This is wondering Wednesday here on the PASIC blog and a recent discussion on Hollywood’s idea of romance in recent movies got me to thinking about the words romance and romantic. From two of my Webster’s dictionaries one of the definitions of ROMANTIC: “marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of the heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized characteristics of things, places, people.”Thinking back to books that inspired me as a child I think of Jack London. White Fang and Call of the Wild were romantic without a speck of man/woman romance.Heading into the movie realm, I think of old swashbucklers as romantic as well. Those movies are romantic because of the high seas adventure and the romanticism of the larger than life characters, not because of Maureen O’Hara and Errol Flynn’s love story. Maureen was feistier than most actresses and Errol was superbly athletic. They were each romantic…not just together, but apart, because of their larger-than-life characteristics.
When I write I think of my characters in a romantic way…larger than life, more active, more passionate, more alive than anyone you’d meet. I don’t know if I pull it off on the page, but I certainly try!
I have two single titles and two novellas set in a haunted brothel (Midnight Confessions I and II and BUILT ~ out now) with one character that seems more romantic than the others: Belle the spirit of the original madame of Perdition. She’s enigmatic, amused by the antics of the living, a narrator who shares almost nothing of herself while telling the tales of love lost and won in the house. Not particularly heroic nor adventurous, Belle is nevertheless mysterious and certainly idealized, therefore to me, she feels romantic.
So I’m wondering, what makes a character/setting/story romantic for you? And what definition do you use for romantic?Bonnie Edwards
August 22, 2007 at 10:23 am
I’ve never really analyzed it like that, but I guess I’d actually have to say to me, romantic is someone going after thier dreams. Or going against the odds. Sort of like courage. LOL Maybe I find courage romantic?
August 22, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Courageous characters who go after what they want, bravely and in spite of the bad odds, would work.
Maybe that’s why war and battles can be romanticized. Especially old wars and past battles.
August 23, 2007 at 8:37 am
Hard question.
At first, I thought what comes off as romantic in books might depend on lines or genres — so what’s romantic in a Blaze might be different than what’s considered romantic in a sweet or inspirational. Then I thought I agreed that it’s the larger than life or fantasy aspect, because I definitely find that romantic.
But then I reconsidered… I’m not sure it matters if it’s sweet or spicy, fantasy or more down home, what’s romantic is when two people become completely open to each other. I think that’s the thing we all want and relate to, that deep connection, and how it’s portrayed in the details is just a matter of preference.
I remember Deb Dixon talking about the difference between a good book and a great book at her workshop, and she mentioned the epi to one of her books, where she had the HEA, but then did an epi where the hero has children attached to just about every limb, and his wife is on the phone with child services, and she asks him if they can adopt another child, and he extends one arm out and says something along the line of having room for one more — a collective sigh went up from the entire room when she described that.
Which makes me think of Jeanie London’s prescription, that every book should end on a sigh — and I think they should have several sighs throughout, actually. Along with some palpitations and a few “Oh my’s”…
So I think what conveys romance can be broad, but it’s all about those emotionally touching moments that we can only experience as readers and writers when we find a character’s heart has truly opened and they find that connection….
Sam
August 23, 2007 at 10:24 am
Recently I read Kate Hoffman’s “Doing Ireland!” (Blaze Aug/07) I have to say it was incredibly romantic. In the language, the setting…the love scenes.
In truth, it was this book that got me thinking about romantic as opposed to romance in novels.
She hit the mark dead on on both counts.
It’s been awhile since that’s happened for me.
August 23, 2007 at 11:02 am
I’m so far behind in the TBR — have Hard and Fast and Doing Ireland here tempting me…
I think Blaze is a very romantic line. It’s Harlequin, after all.
But your blog made me see that romance/romantic is something that floats above, or is the foundation for, the rest of the elements that categorize our fiction — so thinking a book won’t be romantic because it has sexual content is the same as thinking a book won’t be romantic because it has religious content — not saying you think this way, just illustrating — both statements are untrue. What’s romantic about a book goes deeper than that, IMO.
Sam