Romance Weekly #lovechatwrite

'Do you like to read romance novels? Wouldn't you like to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Join the writers of Romance Weekly as we go behind the scenes of our books and tell all..... About our writing of course! Every week we'll answer questions and after you've enjoyed the blog on this site we'll direct you to another. So come back often for a thrilling ride! Tell your friends and feel free to ask us questions in the comment box.'

Hi and welcome back to this weeks adventure with Romance Weekly. Today's questions come from the lovely Victoria Barbour!

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Have you always written Romance?

I haven't always written romance, but I've always wanted to. When I was younger, my writing was more in the vein of Young Adult. I wanted to be the next Judy Blume (I still do. She's my hero) I guess I wrote what I knew--teenage angst and conflict. 


I liked writing stories about girls and adventure. I wanted to write strong spirited girls that saw things and went places and have wonderful friends and real situations. I loved the way I could open one of these books and relate to the characters.

I always had a romance in the back of my head, though. I just had to grow up a little and get my heart mutilated a few times before I had the guts to write it.

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How do you deal with critiques about the Romance genre?

Honestly, I haven't had to deal with a lot of this. In my real life, I don't know a lot of people that read a lot, and those that do, read mostly romance, so I'm in good company.

Sometimes I get the impression when I tell someone I write, and they immediately assume I write romance, as if that's what a chick's supposed to write, I get a little offended, but that's fleeting. Fuck yes I write romance. I write romance because I like to read romance. It's that simple, I think.

So, I proudly nod, give them a hell yes, and go from there. They don't have to read it, but I will them them with the impression that they need to respect it.

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What's the one thing about our genre you'd like other people to know?

There are those that feel like we're still in the era of the nightstand grocery store novels, but that just isn't true. Romance has come a long way. They're smarter and wittier and woman no longer feel the need to hide them away like a dirty little habit. 


I write erotica, s well as mainstream romance, and that's a little trickier to pass off as legit. "Oh, you write porn?" Yeah. No. It's cliche to simply say it's porn. Just because erotica is graphic does not mean it's porno. My characters are always front row. There is always a story to tell, a plot to develop. I just like to make them bump uglies more often than the norm. 


It's mostly men that have this opinion. I think they are just uncomfortable when it comes to women and sex. The more mainstream Romance novels become, and the more prevalent they are in pop culture, the easier it will be for people to come to terms that chicks think about and like sex, and reading about sex. Get over it.


I think everything is escapism in some form. Music, television, movies, books, all of it. Life can tear us down really fast, and when I read about sweet saucy boys making funny sweet girls happy, well, it makes me happy. Love and sex makes the world go around. I want people to understand that there is no shame in reading Romance or erotica. 

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Be sure to stop by and read what the next author has to say! 
Jeana E Mann: http://jeanaemann.net is next on the hop!

Have a great Tuesday and thanks for stopping by again!

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