Can I have my blog back please?Yes - I know that you've been doing a wonderful job of blogging, Dom (I can call him Dom because I created him) and you too, Alice - but well, this is my blog you know! And as Alice kindly reminded me - the reasons that there are these contests, Brides or Grooms, is because there is this book. My - OK - our book - the one that I wrote and that stars Domenico and Alice as its hero and heroine.
The book that makes people cry.
It's available in America in the Readers' Club now and already I'm getting messages from people who tell me I made them cry. Marilyn says that it made her cry for days! And over on My Tote Bag, Lee Hyat warns:
Just one word of advice though - keep a box of tissues handy for this one. You
may shed some tears, but you'll love every single minute of it.
And I'm a mean, mean author because I love to hear it when that happens. It's a great tribute to my writing to know that I've moved someone to tears.
Anne McAllister says that it didn't make her cry - but then she's a 'sentimental cryer' not an emotional angst cryer. Anne said that it was "a book that was like a knock-out punch".
Well, that's good for me too. I really am a mean author - I like to punch my readers and make them cry. The point is that I like to know I've moved my readers emotionally. Emotions are what romances are about for me. I want to feel what my characters - or the characters some other author has created - are feeling. I want to go through their excitement, joy, pain, disillusionment, despair, relief, happiness . . . If I don't then I can 't ultimately believe in and commit myself to the Happy Ever After ending that the author gives them. No matter how many times a hero or heroine says 'I love you', no matter how much they apologise for their mistakes, or say they forgive - if I don't feel it then it doesn't work for me.If I don't feel it then the characters don't come alive and I don't believe in them - or care about them. And emotions are what count - not melodrama or putting the characters into some terrible situation and then getting them out of it by a miracle. Not external trauma like illness or disability - or death and destruction all around them - not putting them into nasty, sordid situations and letting them come out the other side smelling of roses . These are extras, shading, the 'scenery' to a plot, the backdrop to the characters.What matters to me is what the characters feel and the way that the author convinces me that these two have really weathered the storms that life has thrown at them. The way that I believe that they are actually in love and that they are each other's 'soul mate' - the person who completes them, the 'other half' of them. All the trauma and drama and fireworks earlier in the book don't matter if I'm not convinced of that.
I was thinking of this yesterday when a parcel arrived - a parcel of books. It's RITA judg
ing time and I have a selection of 8 books to read and judge for this major Romance Writers contest. The problem with reading, and judging, is that it's a very subjective thing. One woman's wonderful, emotional, exciting meat is another woman's poison. I have trained as a critic - three years studying English Lit on a degree course does that for you. I can read as close to objectively as possible - assess things I don't personally enjoy and see if they have merit. But my premise for judging Romances is always as I've stated above. When I'm reading, I'll be looking to see if the books convince me on an emotional level - because if they don't then in my opinion they aren't romances at all. Because romances are just that - a story in which an man and a woman meet, face the problems that some form of conflict throws at them, and in the process of resolving those problems come to realise that they are made for each other - that together they have a once in a lifetime, everlasting love. It doesn't matter how much misery and hostility and conflict they endure before they get there - if the ending doesn't convince me then the book won't satisfy me.
I'd like to point out that my author - Liz - won a RITA in 2006 for The Marriage Miracle - and again for The Best Man and The Bridesmaid
And Anne's no slouch either - she won the RITA for Cowboy Pride and
The Stardust Cowboy . . .
3 comments:
I can't wait to read your new book. I love books that make me feel something...whether it is sadness or joy...if the book makes me feel anything or moves me, then I love it!
Thank you, Kate, for your kind words. It's a privilege to share the contest with you and Liz, too!
And Domenico and Alice were in extraordinarily good hands when you wrote their story. I wasn't kidding when I said it was like a "knock-out punch." It's an emotional powerhouse from start to finish.
And I know what you mean about needing the ending to be satisfying. I'm reading RITA books, too, and I just read one that was simply wonderful. It's always a treat when it's by a completely unknown author that from now on I will have to watch out for!
Anne
Jennifer - I agree with you. I want to feel something when I'm reading. I want a book top move me. Indifference that 'so what?' feeling is every bit as bad as the 'I don't even like these two so why am I reading about them?' They both end up with 'I don't want to read this book' or - worse - 'I wish I'd never wasted my time reading this book.' I hope that Domenico's story makes you feel - it seems to have had that effect on a lot of people.
Anne, you are so welcome! I was an Anne McAllister fan before we were friends. Thta's why I was so thrilled that you liked The Italian's Forced Bride so much.
How great that you're enjoying a new author through the RITA - I haven't done that yet.
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