“Ask a Romance Author” is something between an advice column and a free-for-all. All questions are fair game! Send your concerns, worries, inquiries and more to [email protected].
Dear Ember Leigh,
Do you think this type of romance is reasonable to expect in real life?
Signed,
L
Dear L,
I’m not sure that I know what you mean by ‘type of romance’. My fiction delves into erotic romance, but that is far from the whole story. No, no! The “world of romance” also includes sweet romance, cowboy romance, bisexual threesome swinger romance, shifter dolphin romance, sci-fi futuristic lesbian romance, and the list goes on.
Even without defining which type of romance you’re talking about, I already know my answer. Yes, I do believe any type of romance is reasonable to expect. Because really, the point is not the setting. Though you might pick up a romance novel intent on experiencing a time period or particular backdrop, the main draw is something else. We’re not talking about whether we can count on the dapper 1800’s gentlemen or the bulky biceps of the gardener-turned-lover, but whether the romance will be alive and well.
So, yes. I do think you can reasonably hope for some romance in your life. Because romance is blind–it has nothing to do with settings or time periods. It exists without end, without bias, without judgment or scorn. It is everywhere around us–from the dirty spurs in the pages of your novel, all the way to the corners of your literal work space, disguised as furtive visits to the copy room.
This romance is available to anyone, at any time. It might not read the same as your favorite novel, but that doesn’t mean it can’t, or hasn’t, graced your life.
Just don’t hold your breath for the lesbian dolphin shifters, or the burly space commanders and the Yee-Haw boys, because I don’t think they’ll be showing up anytime soon.
Sincerely,
Ember Leigh
