Romance Novel 'Snobbery'?

 

https://bookswelove.net/martin-paula/

Romance Novel 'Snobbery'? 

In the past, I’ve had comments from two different acquaintances that have made me think. Here is the gist of the conversations.

First conversation:-

Her (with a smirk on her face): Please tell me you don’t write for Mills and Boon.

Me: No, not now, but I wouldn’t mind being published by them again.

Her (with mouth dropping open): Why? Their novels are rubbish.

Me: How long is it since you read one?

Her: I haven’t read any. I wouldn’t be seen dead reading one of that bodice-ripper kind of book.

Second conversation (on the phone with someone I hadn’t seen for several years):-

Her: So what have you been doing with yourself?

Me: Actually I’ve been writing novels.

Her: Really? Have you had anything published?”

Me: Yes, over a dozen in the past ten years.

Her: Oh, well done. What are they about?”

Me: They’re romances.

Silence, then Her: Oh, sorry, I never read romances. They’re so predictable, happy ever after and all that.

I’ve paraphrased these conversations, but you get the idea.

The first conversation made me realise the stereotypical image of romance novels has persisted, at least for my generation, for 30+ years. The “bodice-rippers” were the hallmark of Mills and Boon/Harlequin in the 1970’s and 1980’s, and, in my opinion, gave romance novels a bad rap. They had archetypal characters and contrived plots, usually involving a virginal heroine who was ‘rescued’ by a alpha hero, and often contained a barely disguised rape scene. On the whole, this kind of novel has gone ‘out of fashion’ (with a few notable exceptions which have dominated the best-seller lists!). However, a kind of stigma still remains.

The second conversation made me wonder about the word ‘predictable’. Yes, romances have, if not a ‘Happy Ever After’ ending, then at least a ‘Happy’ ending where the hero and heroine overcome the obstacles in the path to reunite. Aren’t thrillers, detective stories, and mysteries equally predictable? The goodies will triumph, the baddies will receive their deserved punishment, and the crime or mystery will be solved. What’s the difference? Why are romance novels considered predictable, while other genres aren’t?

And why are romance novels considered by some to be the ‘lowest form of literature’? Why do people want to disassociate themselves from reading romance novels? I’ve had a few reviews which start, “I don’t usually read romances but …” as if that is somehow praiseworthy. It seems to be okay to say you read thrillers or mysteries, but not the ‘done thing’ to admit to reading romances, even though thousands (millions?) of women obviously do!

Have you come across this kind of ‘literary snobbishness’ and, if so, what’s your response?

Find me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/paulamartinromances

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Putting a Puzzle Together VS Mystery Writing by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

 

https://bookswelove.net/donaldson-yarmey-joan/

My daughter and son-in-law gave me a one-thousand piece puzzle. It has been years since I’ve put a puzzle together and I thought it would be fun. However, as soon as I dumped out the pieces on the table I realized that putting the puzzle together would be much like me writing a mystery novel.

     First, the big pile of pieces is like the big mishmash of ideas, clues, scenes, characters, and settings that make up the notes I have for my mystery. Before I can start the puzzle I have to turn all the pieces upright so I can see their colour, just as I have to sort through my notes when I start my novel. I have to decide where in the story my book begins much like I have to decide how to start my puzzle. I can outline my novel as some writers do or I can jump in and start writing. With the puzzle, I can find all the outer edge pieces and put them together or pick scenes of the picture and find the colours to match.

     I decide to start with outer edge and I sift through the pile to find them. I return the rest to the box. As I work on the edge I have to go back through the box to find edge pieces I missed, just like I have to go through my manuscript and find where I have missed adding some important information or missed putting in a misdirection.

     Because of the way they are cut, it is hard to decide if a piece is part of the outside edge or if it is a regular piece. Just like writing, is that a clue or a red herring?

     With the puzzle I know at the beginning what the end result will be because of the picture on the box. Sometimes when I start my mystery, I know the ending, however sometimes the characters say or do something that I hadn’t planned on and I am left trying to figure out how to get them out of a situation or how to diffuse something they have said.

     I learned that there are various names for the parts of a puzzle piece: loops and sockets; knobs and holes; tabs and slots; keys and locks; even outies or innies. Sometimes it is frustrating to try and get knobs to fit into the holes. The colour looks the same only the tab doesn’t fit correctly into the slot. Or the pieces lock perfectly but there is a slight difference in colour. If one doesn’t seem to fit in a spot, I have to match it somewhere else. That is the same with my writing. Sometimes I come up with a good line or a scene only to find that it doesn’t suit where I want it and I have to find a better match somewhere else.

     When I get stuck with trying to figure out where my story goes next, I can work on a different section in my novel. In the puzzle if I can’t seem to make a scene come together I can go to a different part and work there. Every puzzle piece is tailored to go with the rest to make the picture just like every clue, every scene, every red herring has to fit into the story properly.

     What is frustrating to a puzzle solver is finding that one or two pieces are missing at the end. This is true for the reader of a mystery. All the clues have to be pulled together, the red herrings explained, the mystery solved, and the murderer caught. I can’t leave any pieces out.

     And the last thing I realized about how putting puzzles together and writing mysteries are similar is that both of them are an excruciatingly slow process for me.

Oh, to be in England....by Victoria Chatham

 

RELEASES JUNE 15TH, 2022

 

 Sunlight filters between the newly unfurled tender green leaves of beech, oak, and ash. The air is heavy with the scent of Hyacinthoides non-scripta, the English bluebell, which covers the woodland floor like a blanket from late April into May.

 

There are approximately nine varieties of bluebell, but the United Kingdom is home to roughly half of the world’s bluebell population. This iconic springtime flower can take five to seven years to develop from seed into a bulb, then bloom into the flower most people know. They are a protected species, and there is a heavy fine for anyone found digging them up. It is also a surprisingly delicate plant. If careless footsteps crush the leaves, they can no longer photosynthesize and will die back from lack of nutrition. Some bluebells can be white or pink. Often a white bluebell is lacking its blue pigment, or it may be a version of the Spanish bluebell.

In Scotland, bluebells are known as harebells because folklore has it that witches turned into hares and hid amongst the flowers. That could be why it is sometimes known as Witches Thimble or Lady’s Nightcap. You may also have heard the folksong, The Bluebells of Scotland. If not, check out this YouTube clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq14cPI0LW8. The bluebell is reputed to ring at daybreak to call fairies to the woods. If you pick a bluebell, those fairies could lead you astray, and you would be lost forever, so best not to pick them just to be on the safe side.

Symbolically, bluebells represent grace, everlasting love, good fortune, and truth. They epitomize Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, and the Virgin Mary who represents calm and peace. They were also once dedicated to the patron saint of England, St. George. Bluebells stand for constancy, humility, and gratitude in the centuries-old language of flowers used throughout Europe and Asia. Might Shakespeare have been referring to the bluebell when he wrote of 'the azured hare-bell?'

Bluebells also have their practical uses. The Elizabethans used starch from the bulbs to stiffen their ruffs. Gum from the roots was used as glue for feathers and in bookbinding. Snake bites supposedly could be cured by their juice, although the plant’s chemical makeup is potent and can be toxic in large doses. Today bluebells inspire the perfume for hand creams and soap and are used as dyes or pigments.

 

Whichever way you look at it, whether you believe in witches and fairies or not, there is nothing more magical than sitting in an English bluebell wood in springtime.

Victoria Chatham

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NB: Images from author's collection.

Baking and revenge

 Readers often ask, "Which book is your personal favorite?" I Usually beat around the bush, explaining that choosing a favorite book from my library is akin to picking my favorite variety of apple. I like the tartness of the Granny Smith apple as much as I enjoy the brooding darkness of the Pine County mysteries. And I enjoy the zesty crispness of a Honeycrisp apple as much as I enjoy the banter between the lead characters in Fletcher mystery series. But let's face it, authors do have favorites. Writing a Whistling Pines mystery is like eating fresh apple pie; warm, sweet, with a bit of spice. And Whistling Bake Off is all that. 

My sister-in-law is a fan of the Whistling Pines cozy series. In an email she suggested the premise of a Whistling Pines cookbook fundraiser. A note to my consultant crew yielded a pile of cookbook recipe suggestions along with some interesting plot twists. But assembling a cookbook itself isn't a mystery. Brian Johnson, my tuba-playing, Whistling Pines consultant threw out the thought that some recipes are closely guarded secrets. His wife has a beet pickle recipe she won't even share with their children, and most chefs have a recipe they keep a closely guarded secret. If they're willing to prepare it on television, they premeasure the ingredients so the audience can see what goes into the mixer, even if the spice mixture and exact measurements aren't shared.

With those tidbits in mind, I started typing. 

Two Harbors is buzzing when a former resident, now a world-famous culinary expert, announces his return home to broadcast a live cooking show, featuring ethnic recipes prepared by local cooks. Everyone knows that the secret pie recipe from the now defunct Oscar's Restaurant will be a feature, but will the recipe's owner share it on national television? That question is left unanswered when the recipe's owner is found dead, with hundreds of recipes strewn on her kitchen floor. 

Other recipes are chosen for the television show, but as the broadcast nears, the celebrity host's checkered past becomes the new topic of the Whistling Pines rumor mill. One resident advises Peter, my recreation director/protagonist, that the host will likely be poisoned, shot, or blown up by people he wronged before his Hollywood departure. Knowing that the senior citizens of Whistling Pines tend to twist and exaggerate things, Peter isn't particularly concerned. He advises the police chief of the possible threat, and they're closely watching the crowd gathered for the television broadcast.

Not wanting to throw out a spoiler, let me say that the broadcast doesn't go entirely as planned. But what about the murdered baker? Hmm, does her death have anything to do with the cooking show, or is the motive for her murder related to something else entirely? Read Whistling Bake Off to find out. It might be the sweetest Whistling Pines mystery yet.

Check out my books, including Whistling Bake Off, at the BWL Publishing website https://www.bookswelove.net

My Travels in France by Diane Scott Lewis

 

To purchase my novels and other BWL books: BWL

Currently writing a novel that takes place in Brittany, France, I yearn to travel there to research. But with Covid still creeping about, that is impossible. My husband is leery to fly, and I don't blame him

In 2003 we threw caution, and money, to the wind and traveled to France for an important (old) birthday of mine. We stayed in Paris on a quaint cobbled lane. 

 

The novel I was writing at the time involved a young woman in the eighteenth century returning to Paris after the French Revolution. I wanted to walk where she would have walked.

15th century street, the Latin Quarter

Paris was amazing, our room tiny but perfect. We ate in cafes, strolled along the River Seine. Browsed booksellers, visited museums. We chatted with an older Frenchman over cognac. He once lived in California. The entire French experience.

But I didn't ask for ice in my too-warm drink until he did!

We took a tour out to the palace of Fontainebleau on my birthday. It took the sting out of growing older. Now it seems so young!

That evening a French café owner sang "Happy Birthday, Madame," to me over a slice of tiramisu.

Author in front of the palace

My heroine had to go to the Luxembourg palace to ask Napoleon to release her lover. We got to take a tour, sneaking into the back of one that just happened to be going in. It was conducted in French, but we managed.

Luxembourg Palace

Before the journey, I learned just enough French to embarrass my self. But it's true, if you try to speak their language first, they'll chime in with English to help you out-or speed you along.

Napoleon's Senate chair, Luxembourg Palace

A wonderful trip, worth every Euro. We planned to return, but now I want to visit Brittany and Normandy to research the German occupation of WWII. One of these days...

Author and husband near Fontainebleau 

Diane lives in Western Pennsylvania with her husband and one naughty dachshund.

To find out more about her and her books:  DianeScottLewis