Thursday, December 14, 2006

Real men read romance novels

My monthly(ish) column is up at Romancing the Blog. I've been in a busy tizzy all week, and on Tuesday evening I admitted at the dinner table that I was late turning in my column because I couldn't think of anything to write about. My hunk o' burnin' love (who does not read romance novels; not even mine) looked at me for a moment and then said, "Write about men who read romance novels." That's what I ended up doing, and the subject is generating some fascinating comments from RTB readers. Check it out.

One of my must-do projects for today is to write the ten questions (for book discussion groups) that will appear in the back of my October 2007 novel. I told my editor I'd send those tomorrow, but my mind is still running in every direction and I'm having trouble getting started.

Maybe I should ask my husband for some tips.

2 comments:

Mr. Bulos said...

I stumbled upon your blog. How? I googled "romance novels for guys". There are none! Maybe you could write a good girly novel for guys like me.

K. T. Reddy said...

The question begs to be asked: Would men like romance novels inherently? The basic function of a romance novel is to serve as a sort of idealistic fantasy, and the great majority of them are written by and targeted for women. Because male and female versions of an idealistic life differ greatly it is highly improbable that a guy would be swept off his feet by the same thing a women would. What man or boy dreams of happily ever after as a teenager and young adult. Unlike women, men are usually a little older before they start thinking of marital bliss. Why? Personally I blame the brainwashing of fairy tales at a young age. But I'm not complaining. I do like my prince charming.