{"id":1260,"date":"2010-10-10T11:23:32","date_gmt":"2010-10-10T15:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/?p=1260"},"modified":"2010-10-10T11:31:26","modified_gmt":"2010-10-10T15:31:26","slug":"romancing-the-readers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/2010\/10\/10\/romancing-the-readers\/","title":{"rendered":"Romancing The Readers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Stephen King really America's favorite novelist? I think lots of folks have seen movies based on his novels. I think King is famous enough to get his name before the movie title (i.e. - Stephen King's The Stand<\/em><\/a>). But I really don't believe that he's America's favorite novelist despite the results of the new Harris Poll<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Don't get me wrong. I mean no disrespect to Mr. King. He's a fine writer and he's paid his dues. He deserves the money and the recognition. The other 2 writers who made the top 3 are James Patterson<\/a> and John Grisham<\/a>. Both of them also spin a fine tale and I know that I've read many of Grisham's legal thrillers. Heck, Grisham is sort of the red letter standard for lawyers (like me) who write. I've always been especially proud that Mr. Grisham is a Southern lawyer who writes. My home region is a proud place.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I'm just surprised that only 2 romance writers made the list: Nora Roberts<\/a> at #4 and Danielle Steel<\/a> at #7. I'm even more surprised at the overall genre numbers from the poll. According to Harris<\/a>,\u00a0the best read genre in the country is mystery, thriller and crime (#1), followed by science fiction (#2) and then literature (#3).\u00a0 Romance comes is at #4.\u00a0 Yes, #4.\u00a0 And I think that's flat out wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How to explain those numbers?\u00a0 I think\u00a0shame's to blame.\u00a0 I think too many romance readers feel guilty about reading romance novels.\u00a0 They've bought into the popular myths that romance novels aren't \"real\" books or that they're written for the dumb or the desperate.\u00a0 The largest popular myth that too many women have bought into is one often\u00a0sold by husbands or boyfriends\u00a0who convince women\u00a0that romance is porn.\u00a0 (I'm grateful that Mr. Quack is NOT one of those men.\u00a0 He's the type of guy who'll design romance covers for his wife.\u00a0 Thanks sweetness!)<\/p>\n

But despite my occasional accusations, not every woman can date, sleep with or marry Mr. Quack.\u00a0\u00a0And lots and lots of other guys have made their women feel guilty about reading romance by claiming that it's female porn.\u00a0 A case in point cropped up just last week.\u00a0 Over on the Smart Bitches blog, the women printed a letter from a reader<\/a> on the topic.\u00a0That reader's boyfriend claimed he was addicted to porn, but wanted to know why he should give it up\u00a0if his girlfriend read\u00a0\"porn for women.\"\u00a0 (Frankly, I'm not sure why either of them need to give up anything for the other.\u00a0 I suggested that one night a week they go to the bedroom; she spend an hour trolling some of his porn sites, he spend an hour\u00a0reading one of her romance novels and then they discuss how it made them feel.\u00a0 I'm betting the bedroom is where that conversation would end up anyway.\u00a0 And that's a good thing.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Romance is not porn.\u00a0 Porn is written to make the naughty parts tingle.\u00a0 Romance is written to make\u00a0the heart tingle.\u00a0 Yeah, some romance mixes the two and maybe (don't hit me) some erotic romance comes close to\u00a0being \"porn for women.\"\u00a0\u00a0 But ultimately, romance is about the happy ending.\u00a0 Porn is about making the endings happy.\u00a0\u00a0Happy nerve endings do not a happily ever after make.\u00a0<\/p>\n

None of the other myths about the genre are true either.\u00a0 Reading romance doesn't mean you're dumb or desperate.\u00a0 It means you think that life is full of too much pain, sadness and separation.\u00a0 It means you think that more people\u00a0deserve happy endings than get them.\u00a0 It mean you'd prefer to read about hope rather than horror, love rather than pain.\u00a0 And those are good things.<\/p>\n

So often people answer polls the way that makes them feel better about themselves.\u00a0 I believe that people sat down to respond to this one and gave an \"acceptable\" answer.\u00a0 You want proof of that?\u00a0 Literature beat romance in the numbers.\u00a0 Literature.\u00a0\u00a0And that's just plain out silly.\u00a0 People think claiming they read literature makes them look smart.\u00a0 But the proof is in the pudding or, in this case, in the cash registers.\u00a0 People do not buy more literature than romance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I'd also dispute that either\u00a0mystery\/thriller\/horror\u00a0or science fiction beat out romance.\u00a0 Especially these days, so much of romance contains elements of the other genres.\u00a0 If you're answering this poll and you want to respond the way society or your partner believes you should - then you're apt to say, well, so-and-so\u00a0writes romantic suspense\u00a0and I just read that one so I'll say mystery.\u00a0 Or, so-and-so writes paranormal romance and I just read that one so I'll say science fiction.\u00a0 And literature?\u00a0 There, I think they were either outright making it up or that they were thinking - well, I just read a Danielle Steel.\u00a0 She says she doesn't write romance, she writes about the human condition.\u00a0 And that's literature, right?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Geez Louise, how can we blame readers for not wanting to claim the genre when some its most well known writers won't own up to it?\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u00a0the survey says to me is that we need to do more to romance the readers.\u00a0 We need to teach them, to convince them, to come out of the literary closet.\u00a0 No one should be ashamed to say that they read romance and they prefer romance.\u00a0 Readers shouldn't have to think back to the last movie they saw to answer a question about their favorite writer.\u00a0 It's okay to say Julia Quinn<\/a>, Diana Palmer<\/a>,\u00a0Johanna Lindsey<\/a>,\u00a0Debbie Macomber<\/a> or Janet Evanovich<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0It'd even be okay to say Mary Anne Graham<\/a> (a girl can dream).\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don't find it surprising that more boomers (age 46-64) than non-boomers answered straight out that they read\u00a0romance.\u00a0 I'm on the younger end (it's nice to say that about an age range) of that spectrum.\u00a0\u00a0Readers in that age have generally fought (and won) battles with their non Mr. Quack-like spouses.\u00a0 They're\u00a0more likely to have overcome fears of \"but what will they think\" and they're\u00a0stronger and more secure as women.\u00a0 They've fought the fights to prove that they're strong and they're smart and they can read whatever they bloody well like.\u00a0 If they're reading it, then it's meant to be read by smart, secure women.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think romance writers first have to practice what they preach.\u00a0 COME ON, IT'S NOT HARD, STAND UP AND SAY IT -- \"I WRITE ROMANCE AND I'M DAMNED PROUD OF IT.\"\u00a0<\/strong> It may be romantic suspense, romantic thrillers, romantic\u00a0mystery, romantic literature, romantic sci-fi or paranormal but if it's about the relationship then it's about the romance.\u00a0 If the rest of the plot is a device to drive the relationship - then it's about the romance.\u00a0 If it's important to the story that the hero and heroine end up\u00a0HEA<\/a> - then it's romance.<\/p>\n

Once the writers are strong and secure and confident, then we need to work on romancing the readers, especially the younger folks.\u00a0 I'd call on the boomer readers to fight the good fight alongside of the writers.\u00a0 Let's teach the younger\u00a0folks - the men and the women (we can try)\u00a0- that's it is okay to come out of the literary closet.\u00a0 Let's teach them that it's cool to read romance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Romance isn't porn for women.\u00a0 It isn't the genre of the desperate and the dumb.\u00a0 Romance is food for the heart.\u00a0 It's the genre of the hardy and the hopeful.\u00a0 It's the genre of the strong and the secure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And believing that you deserve your own HEA isn't dumb - it's damned smart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is Stephen King really America's favorite novelist? I think lots of folks have seen movies based on his novels. I think King is famous enough to get his name before the movie title (i.e. - Stephen King's The Stand). But I really don't believe that he's America's favorite novelist despite the results of the new ...continue reading \"Romancing The Readers\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1260"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1265,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions\/1265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}