(Upset Hubby Alert - I can't remember where I read it!)
Read somewhere (hence the hubby alert above) that some of the editors at the big publishing houses are now looking for contemporary romances. Actually, I think I read in a couple of different places over the last week or two, news that contemporaries may be the next hot thing. What do I say to that?
THANK GOD, THE GREAT GREEN TOAD FROG AND ALL THE RE-FRIED CLAMS IN THE UNIVERSE!!!
I like historicals and I write historicals, but there are times, many times, when only a contemporary will do. Some of my favs from that genre are folks like Diana Palmer, Linda Howard, Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Jayne Anne Krentz. I can curl up in a chair and watch hours pass like minutes while I read one of theirs in paperback form, or - as I add more to my Sony Reader - in ebook form. I'm eyeballing a purchase of a Diana Palmer and a Brenda Jackson Westmoreland anthology for my e-reader as we speak.
I also love contemporaries. I also WRITE contemporaries. I previously published Email Enticement, a contemporary set in my home town of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I just published Griffin's Law, a contemporary set at the University of South Carolina's Law School in Columbia, SC. Both books take place at that interesting mental spot where love and the law intersect. So, does my gratitude about the return of the contemporary contain some amount of self-interest? You bet'cha.
But, keep in mind, that I write contemporaries because I read contemporaries. I write contemporaries because I love contemporaries. I don't agree that you have to write what you know. I do agree that you have to write what you love. Enthusiasm and joy and a page turning experience will never happen for a reader if they didn't first happen for the writer. Fun is contagious.
What does it mean that the contemporary is about to make a comeback? I hope it's a sign that the economy and the job market are about to rebound. Many contemporaries feature romances that kindle in the workplace - a boss and a secretary, a rancher and a cook, two lawyers or a lawyer and a paralegal or a client, a law professor and a student (Griffin's Law). Almost all contemporaries contain some elements of the story that center around what the hero and heroine do for a living. Over the last couple of years, too many talented folks have been unemployed or underemployed, so I don't think many readers wanted reminders of jobs and the workplace in the books they read.
Instead, the recent rise and focus has been on the paranormal romance novels. America fell in love with Stephanie Meyer's Twilight novels. Yours truly even fell victim to the Vampire Virus when I watched the first Twilight movie because I was missing my away at college son who loves the series. My infection was brief - I never bought any of the books - but America has been suffering from the malady for a while - a long while. What caused the Vampire Virus?
Paranormals have been with us always and will surely continue to have their day. But paranormals used to be mainly the work of talented, highly creative souls who created other species and crafted a world for them to inhabit. Reading one of those books introduced us to another place, governed by other laws and inhabited by strange and exotic creatures. In those worlds we were the visitors. But the vampire virus plagued us right here on our home planet.
Why? What caused the monster malady? And when will we be cured? I think the plague arrived when contemporary reality became too hard to take. Too many people either had no workplace at all or had one where they toiled at some job for which they were way overqualified. How could they imagine love in such a setting? When survival became a dream American women fell in love with monsters.
I view the current rumors and rumbles about the revival of the contemporary as a sign that reality has begun to improve. It means that we can again see love in our world as a possible dream. Out there, on the far horizon, we see a glimmer of light and it reminds us how good sunshine feels. America is a country born of hope and filled with fighters and dreamers. The glimmer of light is all we need to begin pushing forward, to begin shoving the darkness behind us as we head for a world where love can bloom again.
Perhaps the vampires and the zombies served their purpose. Americans had to embrace something, even if it was something dark and deadly. But writers of vampire and zombie romances still had to give their monsters redeeming qualities. Through its darkest hours, Americans still refused to embrace the worst qualities of those monsters. And now, I hope that women are ready to put away the lovers who dwell in darkness and embrace those who toil beside them on a sunny day.
It's time for the vampires & zombies to exit stage right. The cowboys and the business tycoons are waiting in the wings, ready to take center stage.
Hurrah for the contemporary romance!! If you're in the mood for a taste of reality, flavored with some over the top fun, pick up Email Enticement or my new one, Griffin's Law, now available in ebook and paperback.