First I guess I should introduce myself:
I am Hally Willmott - Author of The
Elemental Series
I was sitting back and looking at all of
the posts in regards to Romance - I can tell you that none of the books I have
written have any kind of skin or sexual act being preformed on the front
cover... in saying that I may have turned off a few people who would normally
read this blog. For that I apologize. For not being a 50
shades of you know what - I am pretty proud of it.
In my day job - I am a Police Officer that goes into the
Secondary schools in my area - I was very torn when it came to talking about
sex and sex acts - do they constitute Romance???
When I first began writing I was all about the make believe
worlds of Faries, Elves and Dwarfs.
Once my first novel was published ....
Awakenings
I learned that in the world of writing there are always the go
to safe zones - Meaning - if you want people to by your books Romance is the
way to go...
Initially I was a little put off - thinking - Hey - I loved
Twilight, Divergent and Hunger games - and NONE of those books were
"Romance"...
What I missed was the element of Romance
-
There is a little bit of tingly feelings and such in book one -
but there is no real thrown down Romance happening.
I was comfortable with this - basically because the book didn't call for any "Scenes" that I wouldn't want my nieces, mother in law or mom reading!
Don't get me wrong - I understand the need for Romance in
novels - I LOVE the idea of star-crossed lovers finally getting the opportunity
to be together! I will always root for the
underdog:)
Where I was more than a little confused was when I tired to
force romance into the story line of The Elemental Series - Something that the
story wouldn't allow for me to do.
Does Romance sell better.... does it make the story
better?
In book two - Revelations
I spiced it up a bit - and believe it or not - I was given some
of the ideas from my mother in law, sister in law and nieces.
I was a little leery about adding some of the
scenes - but they turned out GREAT!
There wasn't a lot of description or terminology used
to create the scenes.
I left a lot of it to the imagination of the
reader.
For the next installment of the series - I chose to create a
handbook.
In the handbook there is a novella about one of the
characters from book two. The scene in this book is a little more
risky than in any of the other books. What I really liked about the
story was the fact that no where within the novella dies it give the gender of
the character.
WHY?
My reasoning was clear to me - I believe in love for love's
sake - I believe that it doesn't matter the gender of the person as much as the
person themselves.
Now - to introduce the two main male characters vying for the
attention of the main female character -
I do have to say that the next two installments in The
Elemental Series will have a lot more action and Romance in them - I believe in
growing the story line to include scenes and romance!
Not to stray from this thought - but - I am also writing a few
adult books that have romance, sex and adult relationships from the beginning
of the book - I think genre has a lot to do with when and how we introduce
certain aspects in a story. I was way more comfortable writing scenes
in an adult book than in a YA book...What are your thoughts on
this?
Thank you for taking the time to read my post! I hope
to hear from you!
Please feel free to contact me at anytime!
Hally, I agree with you about the sex! It's an ongoing argument: romance vs. sexmance. I personally like to use my own imagination. I don't have to have a play by play! Good on you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Janet!!! I appreciate you taking the time to read my post and comment:) Imagination goes a longgggggggggggggggggg way:)
Delete