The Romance Omission

I haven't had a rant in a while, so it appears to be time for a small temper tantrum.  You've been warned.

This morning, I tripped across this article in the Guardian, talking about how genre is getting more respect and is the distinction between genre & literary fiction a "flimsy irrelevance".  Brilliant!  Right?  To stop negating the quality of a book simply because it falls into a certain genre class is something I can get behind wholeheartedly. 

Except for one thing.  The entire article is VERY, VERY CAREFUL never to mention the romance genre or a single romance author. 

"[Y]ou'll still find China Miéville and Lauren Beukes in fantasy, Ken MacLeod and Iain M Banks in sci-fi, Sophie Hannah and Ruth Rendell in crime, Brian Evenson and Kathe Koja in horror. We critics can praise them to the high heavens, but it doesn't change where they end up in a bookshop."

Yes, the critics can praise those genres to the high heavens, but they can't be seen legitimizing romance.  God forbid!  It might negate their whole argument if they were to include us.

Perhaps I'm overreacting.  Perhaps the author of this piece has nothing against romance and our entire genre being ignored when quality is discussed was just a thoughtless oversight.  Still, I got a bit tetchy at the omission.

Nalini Singh.  Eloisa James.  Kristan Higgins.  Linnea Sinclair.  All of them brilliant.  When talking about genre quality, there are romances that should be part of the conversation.  Just sayin.

Risk and Reinvention

I'm over at the Ruby blog today, chatting about risk, reward, reinvention, and books that step outside my writing comfort zone.  Swing on over and say howdy!

Great Expectations

One of my cousins recently declared she is going to be a writer (or Madonna, she's still figuring it out).  I know I should be wildly supportive of anyone who wants to pursue their artistic dreams, but my first instinct was to say "It's really hard to make a living as a writer."  (And then I felt guilty for the impulse to rain on her parade.)

Being a big shot professional writer is kind of like growing up to be a professional baseball player - though the odds of making the major leagues may actually be better than making a workable living in writing fiction.  Thirty teams with 40-man rosters... as opposed to the "Big Six" publishers with only a handful of A-listers each?  I know there are indies striking it big now, but most of us are just scratching by (if that).  Even some people who've made best seller lists aren't rolling in it the way you might think.  Think I'm exaggerating?  Check out this article.

But see the thing is, none of that will matter if writing is your passion.  If it's that thing you can't imagine not doing.  Like Sinclair Lewis said:

It is impossible to discourage the real writers - they don't give a damn what you say, they're going to write.

Truer words never spoken - but you notice he doesn't say anything about fame or fortune.  As a get rich quick scheme, writing is not so awesome.  As a lifelong passion for people with a thousand stories inside them screaming to get out?  Can't be beat.  Just sayin'.

Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing a lovely day to all the mothers out there.  In this sometimes-janky writing biz, I'm lucky to know that my mom will always be my number one fan.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Auction Everything!

It's that time again, boys and girls!  The Annual Brenda Novak Online Auction For Diabetes Research!  As always there are HUNDREDS of brilliant items for you to bid on.  Everything from books to vacations.  Lunch with your favorite author or a critique from your dream editor.  Baskets of goodies and one of a kind handcrafted items.  You could even win an iPad just for registering as a bidder!

Go forth and check out the items available for your bidding pleasure and remember it's for a great cause!

Teaser Tuesday

If you're over on Facebook, you may have already noticed that a bunch of authors are tossing around teasers today for upcoming books and works in progress.  Since I'm working on Karma's edits at the moment, it seemed topical to share a little Naughty Karma snippet.  Here's a sneak peek!

Tempest in a Tea-Length Dress

The shop door crashed open and slammed against the far wall, shuddering on its hinges. Prometheus caught it with a mental hand when it would have ricocheted off the wall to retaliate against the woman who’d struck it. He froze the door in place before it could wreak vengeance on that pretty—livid—face. Cracks probably spidered through the frosted glass from the force of her entry, but he didn’t bother to take his eyes off the woman on his threshold long enough to check.

Karma Cox. Owner and benevolent dictator of Karmic Consultants, paranormal problem solvers. A magical Mussolini in heels.

She was here.

“You bastard.”

And she was pissed.

***

For more teasers, swing on by The Face Book and check out some other participating authors.

Naughty Karma Cover Reveal!

I am sooooo excited about this book, I can't wait another second to show you the pretty, pretty cover.  Naughty Karma, Karmic Consultants #7, coming to you October 2013.  BEHOLD!

What do you think, boys and girls?  You like?

Write What You Know

This is one of the oldest writing cliches in the book.  Write what you know.  I've always had a pretty loose interpretation of this particular saying - in a sort of write what is honest and true to you rather than you may only write about your own areas of expertise and I still prefer that interpretation.

But... well, there's something to be said for experts.  So, maybe I'll change this one up a bit and say, if you're going to write about something you don't know about, go for it!  But please be edited by or beta read by someone who is an expert - because no matter how much research you do, you will get things wrong.  Little things.  Tiny things.  But things that will make it clear you don't know what you're talking about.

I come across this most often in books about Alaska (moose don't come in herds, darlings) or Hawaii (there is no "b" in the Hawaiian language, so that island you just made up? Give it a different name), but my current Oh Dear is baseball.  I'm a baseball junkie.  I'm reading a really, seriously excellent romance that happens to feature a baseball player hero.  And I'm loving it.  Except when a sentence appears and my brain says to the author, "Oh no, you don't really know anything about this sport, do you?"

Catchers do not have "pinpoint control, commanding both sides of the plate"; pitchers do.  RBIs are not an average, they are cumulative, so you would never say "an 120 RBI" (it's "120 Ribbies").  Your hero can't get a walk-off triple on a road game.  Your starting pitcher can't "hold a save" in the seventh inning (or ever, saves are for closers).  This extremely talented author is cribbing phrases from the right places, but applying them in just slightly the wrong way.  Tiny little things.  Tiny things that throw the in-the-know audience right out of the book. 

Funny enough, I had a similar issue when I read the same author's book about a professional snowboarder.  Loved the book, but kept getting thrown out by things that were just a tiny bit off.  (The stuff about living in a snow culture was spot on, but he read like an alpine skier to me rather than a boarder.)  It's a small thing (and god knows, it's hard to find an expert to beta read everything you write), but the devil really is in the details.

Of course, I cheat and write about paranormal worlds with shifters and psychics and demons and whatnot, where I get to just make everything up and I probably still get it wrong, so I'm not really one to talk.  Kudos to those go for it.