The Lens of Romance
The Lord Pretender is a tale of gender, and specifically, what happens when the “glove doesn’t fit.” In the story, the misfit is the result of a body switch between a man and a woman that thrusts them unwillingly into unfamiliar genders. Many of our brothers and sisters experience a similar sense of not fitting… Read More
Michelle McLean’s Relationship Rules
In Ten Rules for Marrying a Duke, my hero and heroine—Silas Spencer, Duke of Whittsley and Miss Arabella Bromley—enter into a marriage of convenience, complete with a set of iron-clad rules to help their fake relationship run smoothly. Now, my own relationship certainly isn’t fake – I’ve been married for almost 21 years now and… Read More
“What a Powerful Fiddle You Have.”
Words. There are millions of them. They are the tools we use to create and weave together stories. As a writer, I must choose them wisely, especially when writing my historical romances. Many words were not used hundreds of years ago. For example, the word “penis” was not used for the male sexual organ until… Read More
Diversity needs to be the new normal in Romance Writing
I’ve been reading romance novels since I was young. Being from India, over the years, I often wondered why the men and women from my country were not represented in romance books. Why was the hero not a dashing billionaire from India? Why was the heroine not a spunky, successful girl who reminded me of… Read More
Okay, I admit it. I listen to holiday music. Not just during the holidays.
It’s that time of year again, when holiday music is ubiquitous everywhere, and we haven’t even had Thanksgiving in the states! On the radio, in the shopping centers, at the grocery store… Some people love it. Some loathe it! Some can handle it in short doses but come January, off it goes! I have to… Read More
Do You Believe in Curses?
What gives you the heebie jeebies? Humans are amazing creatures in so many ways. We imagine futures, remember and ruminate over the past, and create dramas that may or may not be going on around us. The human mind can come up with both fantastic and horror-filled ideas. This is why things like scary stories… Read More
WHAT ROMANCE CAN LEARN FROM SCIENCE FICTION
By Sawyer North My first literary love was science fiction. When I was a kid, virtually every sci-fi novel was written by men with a few exceptions: Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler, Andre Norton, etc. However, women writers were barely tolerated in the space. James Triptree Jr. (Alice Sheldon) saw her sales crash when… Read More
Winners and Losers
In my new release, A Scot to Wed, Mistress Katie Sterling arrives at the MacDuff castle with a faded piece of parchment that she has been told all her life proved her family had been cheated out of the castle inheritance many years ago. Laird Evan MacNeil, the new clan laird via the rules of… Read More
The Wedding Dress in Regency Times
We take it for granted that wedding dresses are usually white but this was not always so. When I wrote An Unsuitable Lady for a Lord set in Regency times, I needed to do my research. One of the best ways to do this was to look at what royal brides wore at their weddings…. Read More
Four Life Lessons from Romance Novels
We’ve all heard the stereotype: Romance novels are poorly written mommy porn. Strange, isn’t it? We’re told that the most important things in life are the relationships we build with others—with our families, our spouses, our friends—and when in our old age we look back on our lives, what matters most is loving and being… Read More
Men Don’t Read Romance
“Men Don’t Read Romance, and That’s Fine.” The first part of that statement is generally true. I have a problem with the second part. Before digging into the latter, though, we must address a core question: Why don’t men read romance? My mother was a prolific reader of romance novels. She averaged perhaps a novel… Read More
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
by Callie Hutton That is a common question I’m asked when I introduce myself to someone as an author. And, although it sounds vague when I answer “everywhere,” that is the truth of the matter. I started making up stories in my head when I was a young girl. Long road trips (no iPads, iPhones,… Read More