Comments on: Will The Last Person To Be Surprised Please Return The Books?

By: booksquare

booksquare — Fri, 31 Dec 2004 02:51:48 +0000

I’ll make your life easy, Susan (welcome back, by the way…we’ve missed you!). There are several passages where we are told something important in narrative. Then, a few pages later, the brilliant hero explains the concept to heroine via snappy dialogue. However, because the concept is complex, we feel superior to her because we already know everything there is to know about the topic.

Also, it goes on a little long for my taste. Sort of like hitting word count, but not having enough story to fill out the blank space. But I’m a tough audience!

By: Susan Gable

Susan Gable — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 14:46:18 +0000

Ack, Brenda! I clicked through and read your blog. Yeesh. Oh, yes, just dash off one of those trashy novels and strike it rich. No problem. (sigh) Great analysis of the Stupid Person, though. (G)

As for the Da Vinci Code, I have to confess, I’m one of the people who hasn’t read it, and really don’t have any intention of reading it. It doesn’t really appeal to me, and I have too huge a TBR pile already to “waste” my precious reading time to read something just because “everyone else is reading it.” (G)

By: Brenda Coulter

Brenda Coulter — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 18:33:20 +0000

Oooh, I can’t wait to read your article. I’m so proud to be even a small part of this “subversive” movement!

By: booksquare

booksquare — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 17:57:07 +0000

excellent post, Brenda! I do so love a good rant, and that particular quote would have pushed me over the edge (if you hadn’t been pushed first, so to speak!). As I’m desperately trying to pull together a manuscript to send to an agent I thought had forgotten about me (Merry Christmas to me!), I’m thinking about how very serious I am about my writing. Ironically, this particular book is the closest I’ve ever come to the traditional romance novel structure…yes, despite the, uh, formula and “it’s easy, anyone can do it” aspects of romance writing, I have managed to fail miserably at the task. Yet I keep trying.

As for the world fearing romance and women’s fiction, ah, a favorite topic. A topic that brings me joy. So much so that I may post on the topic again this week. Basically, it all comes down to subversion. Women’s fiction is and has always been subversive. Especially in eras when women couldn’t speak freely…somehow those “silly” novels flew under the radar. There is another parallel here, but I’ll explore it more when I write at length on the topic!

By: Brenda Coulter

Brenda Coulter — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 17:49:06 +0000

What is it about us romance readers/writers that scares the literati so? And why, when romance is by far the biggest slab of the genre fiction pie, do even romance READERS, bless their hearts, often apologize for their love of “those trashy books”?

Back to the literati. Since they’re not into romance, does that mean they won’t procreate? Gee, maybe all we have to do is outlast ’em.

By: Brenda Coulter

Brenda Coulter — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 16:05:34 +0000

On a similar note, just this morning I found this breathtaking assertion on About.com: “Romance novels not only bring decent income, they provide excellent training for more serious writing.” That’s stupid and insulting on so many levels, I hardly knew where to start, but I blogged about, anyway. Check it out at http://brendacoulter.blogspot.com