Rainy day today. But, that doesn’t matter to most writers, right? Just pop a Vitamin D supplement and off we go on our keyboards. Well, I suppose there are authors who write in nature… Not sure I could do that as my laptop screen would barely be visible, but to each their own.
Although, I could totally see it being very calming and inspiring to be writing alone on the beach. Growing up, all the high school kids would always talk about the wonders of relaxing by the shore and reading a book most summer days. They spoke about the experience like it was some kind of pilgrimage to the Lourdes Water Fountains in France. So, I could probably go for that someday. One of my WIP’s not in the Kana Series actually has a seashore magic battle! I’ve also once written an article about the holistic benefits of being at the beach – it’s pretty interesting because just passively standing on the beach biochemically boosts your health.
Anyway, I digress! So, speaking of seashore magic battles, what are all your thoughts on romance book themes? Most indie authors are rebels, you know? If you check out their communities, they’re always raging against the machine and generally reveling in being non-conformists. I adopt this mindset, in part.
According to the majority of indie authors, trad pubs only accept books that follow certain romance book themes and patterns. So, you can’t really write outside of the box and expect to get accepted. They’re usually only looking for books that carry themes that have been best-sellers for the past three years. This is the aspect of the trad industry I disagree with.
But, I do agree that you have to follow a certain mold. After all, I’m sure all of you remember throughout most of our literary classes from elementary into college, that we have the five prototype conflicts present in all fiction:
- Man versus man
- Man versus nature
- Man versus the supernatural
- Man versus self
- Man versus society
The point is, you have to follow some sort of predefined blueprint. For romance books, at the very least, one person enters into a relationship with another person.
Although, for indie authors, even that can get edgy: Character enters into relationship with self! Character enters into relationship with object… that turns into a magical being! Of course, trad pubs won’t be happy with those and may auto-reject.
So, I think if a writer is aiming for trad pub, they should follow the successful romance book themes that seem to be:
- Enemy turned lover
- Lovers against society
- Born enemies turned lovers
- Lower status A falls in love with super higher status B
I like that indie authors have more leeway for romance book themes. You can do things like:
- Non-human lover x human lover
- Resurrecting a dead lover x alive SO
- Niches, e.g.: super short x super tall
What do you guys think? Do you prefer that authors follow an ancient, set formula when they come up with romance book themes for their WIP? Or, do you not mind venturing into the unknown, which can be either super exciting or super unpleasant?
I read somewhere that humans don’t like to deal with the unknown. They like things familiar to them. Humans are also very curious and exploratory… But, there has to be something initially enticing about something unknown for them to want to explore.
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