I attended the Romance Writers of America conference this past July and in one of the workshops, author Damon Suede said, "Romance is the genre of hope." He didn't say hope for what exactly, but I think it can mean many things. It's hope that love is out there waiting for us. Hope that everyone will find their happily ever after. Hope that the world will find peace. Hope that we can all find strength. Hope the we can all find what we need most out of life. That we can fight for what we need, want, and believe in.
Romance novels empower us. They show us that the impossible is possible if we work hard and believe it will happen.
The romance industry is primarily made up of women and I love that. We are out there supporting one another, celebrating each other, doing it, succeeding, living our dreams. There's no on telling us we can't.
In times of tragedy and hopelessness, people need something to keep them going. They turn to books and fiction. For many it's an escape into something that they know will end happily. Many will minimize the genre for this reason, insisting that this is fiction, fake, never-gonna-happen. But I don't believe them. If we can't believe that love exists, that happily-ever-afters can happen, how else are we supposed to get out of bed each day?
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I find it silly when people dismiss romance as make believe but are willing to read about dragons and wizards as high impact literature. I'm a huge fantasy fan but I respect romance as a genre and find nothing wrong with either writers or fans. Write on and spread the hope!
ReplyDeleteExactly!!!! It makes us happy and gives us the escape that we all desperately need from time to time. :)
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