IT'S THE JOURNEY.

Today at Romancing the Blog, Maili Ryan has a very thoughtful, interesting post about sexual tension (or the lack thereof) in romance novels. She says, in part:

"Like all readers, I enjoy well-developed characterisations, solid plots, fantastical storytelling, vivid descriptions and - my favourite - dialogue. But all genres have those. So, what is that thing that separates the Romance genre from other genres? I think it’s sexual tension. The kind when - from the moment you realise that there’s something about this man that gets you - he walks into a room and all your senses come alive."

In comments about Maili's post, Sharon Long prefers to call this intangible element under discussion "chemistry," while Alison Kent says that she doesn't think it's sexual tension at all that's often lacking in today's romances, but, rather, emotional tension.

What's my own take on all this? Well, I think all these ladies have got a piece of the puzzle. But I believe there's a still-bigger picture.

I would agree with Sharon that the best word for this intangible element is indeed "chemistry." Why? Because I think the word "chemistry" covers more than just sexual tension. Sexual tension is, in fact, an important part of all good romance novels. But as Alison notes, in many romances, the hero and heroine fall into lust (and bed) right away, which dilutes the sexual tension, but leaves plenty of room for the development of emotional tension.

Several of my own books, in fact, begin with a love scene, and the entire novel after that is a flashback leading up to that moment in time. Why? Because one of my publishers liked having a love scene in the early pages of the book---and I never thought it was very realistic to have a historical heroine falling into bed with a man she hardly yet knew (it's different for a contemporary heroine, because times and social mores have changed).

Introducing the first love scene in the opening pages of my novels to satisfy my publisher not only freed me to write the books the way I thought they ought to be written, but also allowed me to concentrate on what I call "the journey"---and of which the chemistry between the hero and the heroine is a major component.

What is "the journey"? It is, just like life itself, a series of events that the hero and the heroine experience both separately and together, during which they not only grow as individuals, but also grow as a couple, all the while discovering the chemistry between them.

During these events, the hero and the heroine may---or may not---have sex. But either way, there must be sexual tension between them. With nothing more than a chaste kiss at the end of the novel, Jane Austen does this brilliantly in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE---which is why this otherwise sweet romance is often pointed to as a masterpiece of sexual tension. It's because we as readers are always cognizant of the underlying physical attraction between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy---from their initial disdain of each other's looks to their gradual awareness that although neither's looks have changed, they have still grown very dear and much sought after.

But sexual tension alone is not enough---because lust alone never sustains any real lasting relationship (Kathleen Winsor's FOREVER AMBER, for example, has a heroine, Amber St. Clair, who is so "in lust" with a man that it blights her entire life). So, at the same time that the sexual tension is growing in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, so, too, is the mental tension. What do I mean by "mental tension"? I mean that while Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy seemingly begin mentally poles apart, they gradually reach a meeting of minds, realizing that they not only actually have a great deal in common and want the same things from life, but also have learned from each other---and in a way that has brought out the best of each. (One of the reasons, in fact, why we as readers grow so impatient with Scarlett O'Hara in Margaret Mitchell's GONE WITH THE WIND, for example, is because of her stubborn refusal to recognize that she has no meeting of minds with Ashley Wilkes, as she does with Rhett Butler.)

But even sexual tension coupled with mental tension is not enough to sustain any real lasting relationship. For that, we do indeed need emotional tension. When we come to the scene in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE where Mr. Darcy fervently insists to himself that he shall conquer his feelings for Elizabeth Bennett, we do not make the mistake of assuming that his frustration is due to his inability to get her into his bed. No, we understand fully that this is a man in the grip of a terrible emotional torment at the thought of losing the woman he has come to love so deeply that he wishes to share the rest of his life with her. The same is also true when Elizabeth Bennett confronts Mr. Darcy's aunt. We know completely that Elizabeth is not intent on obtaining for herself any of things of which Lady Catherine de Burgh accuses her of wanting. Rather, Elizabeth is in the grip of a terrible emotional torment at the thought of losing the man she has come to love so deeply that she wishes to share the rest of her life with him.

This is what I mean by "the journey." It begins with that fleeting moment in which the hero and heroine first become aware of each other's existence, and it ends with that moment in which they are so deeply and lovingly committed to each other for life that the thought of the other's loss is like having half their soul torn away---and we as readers believe that. If we do believe it, it is because the author has engaged his/her hero and heroine at every level: body, mind, heart, and, finally, soul.

It sounds simple enough. But just as in real life, it's not easy to do. It's also what sets romance apart from all other genres---and why readers get so angry at romances they perceive to be "wallbangers." In a nutshell, the journey didn't go the way they wanted it to.

A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING.

Read my post, A Place for Everything, today at Romancing the Blog!

WHAT DO WOMEN WANT?

What do women want? It's an age-old question---and half the time, it seems as though even women themselves are confused about the answer. Why? It's simple, really. All women are not alike, and they do not all want the same things from life.

In decades past, feminists burned their bras and fought for the equality of women. In their wake, it became de rigueur for women to work. Life as a homemaker, it seemed, became a thing of the past (never mind that there were actually countless women who preferred to stay at home and who had never wanted to be dragged into the workplace to begin with).

The generations who followed the Baby Boomers frequently had two married parents who worked---or two divorced parents who worked. These were generations of children often entrusted to nannies, daycare, preschool, and after-school programs. As a result, they supposedly grew up hip and savvy, the women among them providing the impetus for such things as hit television shows and chick lit.

Today's Woman, we heard, was no longer nearly as interested in marriage and happily-ever-after endings, but, rather, in her career and her journey of own personal growth. Yes, eventually, perhaps Mr. Right would come along---and then Today's Woman would have it all...a career, a husband, children, and the perfect home.

Time for a reality check?

According to a survey for New Woman magazine, today's average 29-year-old woman, far from wanting it all, has realized a superwoman lifestyle isn't all it's allegedly cracked up to be, and she is now ready to scrap it all and return to the lifestyle of the 1950s, complete with commitment to a lifetime partner and the white-picket fence.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that is indeed what many 29-year-old women want. What does surprise me is the constant assumption by some that all women are alike and want the same things from life. The truth is that, regardless of age, we're not, and we don't.

What is (and has always been) important is that, as women, we have the freedom to choose what we want from life---whether it's a career, a family, or both, or neither---and that we respect other women's choices, too, even if they're not our own.

THE BIG FIFTY!

Today is my fiftieth birthday! My mother said she didn't want to hear about it---that she knew now how her father had felt when he had told her he didn't want to hear about her own fiftieth birthday! *g*

In some ways, it seems as though it's taken me forever to get to this point; yet, in others, it seems as though it has happened in the blink of an eye. Do I feel half a century old? No. In fact, the only thing that has really bothered me about the entire process of aging is presbyopia. I hate not being able to read anything anymore without finding a pair of reading glasses! I have them all over my house, so I always have a pair handy---and I bemoan the fact that even laser surgery can't yet do away with presbyopia. Maybe next year.

At any rate, today, I remember what one of my journalism professors always said: that people who want to be sixteen again don't actually mean that; what they really mean is that they want to be sixteen again, knowing everything then that they know now. I believe that's probably true, except that I'd choose a slightly older age...twenty-one, I think.

I was, in fact, twenty-one when I started work on my first novel, NO GENTLE LOVE. So I've been writing now for nearly thirty years, and I know a great deal more now about the craft of writing than I did when I was first starting out. I can understand why some writers take advantage of opportunities to rewrite earlier novels. There are many things I would do differently in NO GENTLE LOVE if I were writing it now. But then, of course, it would no longer be the same book.

I'm always bemused whenever a reader says she or he has read a lot of my novels---and she or he can't believe I wrote a particular book. Since the very beginning of my career, I've always written across the board within the romance genre, everything from historicals to contemporaries, Gothics to fantasies, paranormals to time travels, and the occasional category, as well. I've written both novels and novellas. I've written books with several erotic love scenes and books with only a few sensual love scenes or no love scenes at all.

In a comment I posted on Larissa Ione's blog just a few days ago, I noted that I really only have one rule whenever I sit down to write a novel---and that's to try to write the best book I can at the time. Some novels turn out better than others, of course---but my own favorites of all the books I've ever written are not necessarily my readers' favorites, because everyone's taste is different. Some readers don't consider a novel good unless it's filled with erotic sex, for example, while others find that a real turn-off (pardon the pun *g*). Some readers love background, narrative, and description, while others only like a book if it's dialogue driven. Some readers adore alpha males, and others just think they're brutes. And so on down the long list of anything and everything that's ever been published in the romance genre.

As readers, we are lucky that over the years, there has usually been something for everyone in the romance genre; and as a writer, I've been fortunate, with some exceptions, to be able to write the novels I've wanted to write.

But today, since it's my big fifty, I'm taking the day off! *g*