Ask a male author about your male character traits or thoughts.

Amazon links to my stories: The Chess Master, Cinnamon & Sugar, Autumn Breeze, A More Perfect Union, Double Happiness, The Wolves of Sherwood Forest, Neanderthals and the Garden of Eden can be found down the right side of the blog. Another site very useful in categorizing books in their proper order is: https://www.booksradar.com/richard-rw/richard.html


Visit my website at: https://rwrichardnet.wordpress.com/

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Male romance writers


I was asked to talk about what it’s like to be a male romance writer, by my new friends at The Wild Rose Press. First of all, TWRP is an amazing place to grow in craft and friends, with plenty of support. One of the things I want to do is a blog tour when my novel, Cinnamon & Sugar, comes out. The many authors at TWRP are a ready audience of like-minded souls (who also blog and seek tours), thus making a tour easy.
Being a male romance writer means that I am like-minded with female romance authors. Does this mean that my mind is feminine? No. I have always adored women and suffer from a severe attraction, lol. I feel about them the same way they feel about good-looking guys. Therefore, I write the same when it comes to interior monologues, the arc of the guy and gal. A good writer is a good writer no matter the sex.
For guys reading this, you might question my choice, but I remind you that once upon a time you courted that lady you are married to or living with. Need I say more? Yes, some men prefer action movies and novels to rom coms, but plenty of men read romances and watch rom coms or UP or Hallmark. I don’t buy the idea that I write my romances differently. They are either good or not so good. Two of my romances have won numerous awards. Now, I’m on the verge of publishing my best.
There’s a range in writing in which there is less plot and more interior struggle and visa versa. That is a style difference, and it isn’t unique to one sex.
About prejudice in the romance community against male writers: It exists (barely) and is rapidly diminishing. RWA is doing an amazing job of leading the way forward for multi-racial equity and is against all forms of discrimination.
Once years ago, I was interviewed by a literary agent who asked me why I wrote romance, but not in a nice way. She said her readers were mostly female and she couldn’t take a chance on a guy’s take/style. I thanked her for her honesty. I knew she was disabled by prejudice and would not easily be swayed. I gave up on her and later published Autumn Breeze, which won Best General Romance by the San Diego Book Awards, Assoc. and announced as best novel of the year by Amazon. I think Amazon did that to a number of books, lol.
Women who read romance want the hero to be realistic so that their fantasies become closer to reality. I might not capture every hero, neither would a female writer nail every heroine although we can try. We observe, we learn, and some of us get it right. We’re all human and therefore understanding male and female needs is not all that different and remains necessary to pen a good romance. That’s why I write this blog. I will be taking my insights on the e-road as a series of lectures for RWASD.
I have not come close to exhausting the subject of guys writing romances, but this is enough for now.

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