The Secret Recipe for Creating a Romance Book

[WT Sharpe]

Everyone has their guilty pleasures. Romance novels aren't mine, but I wouldn't knock them. They bring much pleasure to many people. What's wrong with that?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

Good stuff.....and funny....

You could just as easy make recipes for other genres as well...The same could be said for science fiction, mystery...etc.

Boy, I'll say! The SF recipe would be hilarious: Full of a lot of elements that contribute nothing to the final dish except decoration; story ingredients borrowed from other recipes; some "unobtainium" for spice, and you've got it...

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

The embarrasing thing is I have to look up words sometimes in these cheap romances. You know, something you can figure out from the context, but have never actually learned the definition.

Yeah? Which ones?

[Terisa de morgan]

Very good And "Gothic Romance Title Generator" too

[Moejoe]

From the shooting script of 'The Fisher King' by Richard LaGravenese


...Romance is romance no matter what kind
it is...It could be a Victorian lady
kidnapped by a viral sea captain
with a hairy chest...or a horny pizza boy
seduced by a housewife with a hairy upper lip.
As long as there's heart, passion,
and little bit of fantasy...romance is
the stuff of dreams...there's always
more to trash than meets the eye...

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Boy, I'll say! The SF recipe would be hilarious: Full of a lot of elements that contribute nothing to the final dish except decoration; story ingredients borrowed from other recipes; some "unobtainium" for spice, and you've got it...

http://www.shrovetuesdayobserved.com/flight.html

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Hmm...

I'm just gonna go back and to a bit of editing to Kestral 3...

[Sullivan]

Haha, very good! The perfect recipe for any romantic disheyness!

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Yeah? Which ones?

That is the other problem. I can't remember! But I do know I haven't looked the same word up twice! (of course, if I can't remember, maybe I did)

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Quote:

People who didn’t know long words tended to be edgy around people who did. That’s why her male neighbours, like Mr Stollop and his mates, distrusted nearly everybody. Their wives, on the other hand, shared a much larger if somewhat specialized vocabulary owing to the cheap romantic novels that passed like contraband from scullery to washhouse, in every street. That’s why Glenda knew ‘elocution’, ‘torrid’, ‘boudoir’ and ‘reticule’, although she wasn’t too certain about ‘reticule’ and ‘boudoir’, and avoided using them, which in the general scheme of things was not hard. She was deeply suspicious about what a lady’s boudoir might be, and certainly wasn’t going to ask anybody, even in the Library, just in case they laughed.

Well, I use reticle quite a lot And I have two, nice for weddings and night parties

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

While we are talking about "recipes" for a genre, have a look at Diana Wynne Jones' "The Tough Guide to Fantasyland", a hilarious look at common fantasy tropes, written by someone to primarily writes books that fit into that particular genre.

Thanks for the suggestion. I've just ordered it.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by dioib

Well, if you mean the very special description that is given above and asking for my personal opinion, then yes, I think people could make much better use of their time by switching to something that instead of welling up their emotions for the sole purpose of making others financially benefit, could make'em think and grow (as they approach, little by little, the end of their lives).

I edit articles for a biological chemistry journal every day. After a day of that, I have earned the chance to read what I damn well please. It might be a romance novel, or it might be some book about cops tracking down a killer. That's the point of leisure reading, isn't it?

And what's wrong with books that well up emotions? You could say the same about horror novels or suspense novels. Are those a waste of my time, too? The greatest novels often well up the readers' emotions. That's often the point. That doesn't mean they don't make 'em think and grow, too.

Anyway, there is nothing wrong with reading something that's just entertaining. Too many people have been taught to think they must read something "elevating." Blech. That's why so many of those people hate reading -- and are reluctant to read something fun. They've been trained to think it's not "elevated" enough. As Mozart said in Amadeus, "The only thing a man should elevate is his doodle."

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

The embarrasing thing is I have to look up words sometimes in these cheap romances. You know, something you can figure out from the context, but have never actually learned the definition. That is what I really LOVE about the k2 - the k1 interface for looking up words was clunky.

Those Regency people had some bizarre terms. Thanks to what I've learned mostly from romance novels and articles by romance writers, I was able to tell a college student who was studying European history about England's Corn Laws. She had never heard about the Corn Laws in all her studies! I guess she hadn't gotten to that class yet.

Originally Posted by Sydney's Mom

My husband used to say I was dumbing myself down by watching soap operas. I don't anymore, but he is not the reason I quit. If someone had said something like that to me when I was in my twenties or thirties, I would have been devastated. By the time I reached my fourties, I was finally able to accept myself as I am. But I still didn't like reserving romance novels at the library. I was afraid the librarian was looking down at me, when she probably was just glad I used the library! Anyway, I love the kindle, because I could be reading Too Big to Fail (a wonderful book, by the way) or His Defiant Reluctant Obstinent Sarcastic Virgin Bride.

When my college professor learned I was reading The Thornbirds, he was horrified. He told me something like "Don't read that! It will ruin your style!" I wondered if it would, but then I decided he was being silly. I read the book, enjoyed it, and then went on to another book on some totally different topic. Why should one book "ruin" my style? If anything was going to affect my style, it was all the short story writers he had us reading. Anyway, while he was a great writing teacher, sometimes he had silly ideas. He used to complain because I chose to write science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, etc. How dare I have fun writing what I wanted?

The only time a book came close to affecting my style was when I read the controversial fantasy novel Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson. (Now that's a book with a helluva vocabulary.) And I got over it once I moved on to the next book.

[schroedercl2]

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

Good stuff.....and funny....

You could just as easy make recipes for other genres as well. Really most books follow the same formulas over and over. I have recently got into reading westerns.... I normally read mostly fantasy.... funny thing is, they are really the same. Different backdrops, but really the same. The same could be said for science fiction, mystery...etc.

I might work on that! If you have any suggestions, I'm open to ideas I think sci fi would probably be the next easiest to genre to work out something like this. That, or mystery.

[schroedercl2]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Ha ha. Not bad. But I think you neglected the huge supernatural romance genre. And boy am I tired of stumbling into those, expecting more ghost and less thrust!

Didn't you know ghosts are sexy? jk. Yeah, those are definitely an "interesting" type of book.