Jacqueline C. Thomas - Romance Novelist

Archives for November 2019

Happily Ever… Never

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There are lots of ways to tell a story, just look at all of these romances!

 

For the past week, I’ve been thinking about his blog post, about romance writing, and happily ever afters. I had the post loosely sketched out in my head and then yesterday something happened. I was scrolling through Twitter on my lunch break and I saw a post about romance writing and happily ever afters and how a story wasn’t a romance if the story did not end that particular way. I wanted to comment but scrolled past, then I went back, I was compelled to comment, against my better judgement. Side note, I like to think I usually have better judgement. I commented with the utmost respect, in fact, I even said in my tweet, “I mean this with the utmost respect.” Then it happened, I had voiced my opinion on the subject, knowing it’s not popular. It took all of twenty seconds later for the backlash to start.

Now, I know that when you participate in social media you had better put on your big girl pants because not everyone is going to be nice. I was told that if my work did not have a happy ending then 1. it’s not romance, 2.I’ll never get an agent, and 3. my work will never sell. Ouch! Maybe it’s true, maybe it isn’t and I will say the majority of my works end happily. I had intended to write an opinion piece about romance and stories that end happily, but instead, and probably equally as unpopular, I want to talk about genre.

I know some stranger on the internet really shouldn’t have mattered to me so much but, the comments were not kind, and written from a fellow romance author. I was under the impression that we romance authors stuck together, and stuck up for each other. Another commenter on the thread felt compelled to direct message me the definition of romance according to the RWA (Romance Writers of America, the national organization for romance writing) and to let me know that I am not a romance author if all of my work does not end happily.

I tried to shrug it off and go about my day. After an impromptu dinner date with the hubs, he suggested a trip to the local bookstore. I am always game for a trip to the bookstore! As we walked through I made my way to the romance section, which has grown considerably over the past few years. I took a seat on the small stool used to reach books higher on shelves and studied the covers. There was your alpha-male, cowboy adventure, a cartoonish woman on the front, and then your erotica all on the same shelf. (Note: I am NOT knocking any of these subgenres!) As I looked at the shelf I began to wonder, “am I a romance author, does my work belong on this shelf?”

Before I could a full-blown existential crisis, my husband wandered over with his book choices under his arm. I turned to him and asked him flat out, “Am I a romance writer, or do I write fiction with romantic plots,” as another tweeter had felt compelled to tell me. He stood there for a minute, I could see he was perplexed by the question, and I wondered if the tweeters were right. I felt the pit of my stomach begin to burn as I waited for his answer. Like the amazing man that he is, he gave an amazing answer.  “Your work belongs on that shelf,” he said as he pointed towards the romance section, “or any other shelf you want it to in this whole damn store.” Then he asked me, “do you think Stephen King lets people tell him, that he doesn’t write fiction, or his books aren’t scary enough to be classified as horror? No, he writes what he writes because he loves it. You write whatever stories are inside you, and don’t let someone else tell you who or what you write.”

Guys, I was speechless. Now my hubs is a pretty smart guy and occasionally he says something resonates with me. I say occasionally because we’ve been together for almost twenty years at this point, it takes a lot to really shock each other. What he said last night will be imprinted on me forever! I woke up this morning with a smile on my face thinking to myself, that my stories and all writers have their own way of telling their stories. Gatekeepers do their genre a disservice in curtailing what should or should not be classified. Writing is an art, sure your work can be classified as different types but at the end of the day, art is unique.

At the end of the day, I write the type of romance I want to read. I like writing and reading dramatic, high-stakes romance that sometimes has a happy ending and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t feel like I’ve wasted my time, reading a romance novel if it doesn’t end happily. In the end, I ask my self two things, first, was there a great love story, and two, did it make me feel for the characters? If I can answer yes to both of those questions then to me, I’ve just read and or written a great romance novel.

The Most Romantic Time of Year

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(Photo taken by Not Lost Lauren… Thank you for letting me use it!)

Last week I had a writer’s event in Chicago. We’ve just had our first snow of the year, and the temperature plummeted. It feels like we’ve missed fall and have done a nose-dive into winter. I hate winter, with the exception of this part of the year. As I stepped out of my event, and out onto the street, I noticed it was snowing softly- flurries really. In the yellow lamplight, the flakes seemed to dance around the buildings. Their soft, white flakes seemed such a contrast to the steel and cement of the city.

It was cold when I stepped out onto the street, like single-digit temperature cold. I was practically alone as I walked back to the parking garage where my car was. I hate the cold, actually I detest the cold, yet, I was transfixed by the setting I was walking. I imagined the characters from my novels kissing under the lamplight, with the snowflakes falling around them, pulled close for warmth. There is something about this time of year that just hits me as romantic. Early November, it’s not quite the holidays yet, but excitement is building. The weather has turned colder and everyone heads indoors to snuggle up and get warm.

I have set a few books around this time of year, it’s just a romantic time of year. Plus as a writer, if the characters meet now, they get to grow their relationship through the holidays, which can be a lot of fun. The holidays are a minefield at the best of times. But before awkward family dinners, and the agony of trying to find the perfect gift for the person you are getting to know, you get this time of year.

I think I like this time of year best because my own, real-life romance took place. I met my husband in the fall in Chicago at college. We were both students at an art school. Over that first fall semester that turned into winter, we met and fell in love. Years later we rented a tiny apartment up on the Northside of Chicago, near Wrigleyville. This was before kids, dogs, and a mortgage. I remember we’d walk to a local restaurant on Friday nights, under the same yellow lamplight with snow falling around us. It was easier to walk than try to move the car in that neighborhood. I have had so many romantic moments in my own life on under the yellow glow of the streetlamps during this time of year.

Chicago is a romantic city but at this time of year, there is just something about it that kicks it up a notch. The noise of the El off in the distance, and the hum of traffic, there’s just something about the city at this time of year that I find incredibly romantic.

The Importance of Place

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I’ve been thinking about this blog post for a while now, the concept of place and how it relates to a story. I knew I wanted to write this post, but I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it, then something truly unique happened. Over the summer I picked up a copy of Sandra Brown’s novel Fat Tuesday. Sandra Brown is romance writing royalty in my opinion and a New York Times bestseller, clearly, she knows what she’s doing. The story is set in New Orleans, somewhere I had never been.

In full disclosure I had started reading the book and set it aside for a while, not finishing it. I picked it back up, my interest reinvigorated when I booked a trip to celebrate my sister’s birthday in The Big Easy. New Orleans where the book takes place, and I would argue the city and the Delta is as much of a character as the actual characters. As I walked the streets of New Orleans, I could see scenes play out from Brown’s novel. From the Garden District to the French Quater, I was walking in the footsteps of Brown’s characters. It was an amazing experience, truly immersive!

When I think of place and setting I also think of Stephen King, and his affinity for setting books in Maine. Before I began to write I had always thought it was strange that he set his books in the same state.  Then I read the Ghostwalker series by Christine Feehan, and much of that is set outside of New Orleans, in the swamps. Reflecting on place, I find it interesting how much where you set your novel really does matter. It’s more than a geographic place on a map, it’s culture, weather, personality and so much more.

Most of my work is set in Chicago because it is my home and the city that I love. It is said to write what you know, and I know my hometown. Recently I was having a conversation and the person remarked that Chicago as a city didn’t really have a soul, meaning it didn’t have a feeling of uniqueness. After I picked my jaw up of off the ground, I made the stern argument that Chicago has a great soul. I have tried so hard to capture it in my work.

I have also set work outside of Chicago, one in Half Moon Bay, California, and the other in New York City. In every romance novel, I have written, I have strived to capture the feeling of where the story is set. I find that it enhances the story so much more. My take away from my experience reading Brown’s book in New Orleans was just how much place matters. As I walked the streets of New Orleans, I felt like I was one of the characters in the book. It made me wonder if Brown was from New Orleans as she had captured the spirit of the city so well.

Before I wrote this post, I did a little research, Brown is not from New Orleans, not that one has to be from a specific city to set a work there. I would have thought she was a native. I remember reading somewhere about Christine Feehan and how she would spend months down in southern Lousiana researching the swamps and the bayous and it makes me wonder about setting works in places I’ve never been. As an unpublished author at this point, taking a trip to somewhere a book is set for research purposes seems indulgent to me. I am not a New York Times Bestseller, well at least not yet. (Fingers crossed that I will be someday.)

For the works that I’ve written that aren’t set in places I’ve actually been too, this experience has made me wonder how much better the work could be if I actually went to these places and then in the next edits, put authentic details in. In today’s day and age, with the internet and Google maps, I think it is easy enough to get a decent idea of a city, at least geographically. While I was down in New Orleans, I did a bike tour where our tour guide was an author as well. He talked about how the city was like magic for artistic types, including authors. As we walked through the quieter parts of the French Quarter, I had the thought experiment of being able to travel back to NOLA to set a book there. I would rent a small, furnished apartment with a balcony and try to capture the feeling of the city. It’s a nice thought, isn’t it?

so as I grow as an author and I learn new things, this lesson has been solidified for me, place matters! Go visit, eat the food, be amongst the locals if you can. Capturing the spirit of a place adds dimension and texture to your work. Hmmm, now to think about setting a romance in the Big Easy….

 

What do you think about setting and place? Does it add more to the story, let me know in the comments below. Bonus points if you want to share a novel that has done it particularly well.