Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. Apologies for that.
It's once again time for an AW Blog Chain, and the theme is Love versus Romance. So far, it's taken quite a few interesting turns, from uninspired sitcom quadrangles to real life love stories, and ending so far with escritoria's post about how unhealthy forms of love can manifest in the real world.
As a writer, I often deal with the manifestations and repercussions of love. Not with romance, persay, because that's a whole other ballgame for me. I write urban fantasy, and I'm actually quite jealous of my favorite paranormal romance authors who can consistently churn out terrific, involving reads. But writing romance is tricky, and writing emotionally satisfying, believable romance is even trickier. So my hat is off to the ladies who excel at it (you know who you are)
In urban fantasy, romance is not the norm, but it certainly isn't excluded. Characters find romance, fall in love, break up, etc... Some popular series straddle the line; others stay easily within the realm of UF.
Love, rather than romance, plays a large role in THREE DAYS TO DEAD. Not the sweet wine-and-candlelight love, but the balls-out, messy kind of love. Love is the driving force behind one of my supporting characters, and it becomes an obstacle (and source of strength) to my heroine.
As a reader, I like both. The greatest thing about reading fiction is that, while I haven't found Love yet in my own life, I'll always find it at the end of the best in Romance.
Next up in the chain is bestselling author Cathy Clamp!
The entire chain:
Me
Razibahmed
Kat Frass
bsolah
AmyDoodle
FreshHell
escritora
ChaosTitan
Cathy C
harri3tspy
truelyana
tatkinson
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14 comments:
Interesting post. I like it, especially because my second WIP is an anime inspired urban fantasy yarn (expanded from my NaNo entry). Love is certainly there, but in the background. I like to read more about this subject within the realm of urban fantasy.
I'm a straight-up fiction writer and haven't read much in the sub-genres of sci-fi, fantasy or romance but I do like to read stories in which the love (or lack thereof) and/or romance (or lack thereof) is realistic and compelling. As a murder mystery fan, I also like to read about the aftermath of love gone awry.
Since I write primarily urban fantasy, that winds up on the romance shelves, I know of what you speak! Read mine for another view on the subject. Heh...
You're in my TBR pile, Cathy! I know you've mentioned before that your books are more UF than PNR, so I'm eager to get to them.
Rafael - I may post again on the subject, since the differences between UF, PNR and paranormal fiction can get so blurred. Heck, even among the industry peeps it's hard to get a consensus. :)
FreshHell - realistic and compelling are two of my favorite words.
Though I've heard great things about urban fantasy books, I've never read one. Can you recommend one?
I always laugh when people say that romance writing is easy. There are still plots to be mapped out, scenes to create, and characters to develop. And, on top of it all, the reader has to identify with and love both the male lead and the female lead characters, since they typically end up together in the last chapter. Easy my foot!! LOL
Anyway - wonderful post and great to see that you incorporated writing into the theme too.
auria - I'd recommend mine, but it won't be available until October. *g* However, a terrific place to start is with Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series. The first book is called Storm Front. And depending on your level of nookie-want, other authors to check out are Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Caitlin Kittredge, Charlaine Harris, Jeanne Stein, and CT Adams & Cathy Clamp.
Kat - I'm glad you enjoyed the post. It always amazes me how many people think writing a book is easy, period. Egads.
Jim's books are excellent. I am a huge fan of Harry Dresden. He (or should I say they?) are the reason why my second WIP is an urban fantasy piece.
Kelly - is your book available online for preorder?
Yep, I'm available for pre-order! I'm listed on Amazon, and several other sites (like Target.com).
Yay!
Great post. And Three Days to Dead sounds like a winner!
I find love and romance hard to write too. I think I'm better at writing romance than love, unless the love is a kind best-friend kind, which I've done before.
Thanks for the comment, Amy! Glad you liked the post.
B. Solah, I think that best friend-love can be just as powerful in fiction as lover-love. All depends on how you write it.
First of all, I apologize for being so late in posting the comment for this entry. Depicting love is always a challenge for many writers despite the fact that most poets write about love.
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