ch-ch-ch-changes

I was over on AAR recently and poked my head into a thread with this title:  Breaking Down Barriers & Opening Doors In The Romance Genre. Apparently it’s the title of a workshop that will be presented at one of the major romance conventions this year. The poster had mixed feelings about the evolution(?) of romance:

  

“While I don’t want things to get stale and stagnate in the romance genre, I still want the prerequisite HEA.”

I’m totally on board with her on this. I want the HEA or at the very least an HFN.

“And being a traditional reader, I don’t want the heroine and hero to have sex with other people in romance books. And I do want to know who the hero and heroine are at the beginning of the book.”

These 2 points are a little more tricky.  It depends. It depends on the author, on the book (genre/character/plot) and last but not least, my mood.  With some books, and in the right/skilled hands, I’d have no problem with the H/h being with someone else, or even with it not being clear who the hero/heroine is at the beginning or changing from one person to someone else. I’ve read an enjoyed many books with these situations. Other books with these same elements made my blood boil! I put the book(s) down in disgust NEVER to pick them up again, and what’s more, the author ended up on my ‘not interested to ever read another book by’ list.  Lol.

The commenter on AAR also had a number of questions for other readers:

Do you think that there are barriers that need to be broken down in the romance genre and if so what? Is having the hero & heroine have sex with other people one of those?

I don’t think barriers need to be broken down, but in some cases they certainly could do with some stretching.  Doesn’t necessarily have to take the form of the H/h having other sexual partners within the scope of the story taking place on the page, but I am seeing more variety in ages (older H/h) more interracial beyond the ubiquitous Sheik or Magnificent Bastard of European/Mediterranean/South American lineage.  Characters who are recovering alcoholics, drug abusers, assassins, former prostitutes matched up with former men of the cloth, and so on. I just read an m/m that had a hero who is/was a tattooed and pieced (failed) virtuoso violinist and the other someone who was deaf. It was very well done re the characterization. 

Do you think it is important to label a book as a romance vs. women’s fiction? Do you think that genre help define the story (like…a romance recipe), or hold an author back from being creative? Is it even necessary to have genre classifications?

 Yes. I do. Awhile back there was a lot of fuss over erotica being mislabeled as erotic-romance, or Urban Fantasy being labeled paranormal romance. I feel the same way about woman’s fiction/chick-lit being labeled as contemporary romance. Really. Not the same thing. Not by a long shot.  Having said that I like a lot of woman’s fic that’s being released as contemporary romance. Lol.   I know I’m just encouraging the publishers to continue their subterfuge, which makes me a bit itchy because I know if I was that woman who wanted contemporary romance-with the romance front and central to the story I’d be plenty ticked off by these books and stop buying them. As it is, I buy these books for the story and/or because I like the author’s voice. But they are not my first choice when I want a romance. I will only *trust* an author I know who writes true contemporary romance to deliver it.

Do you feel that if a romance author decides to initiate a change, that she has an obligation to let her reader’s know? Yes. Or s/he’s going to have a lot of pissed off readers. I’m not saying she should ask for permission. But she should have some sort of post, note to readers that she’s moving (or has moved) in a different direction just as a warning, so folks can decide on whether they want to spend their money on her move/experiment.

Do you think that individuals that post to AAR are representative of the general population reading romance novels?

I’m going to change this question around a bit: Do you think individuals that post on line are representative of the general population reading romance novels?

Nope.  I think the vast majority of readers offline read for enjoyment and relaxing–to just while away some time. I think online readers are a lot more analytical about their reading.  90% of the knickers-in-a-twist stuff that gets brought up repeatedly online, offline peeps would barely give a fig about. They may notice whatever it is, but shrug it off. Online readers will beat the poor horsey to death, shave him, dissect him, make a weave out of his mane (then critique the hairstylist on the final hairstyle) and make Alpo out of the rest of the horse (then comparison shop for the best price on dog food. *g*).

So what’s your take on the questions?

You can check out the discussion on AAR here: http://aarboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=4601&sid=06a28f49582a0d62877f6ac914314366Â