Why I Wanted To Write Romance Novels

How fun is this clip?

Joan Wilder was the ultimate romance novelist. I couldn’t find the exactly clip I wanted where she tells him she’s a romance novelist and he says, “You’re WHAT?”

Her adventure with Jack in Columbia was a romance novel with action and adventure. She had the call to action when she received the phone call from her sister who had been kidnapped by the treasure hunters. I still get a chuckle when Gloria tells her she gets train sick/plane sick and that she “practically pukes riding on the escalator at Bloomingdale’s.” But aside from all that, I thought Joan’s apartment was great–she had posters of all her books hanging on the walls.

But I also wanted adventure, too. And I figured the best way to get that would be to write books. I could be anyone, go anywhere. When I first started writing, I didn’t realize I was writing romance–all my characters tended to fall in love–until much later. It was shortly after my son was born (he’s now 10), when I got serious about it again. I started searching for some type of organization to join. I’d taken a novel writing workshop through Writer’s Digest, but even before that I thought I wanted to write for children (I took a course but never finished it because it wasn’t for me).

Anyway, I digress. In the novel writing course, I took, my instructor was a romance novelist, Terri Valentine. I don’t remember much from the course except that she always gave me great feedback. She helped me learn how to write the basic novel. Eventually, I stumbled upon Romance Writers of America and joined in late 2004.

But really, none of this historical data answers why I wanted to write romance novels, does it? I enjoy reading stories about two characters who finally come together after battling external (and maybe even internal) forces. When good triumphs over evil. It was always frustrating to me when I read other genres and the two characters never fully committed to each other and fell in love. I felt cheated somehow.

And, of course, I hoped I would end up on an adventure in the jungle with a hot guy. 😉