From Out of the Shadows

A few weeks ago I was visiting the Backspace forums and an Acquisitions editor was participating in the Guest Speaker program there. (An excellent feature where we get to play q&a with publishing pros) I looked at where she worked (Harlequin Silhouette) and made a common mistake: I immediately dismissed her as being interested in only bodice-ripping, passionate embracing, Fabio-gag-inducing romance.

Well, that would be two mistakes, now wouldn’t it?

It turns out that much of romance isn’t the trashy, bodice-ripping kind and that it’s a genre, like any, to be respected and admired. I admit that I’ve been guilty of this mindset on a number of occasions—that is, until I started really developing a romance between the pages of Roses. (It’s not the main plot, but an undercurrent) Oh sure, there’s plenty of horrible romances out there—just as there are horrible vampire books. But no genre should be discounted for the fault of some of their covers. (Even though it’s entertaining to poke fun from time to time)

My second mistake was thinking that this editor was only interested in romance. I read through the q&a, trying to come up with questions for her, when the words “for fantasy, I like…” caught my eye. Wait a second…she likes fantasy too?? So I started telling her about The Roses of Carrion and she seemed intrigued. I delved into further detail in private and she says it sounds very interesting and she’d love to have a look, so I sent it out the next day.

The moral of the story, children, is that you never know who might be an asset to your writing career…so never discount anyone.

The second moral is that though we should never discount the writers of any genre, we should always be able to laugh at ourselves. (I searched & searched, but couldn’t find a fantasy/horror site like this…if I could, you bet your bats I’d post it!)