Down the Rabbit Hole

Groundhogs and Great Romantics

Blogging Circle of Friends
DAY 1175 February 2, 2016

It's February and soon it will be Valentines Day, an numerous tributes to romance. With that thought in mind, what do you think are the ingredients of a successful romance novel? Are the ingredients different from other genres?

I don't write romance very often although I tend to produce erotica with some romantic elements on a regular basis. I would think that the same things are important in both genres to convey a romantic relationship, mainly one thing...passion. I think if a writer can describe a relationship that is passionate, it will be engaging and inviting. I don't think it always has to be the same kind of "Fabio-on-the-cover-torn-bodice" type of passion, but rather something that feels real and credible. They way the couple feels toward one another makes the reader care about what happens to them. I don't read romance novels as a rule, I think I'm probably too jaded to accept it, but when I write romantic scenes I always focus on the emotions, not the actions. There is great romance in intimacy, but also in longing and loss. There is great romance in a freshly minted couple, but also between partners who have been together for many years. One of my favorite writers is Gabriel Garcia Marquez and he writes so beautifully, so sublimely about love. He is a true romantic though his stories might never be classified as traditional romances. My favorite quote describes how a man feels about a love interest in a way that I find extremely romantic...

“To him she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else's heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He had not missed a single one of her gestures, not one of the indications of her character, but he did not dare approach her for fear of destroying the spell.”
― Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

Just amazing! To love this way, and then write about it...that is a true gift.



Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise
DAY 696 February 2, 2016
Prompt: Groundhog Day.
Have you ever wished spring would come early or hoped that it would be delayed? What if you were a groundhog? Would you ever predict zero winters?

I'm one of those New Englanders who loves the winter...even the bitter ones. I love waking to that fresh, power white snow that seems to renew the world overnight. I love the crackling fires. I love crashing through snowdrifts and then rushing inside to warm up with a mug of cocoa pressed between my palms. I'm not one who moans and complains about winter. I also think that the whole Groundhog thing is charming but wildly ridiculous!