Sometimes I wonder when the reporters will get bored with this topic.
When I was in journalism school, we were told to be very careful of falling in love with our own words. Of being so enamored of our slant of the story that we forgot things like facts, research and basically avoiding the easy cliche.
This week I found a delicious article in The Guardian that should be in a freshmen’s textbook:
They both put a lot of emphasis on chastity, though there is a lot more snogging in Mills & Boon than there is in the Bible.
Fundamental knowledge error – there was a heck of a lot more begetting in the Bible, which I presume was preceded by snogging.
I don’t know who this person interviewed or what books this person read, but they certainly aren’t the real readers of romance. And wow, with technology that took me less than .29 seconds (thanks to google), I was able to find some really quick and dirty stats stating clearly the type of woman who reads romance. Wow, over 60% of them have gone to college, 10% (like me) have post-graduate degrees. While these particular stats refer to readers in the US, I bet they translate.
The Real Readers of Romance from Story For You
The central theme behind any romance – two people falling in love and struggling to make the relationship work. Totally universal, I can see how that appeals to no one. Perhaps the author needs a good dose of a happy ending – much more satisfying than falling in love with her own words.
1 response so far ↓
Robin Bayne // Aug 14, 2005 at 10:38 am
Hear, hear!! There is even a website out there with many of us “romance authors” listed, along with our major and degree.