hope, love, and romance
i love writing about love
I sent out another small batch of queries the other day and stupidly didn’t turn off email notifications for my querying email on my phone. So of course the other night (morning?) I happened to look at my phone to see the time at 4:30 a.m. only to see an agent had already replied. I was hopeful it was a request to read more of my book (when you submit to an agent you only submit “sample pages”), but promised myself I wouldn’t look until I actually got up a couple of hours later. Embarrassingly, I imagined entire scenarios of excitedly emailing people that I had finally got a request. And when I finally checked what the email said at 6:30 a.m…. form rejection.
So I’ve turned off notifications on my phone for that email, lol. Querying is fun! The slog continues…
why romance
Meanwhile, I’ve continued to think about writing a romance. In my Heated Rivalry obsession, I stumbled across a related podcast, Loon Call, hosted by two romance enthusiasts from Canada. I love any podcast where I get to listen to friends talking and can pretend I am also part of their friend group, but the hosts have also had some insightful things to say about the romance genre in general, and hit on a few of things I love about the genre.
“I’m so sorry that media and art and the world has told you for so long that your life and your love are not worth happiness. It is not true. You are worth happiness. You deserve happiness. All the joy. And baby, come join us in romance. The water is warm. The happily ever afters or happy for nows are all that you get. It is a genre that knows what you deserve and what you deserve, for the record, is a happily ever after.”
-Ruby Barrett, Loon Call Pod Episode 3: The Cottage
“At its core is what romance like capital r Romance means to me. It’s about hope and it’s a pure and uninhibited hope.” - Ruby Barrett, Loon Call Pod
There’s a reason romance is so many people’s comfort genre, including mine.
everything i write is about love, actually
While I haven’t written a full-on romance (yet!), I think my writing does include typical romance themes of hope, love, and self-worth.
this is a love story is about really dark things like mental illness and suicidal ideation, but it doesn’t end there. It’s also about how complex friendships can be the support that is needed for recovery, and that there is love and belonging to be found in the most unexpected places.
My current novel on submission, Empty Cities, I call a friendship love story because I wanted to hold tight to THE rule of the romance genre (even if it’s not technically a romance): there is a happily ever after.
I’ve found it interesting that readers of my novel and query have tended to assume that oh, these young friends are going to grow apart, because that’s just what happens with young friends. And yes, there is a place for that kind of story, but I purposefully didn’t want to tell that story. I wanted to tell the story of friends choosing to love, forgive and commit to each other, even when it’s hard.
starting from scratch
While I haven’t written any scenes yet, I have started brainstorming for this romance I would like to write! I overheard a conversation on the bus the other day and it inspired some characters that I’ve started to flesh out. One of my favourite writing prompts that I learned in a workshop with Lauren Carter is where you put two characters on a “date” and basically just write them talking to each other. It’s kind of like D&D - figuring out a character by putting them in situations and determining how they’ll react.
The one speed date I wrote for these characters, the male love interest on a whim rented a club for three weekends without a plan, which felt like it came out of nowhere but also felt true to what I imagined the character to be. It is weird going back to the very beginning as it’s been a while since I’ve drafted anything from scratch, but it’s exciting. As long as I remember it’s okay for it to be a mess first and will form into what I envision much later.
Happy March :)
xo,
Alyssa