Writing Romance: The Rumpus Interview with Sonali Dev
Sonali Dev talks about her latest novel, A Change of Heart, the romance genre, writing non-white characters, and the parallels between writing and architectural design.
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Posts Tagged: romance novels
Power and Choice in the Romance Novel Industry
In an essay for Catapult, writer and editor Kayleigh Hughes tackles the complex reality of the romance novel industry, wherein content can be simultaneously triggering, objectifying, empowering, and brave: As time went on I felt more like a party trick and a robot. At the end of the workday, I wasn’t able to clear my mind of […]
...moreOnly the Romance
Writing for Open Letters Monthly, Rohan Maitzen reviews the conclusion of The Survivors’ Club, a seven-book romance series by Mary Balogh. Maitzen uses the series to explore the formulaic nature of the genre along with the individuality of every romance novel.
...moreThis Week in Indie Bookstores
A bookstore designed to feel like a spaceship has opened in Hangzhou, China. Romance-novel bookstore Ripped Bodice in Los Angeles has gotten a little funnier by adding live comedy shows. Author Judy Blume has found a new career as a bookseller.
...moreThis Week in Indie Bookstores
An Estonian bookstore is removing Russian propaganda from its shelves after a request from Ukraine. Check out these amazing bookstores from around the world. The Observer shares some photos of The Ripped Bodice, the first all-romance bookstore in the US that opened in Los Angeles last month.
...moreBeyond the Surface
At the Guardian, Alison Flood wonders whether or not genre writing, particularly romance writing, is primarily “rubbish.” In her investigation, she points out how assumptions are often made about the “surface” elements of genre works and cites literary novels that have used the conventions of genre while maintaining their literariness.
...moreThis Week in Indie Bookstores
LAist takes readers inside Los Angeles’s iconic The Last Bookstore, a “sprawling temple” of books, and talks with owner Josh Spencer. A Hong Kong bookstore, one that hasn’t been closed by mainland China, cites bookstore cats and good music as reasons for their success. The Ripped Bodice opened this week in Los Angeles, becoming the city’s […]
...moreThis Week in Indie Bookstores
Hong Kong is dominated by two kinds of bookstores—the independent shops specializing in political books and pornography banned by China and the shops secretly owned by Beijing’s communist government. A Tokyo-based bookstore hosting a book fair centered around democracy and freedom suspended the event after criticism. Customers nostalgic for Borders bookstores need only to head […]
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“Happily Ever After” for African-American Romance Novelists
Romance novels can’t erase the past, and the present. Chapter by chapter, they do strive toward agency.
...moreAre Romance Novels Ruining Subscription Services?
All-you-can-read subscription services are finding that readers of romance novels are heavy users. The service Scribd is removing some romance titles because voracious sex-fiends are reading too many of the sultry books. Over at Electric Lit, Lincoln Michel explains why heavy users hurt the economics of these services: Let’s say you are paying creators two […]
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Writing Romance Fiction is a Feminist Act
The overall theme of feminism, for me, is not about having it all. It’s about having what you want and being honest about who you are. It’s about respecting who you are and what you do.
...moreWho Are We Writing For?
Sandwiched between fictions on one side and instructions on the other, a woman is often denied the breathing room necessary to find her individual sexuality. In a conversation at the Nervous Breakdown, Rumpus contributor Ashley Perez and author Cris Mazza discuss sexual pain (both mental and physical) and the damaging standards fabricated by literature and […]
...moreSuccessful Writers You’ve Never Heard Of
Previously, we blogged about Jennifer Weiner’s battle to shine the spotlight of literary respect on genre fiction written by women. At Harper’s, Jesse Barron looks at Weiner’s campaigning from the angle of old media vs. new media rather than literary fiction vs. commercial fiction or male writers vs. female writers: Good romance writers can earn a living […]
...moreOn Romance Fiction
At The Awl, Maria Bustillos takes a closer look at romance novels, characterizing the genre as “underground writing,” while wondering what makes literature “trivial”? “There are distinct advantages in this poor-cousin status. Here is a literature entirely without pretense; its authors are guileless, since they needn’t conform to any external ideal of literary performance. They […]
...moreA Romance Novel Health Scare
For the most part, a quick glance at the cover of any romance novel is all it takes to reveal the formula that’s inside. For better or worse, it’s a genre of fantasied gender stereotypes and it has long had its place. But The Guardian is now reporting on research that points to the books […]
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FUNNY WOMEN #52: Literary Classics Summarized as Trashy Romance Novels
I am writing to assure you that I am still very interested in writing back cover copy for eHarlequin.com.
...moreThe Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
Someone bought Agatha Christie’s old “battered” trunk for a hundred quid at auction, and in it, she found some jewels, most likely from the great mystery writer’s infamous collection. (via Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind) Someone made a font out of Franz Kafka’s handwriting! The post is in German, but even if you don’t speak the language, […]
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