the characters, instead.
- Excellent use of dialogue. It reads very quickly. Snappy, witty, precise and realistic. Almost no dialogue tags at all, yet the pitch and cadence of each character’s voice and speech was evident in my head as I read. (More evidence that what the experts say about dialogue tags – try not to use them, that is – is actually true… whaddaya know!) Entire scenes were fleshed out through dialogue and the image built in my head without me even really realizing it. Granted, she had an advantage here because she could use the excuse that the detective needed to investigate the scene, so I’m interested to see how she handles scene description throughout the rest of the book. I would love to know how she does it without this kind of a crutch. Even still, she used this crutch so expertly, I didn’t even see it as a crutch until I specifically looked for method.
- Short, efficient sentences establish tone. Since we see through the female lead’s POV from the start, the sentence structure gives us a sense of tone, a sense of Eve’s personality. They don’t quite read as clipped, but they are very efficient. Every word is useful. No fillers here, no pretty frills. Yet it’s not cut and dry. The images I see are as clear and precise as a long paragraph from “Game of Thrones”, for example. Lots of actions and dialogue, and a powerful, effective description
sprinkled in every few paragraphs do a great job of painting the visuals while also giving a sense of character and tone. - Sneaky character description. If there is one thing I find the hardest about my own stories, it’s how to work in the character description when first introducing them. I will need to study this novel for that express purpose, if nothing else. The only other novel I’ve read lately is the Game of Throne series, in which Mr. Martin is not shy about halting everything to describe a character thoroughly… then move on. I don’t want to do that myself. I probably couldn’t get away with it, anyway. But as a result, I’m not getting enough details across for readers. Nora Roberts, on the other hand, does it perfectly – a few details thrown in right off the bat and voila, you’re done. But it seems so natural, you don’t even realize it’s happening, which is the point. I always feel like my few character details are obvious or forced. Maybe they wouldn’t come across that way to readers. But regardless, I will be watching this method closely throughout this novel.
That’s just from the first chapter. I am very much looking forward to finishing this novel. It’s actually been a very long time since I’ve been so impressed with an author’s writing, so this is really refreshing! I will post about other things I notice as I go, as well.
And with that, I must bid you good night. Happy Writing, all!
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