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Right. So. I'm a fangirl for a lot of things. But one Indie author will be forever at the top of my fangirling list. And that's none other than Tracey Ward. She was the very first Indie author that I ever found. She's entirely responsible for my Indie author obsession. Whenever she agreed to write this guest post, I may
Insta-love and How It Eats My Soul
by Tracey Ward
You know that Oscar Mayer commercial where the family is sitting around watching a movie together and there's a voice over that proclaims, "I don't care if you're a vampire! I love you!" and the dad buries his face into a pillow to scream until his lungs are empty and his throat is raw with rage?
That's me when I read most romances out there. It's actually the reason I finally felt the push to write a romance of my own. I'd read so much cookie cutter formulaic crap that I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to put out something real.
Granted, I write mostly Sci Fi and none of it is remotely real, but i like to think that the love is. That the romance is the true thing that grounds the reader and gives them a genuine connection to an impossible world. And I feel like believing a bad boy with a broken past meeting an "ordinary" girl and finding her extraordinary (life changing, earth shattering, world view altering kind of extraordinary) within two minutes and promptly centering his world, heart, body, and soul around her is a bigger leap of faith than zombies and teleportation. Chill with her at an airport when she's sunburned, hungover, her flight is delayed overnight, her cell phone is dead, and the Starbucks is closed. That's a true color situation right there, and depending on how she handles it, you might want to rethink your instant eternal undying love.
I'm not saying love can't happen quickly. You shouldn't have to read a War and Peace sized tome to get to the good stuff, but you gotta work for it a little bit! I met and married my husband within 13 months. It's pretty quick but when you know, you know. But no one knows in 2 days. No one. The newness needs to wear off. You have to stop forgiving their flaws and accepting them instead. And if you can't accept them, you need to bounce. If it annoys you in the first three months, it will land you as the subject matter on CSI in ten years. That's a romance no one wants to read.
Personally, I want to earn it. I want to wait for it and anticipate it eagerly like it's Christmas morning. I want to see the feelings build and the characters grow into them. I want a journey. I want that payoff. I want to smile and sigh and say, "Finally!" when the people I've become invested in make that leap into love.
But just in case, I always keep a pillow nearby...
That's me when I read most romances out there. It's actually the reason I finally felt the push to write a romance of my own. I'd read so much cookie cutter formulaic crap that I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to put out something real.
Granted, I write mostly Sci Fi and none of it is remotely real, but i like to think that the love is. That the romance is the true thing that grounds the reader and gives them a genuine connection to an impossible world. And I feel like believing a bad boy with a broken past meeting an "ordinary" girl and finding her extraordinary (life changing, earth shattering, world view altering kind of extraordinary) within two minutes and promptly centering his world, heart, body, and soul around her is a bigger leap of faith than zombies and teleportation. Chill with her at an airport when she's sunburned, hungover, her flight is delayed overnight, her cell phone is dead, and the Starbucks is closed. That's a true color situation right there, and depending on how she handles it, you might want to rethink your instant eternal undying love.
I'm not saying love can't happen quickly. You shouldn't have to read a War and Peace sized tome to get to the good stuff, but you gotta work for it a little bit! I met and married my husband within 13 months. It's pretty quick but when you know, you know. But no one knows in 2 days. No one. The newness needs to wear off. You have to stop forgiving their flaws and accepting them instead. And if you can't accept them, you need to bounce. If it annoys you in the first three months, it will land you as the subject matter on CSI in ten years. That's a romance no one wants to read.
Personally, I want to earn it. I want to wait for it and anticipate it eagerly like it's Christmas morning. I want to see the feelings build and the characters grow into them. I want a journey. I want that payoff. I want to smile and sigh and say, "Finally!" when the people I've become invested in make that leap into love.
But just in case, I always keep a pillow nearby...
I was born in Eugene, Oregon and studied English Literature at the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!) It was there that I discovered why Latin is a dead language and that being an English teacher was not actually what I wanted to do with my life.
My husband, my son and my 80lbs pitbull who thinks he's a lapdog are my world.
My husband, my son and my 80lbs pitbull who thinks he's a lapdog are my world.
I love the slow burn too - the anticipation and sexual tension, fighting with emotion until it takes over!
ReplyDeleteMissie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
This, a thousand times over. I think she's just become my favorite indie author....and I haven't yet read any of her books! ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Beth W. I'm bailing out on a book where the man is madly in love with a woman he has met twice. I have to quit now before I have an eye-roll induced injury or I break something when I hurl the book across the room. I will have to read a Tracey Ward book now. She sounds like an author for me plus I trust Kristen's recommendation.
ReplyDelete