NOW AVAILABLE!

NOW AVAILABLE!
A HERO'S SPARK: the final book in the Wicked Women series!

Friday, March 11, 2011

What point is there to romantic fiction?

Good afternoon!


There's a lot of awful stuff going on in this world.  Today, news of a horrible earthquake and tsunami in the Pacific is reminding us all that life is a fragile gift.  When you hear news like that, about people injured and killed, about homes lost, all you want to do is help.

It's the same any time some sort of horrible disaster happens.  We all want to help out in some way.  So we donate food, money, we take some time off of work and go to the disaster site and help there.  We conserve energy, we donate old eye glasses, we help old ladies cross the street.  We want to help.

I don't know about you, but sometimes, for me, it just doesn't seem like enough.  Some days I look at my life and I feel like I'm not doing enough.  Some days I think I need to do more.

It's the same with writers.  There are writers who change the world with their words.  There are writers who start or end revolutions.  And then there are those who write romantic fiction...like me.

In a world like ours, some might think, what's the point to writing romantic fiction?

Sometimes, my friends, when everything seems dark and angry, curling up with a story about love conquering all and a happy ending is exactly what you need most. 

Think I'm crazy?  Think about this:  General fiction and non fiction book sales have dropped every year for the last three years.  Sales of romantic fiction, most notably, romance novels, has risen. 

Friends, do not think of romantic fiction as your mother's "bodice rippers" that she hid under the bed. What we're talking about here are modern day fairy tales.  Good versus evil. with good winning.  Love conquers all.  A handsome hero and a beautiful heroine.  A love scene, some drama, a little humor and happily ever after.

I'm not saying reading romantic fiction will heal the world's ills.  But maybe if more people picked up a copy of "Dream in Color" and spent some time with Ramona, Neil, and Jesse, maybe they'd smile a little more.  Maybe if more people read a romance novel once in a while, they wouldn't be so cranky, and so apt to yell at someone, or, dare I hope it, to shoot at someone.

There is a point to romantic fiction, my friends.  That point is joy...and peace;  simple things for complicated times.

Well, that and a good love scene!

No comments:

Post a Comment