Jacqueline C. Thomas - Romance Novelist

Search Results for: white horse

Who Rides the White Horse Now: Feminism and Romance

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I was driving to work recently and had an idea for another romance book. I was so struck by the idea that I actually used Siri on my iPhone to take a voice memo. Let’s face it, Siri is pretty but she’s stupid and rarely gets most things I ask her to do correctly. At 70mph per hour, on the toll road, this idea came screaming out of me. I recorded my words at a feverish pace, trying to convey the emotion and feeling along with the plot. Feeling accomplished, and knowing that Siri will have gotten so much of it wrong, I put my phone down and continued my drive. I will have to decode the jibberish that Siri actually recorded later.

The story idea still ran through my mind with less intensity now that I had documented it somewhere. It struck me that the idea was different because the “knight on the white horse” wasn’t a man, but a woman. She could rescue him! I really started to think about this idea of protectors and manly men who protect their women. Even that sentence sounds sexist to me, and it probably is, but I won’t lie, I love a good book where the love interest is an Alpha male. There is something so sexy about a man protecting the woman he loves… that sounds better. “Their woman”…ick!

The fact that I describe that sort of romance that way illustrates the issue perfectly. I like to think I am a feminist. I take women’s rights very seriously, as well as fighting for equality. I think a lot of women are in a similar space to me. I can only imagine being in a relationship with one of the Alpha males from the great romances I’ve read. No, get your head out of the gutter….. It would never work for me to be the wife of a man like that, we’d run into issues even with a quick romp. A man telling me what to do, even if it was in my best interest, I am just not wired like that. Discussion and mutual understanding are where I am at when it comes to the love interest in my life.

All of this set me to wondering, as a romance writer, where is the genre going when both the man and woman should be riding the white horse? Who rescues who? Is it still even appropriate to make the man the hero? Thinking this idea through I posed the question to my husband over lunch one afternoon. He suggested making the woman the heroine. His story idea went something like this: a man who is married to a terrible woman falls for another woman. The new love interest then has to rescue the man from a bad marriage and an abusive wife. My immediate response was no one would read that. Women make up the majority of romance readers, not many of them want to be thought of as a bad wife. Furthermore, I am going to venture a guess that none of them would sympathize with the husband and new love interest. What is weirder, is that if you turn it all around, and he rescues her from an abusive husband, you have struck romance gold…. weird huh?

I have to wonder if there is something about the way our genders are wired or if it is taught? I don’t want to get into the whole nature vs. nurture argument. I just wonder as a romance author how tastes will change over time. I am really interested to see where the genre goes. I mean is it anti-feminist to write an Alpha-male who throws a damsel (as smart, and capable as she may be) over his shoulder?

What do you think? Let me know in the comments because this is a conversation worth having…

Something Really Special

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Where greasy burgers are eaten, and broken hearts mend.

This time last year I was finishing up writing a new romance novel. With the wave of the #MeToo movement I really began to think about the knight on the white horse trope. In fact, I even wrote an earlier blog post about it, asking who sits on the white horse and preforms the rescue in the era of #MeToo. I consider myself a feminist . “In real life” I am not one for a man to swoop in and rescue me. However, I am a pushover for the concept in a romance novel. Irony, I know. So I began to think what a book would look like where rather than one person rescuing another, what if the love interests rescued each other?

So I began to write a novel unlike any other I’d ever written before. This novel featured two people deep in their own struggles. It was a challenge to write because how was I supposed to make two people so damaged, yet ready to fall in love? This book stretched me as a writer. I was instantly invested in this book as I began to write, due to the characters, they’re raw, hurting, and honest.

I put the book away for almost a year before I read through it for the first time, and I have to say, the ending of this book knocks me off of my feet every time. I ADORE the ending to this book. Authors are constantly told to write the book they’d want to read. Man, this book is one I wouldn’t be able to put down, and I haven’t been able to put it down the few times I’ve read through it.

With the mediocre sales of Quarantine Stories, I decided to put out a full novel to self-publish on Amazon. I knew that a short story collection would always be a hard sell. I don’t read short story anthologies, I prefer a full novel. So with that goal in mind, I did my last copy edit and developmental edit to get it ready. It was SO MUCH WORK this time around. Normally I love editing but with this book, it was a heavy lift. I don’t know if it took more time because I really felt that I owed to the characters to get it right, or the fact that I copy edited and developmentally edited at the same time, but it was a lot of work.

Last night I finished this mammoth rewrite/ edit and I walked away from my computer completely in awe of the story. I love that these two “broken” characters find hope in each other! It’s gorgeous, guys.

So here’s the special part. Today I had to leave the house to run a few errands. This is a big deal because no one on my house goes out these days with Covid being so bad in our area. I ran my errands and picked up lunch to go. As I walked back to my car with my lunch in my hand, I thought I’d take it up to the lake front (Lake Michigan) to eat it in my car. My normal parking spot wasn’t going to work today so I set off West down the coast. As I drove, I remembered there are two significant scenes that take place where I was driving to. I had not planned it at all! As I drove I smiled thinking of the two characters in my footsteps, or me in theirs. I pulled up to the lake front and ate my lunch where they ate theirs. And so here is the really crazy part, as I was sitting there eating my lunch the song If I Say by Mumford and Sons came on the radio. I listened to this album as I originally wrote the book. That song is my characters song! I didn’t take it as a sign or weird woo-woo. I simply enjoyed the moment, and to be able to do that these days is something really special.

In closing, I am happy where I am in my writing journey, and excited for the future. The plan is to most likely self-publish this still unnamed manuscript. That being said, I also have a full manuscript out to an agent so that may throw everything happily up into the air. I will keep you all posted and hopefully come up with a title for this special book soon.

Romance Writing and Slut Shaming

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(Me Marching in the 2017 Women’s March in Chicago)

I know the title may sound a bit harsh but this is something I have wanted to write about for a while. I didn’t read my first true Romance novel until a few years ago. In fact, if you would have asked me about Romance novels, I would have made an uneducated snap judgment. I am not proud of that, but it is truthful. Although I would not have considered them true literature at the time, I certainly would not have judged anyone negatively for reading one. I remember as a girl visiting my grandmother’s house, she had shelves of romance books, with buff men, and women in long skirts with flowing hair, and heaving bosoms on the front. That is what I thought romance novel’s were, a damsel in distress, and a buff male hero on a white horse, swooping in to rescue her. I was so wrong.

After I wrote my first book, a dear friend of mine, who was very honest, said that something was missing from my romance novel. She suggested a few titles for me to read. I went in search of them at a local bookstore. I usually try to find what I am looking for on my own and had never come across an issue asking the store clerk for assistance before. As hard as I searched I could not find the title I was looking for, knowing I needed help to find the book (A Christine Feehan Ghostwalker Series Book). I asked the clerk who gave me a funny look, and then came out from behind the counter and showed me where the book was. I thought it was odd but shrugged it off.

My husband and I are bookstore bums, we love independent bookstores with second-hand books. An Americano, a rainy day and a huge second-hand bookstore is my perfect day! Many of these old stores are like labyrinths when it comes to finding a section or a particular book. In many cases, I would ask for help, only to see the same face that I encountered the first time I asked for a romance book. It is a judgemental look, that is loaded with miseducation and an opinion of what I should be reading instead. Over and over again, I have run into this look. Sometimes, it was even accompanied with an attitude of impropriety, like I was asking for smut or books that should be wrapped in brown paper. Surely I must be some sort of degenerate to ask for such a thing in public. The thing was, that could not have been further from the truth. Romance is fiction, not smut.

At first, this look and attitude would dissuade me from asking for help and I would leave the bookshop without the book I had gone in for. As I began to think about this I realized how ridiculous this was. I am a grown woman, I can read whatever I would like. Recently, I saw a post on Twitter about this subject, romance novels and female customers feeling like they had been slut-shamed for buying romance novels. A debate erupted and it really came down to opinions on what women should be reading vs. what they are reading. This debate, as any good debate does, made me think more about it. I won’t lie, it also made me angry. The romance genre has gone mainstream, and why should it not? Romance is creative fiction, like sci-fi or horror. I finally decided I was not going to put up with this judgment any longer. As a paying customer, I have the right to ask for any book that is carried in the store. I am not going to be slut-shamed for asking for a romance novel. I am a strong, smart, competent woman who may read whatever I want. I am also going to support all of those wonderful romance authors whose work deserves to be out there and sold just like any other book in the store.

Last fall, I ventured into a bookshop outside the University of Chicago. I have given them a lot of business over the years but not enough that the store owner knows my name. One day, after searching around the store for the romance section, I again had to ask for help, I could not find it. The conversation went something like this:

“Excuse me, can you please tell me where I could find your romance section?”

“You are like the fourth or fifth person to ask me today.”

“It is a growing genre.”

“Clearly. Are you a big romance reader?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“Would you mind making some suggestions for our section, I am afraid it is sorely lacking?”

No joke, the owner of the bookshop asked me for suggestions on what to add to their romance collection! I was shocked. I had expected that same judgemental face but instead, I got the opposite reaction. I named a few authors off of the top of my head but said that if he wanted I would be happy to send a list of the works that I had enjoyed the most. He was grateful. A few days later I did send in the list and received a lovely email in return thanking me for the suggestions. I have not been back into the store since, but I am excited to see the improved Romance section when I return.

Unexpectedly, I found myself out in L.A. this past summer. There is an amazing bookstore dedicated to romance books only, called The Ripped Boddice. As I live outside of Chicago, I knew I had to go, it was my chance to visit this one of a kind bookshop. It was refreshing to ask the clerk where I could find the type of romance novels I was looking for. She and I even had a conversation about the romance novels we each enjoyed the most and why we liked them. This was some sort of romance book Nirvana. It was an amazing book buying experience. If I lived closer I would be a regular customer. This shop was started by two women, who embraced that smart women read romance novels. If you ever get the chance, I highly suggest that you stop by, you won’t regret it!

My point here is, that Romance authors and Romance novels are fiction just like every other genre. I have the right to read whatever I want, and so does every other person. Romance as a genre, I would argue can be even trickier to write than other genres at times, because emotions are complex, sometimes subtle and other times overwhelming. It is not always easy to convey these emotions in writing. So to all of my fellow romance authors out there, keep at it! By continuing to write robust and complex stories of love, we can grow the genre and remove the taboo.