Anyway, I love books like this that really have something to say and say it well. I have to read older books to find what I really want. There aren’t enough new writers doing it. I want flesh on my literary bones!!!

Isn´t that tragic?
Well, to those who hear it, it is, to me it´s my life.
Which brings me to another version of poorly handled issues.
Writing it to death. I´ve been told I´m not normal by several people, they can´t seem to understand that you don´t nessecarily need to have severe problems, just because you´re life wasn´t all fun.
That´s called pop-psychology and sadly that is all, many authors rely upon.

I think that is, what Nora calls a book evolving solely around the issue.
Oh, misery, oh misery, oh woe is me, oh misery.

I was thinking about this point the other day when this topic was hot and then I had to go to the doctor and it sort of slipped away into the ether. I think it’s largely a matter of perception and point of view.

What one person may see as an issue, another may simply see as a normal part of their life. This is probably especially true when we’re talking about various disabilities. Once someone enters a more advanced stages of coping with what’s going on in their life it isn’t an “issue” but simply who they are and yet to a reader it might seem like an author skimmed over important aspects of the story if those elements weren’t given more importance. The author may actually be writing realistically and be penalized for it by some readers.

I´m German, English is not my native language. I started to write Romance, after reading a book, where the heroine beheads her (evil) mother and then shrugs it off with the words “It´s sad, I loved her, but she was evil”
HELLOOOOO?!
That was the point, where I decided, that if this kind of crap gets published, I can make it as well.

So, Romance evolves around two people, dealing with their issues ( no matter how serious they are) and find their HEA.
But and this is the major But here, often times it´s handled poorly.
And that´s a shame.
Many authors could do it so much better.
Not all of us are a Joey W. Hill (who I admire deeply, just for that reason), but having a Heroine raped and then happily humping her way around some super dominant guy, isn´t something I want to read.
Unless of course, it´s explained in a plausible manner, e.g. as part of a deeper psychological issue and not just some sex for the sake of sex.

I love so called Issue Romance, perhaps I´m strange here.
I´ve had my life trashed by a severe case of Rheumatoid Arthritis at age 23, I met and fell in love with an Ex- Special forces Soldier who had and has PTSD and I woke up one night to find his arm around my neck. ( oh and for those who say this isn´t Romance material, we got together because of it, but that´s an entirely different story) He´s dominant, obnoxious and an idiot sometimes, short he´s male, yet I love him still, 7 years later and with love and a good amount of tears and work even managed to get the PTSD managed.
As a child I lived alone for several years with a severely alcoholic mother and suffered through some heavy neglect.
I know all about issues. *smirks*

Isn´t that tragic?
Well, to those who hear it, it is, to me it´s my life.
Which brings me to another version of poorly handled issues.
Writing it to death. I´ve been told I´m not normal by several people, they can´t seem to understand that you don´t nessecarily need to have severe problems, just because you´re life wasn´t all fun.
That´s called pop-psychology and sadly that is all, many authors rely upon.

I think that is, what Nora calls a book evolving solely around the issue.
Oh, misery, oh misery, oh woe is me, oh misery.

Life is about growth and developement, and that´s what made humanity what it is today, the ability to adapt, given the rigth support.
It´s not about wallowing in self-pity.
And honestly, isn´t that what romance is about, too?

Heroes and Heroines with issues are fine and great, nobody´s supposed to be perfect. And there are alot of them out there.
It´s not a question if we need more issues in the romance genre, what we need, is authors who can handle them. And that is, what we lack.

There are some gems out there and sadly alot of simple dust.
It´s pretty easy. If you introduce an issue take it serious, do some good and hard thinking how your Hero/Heroine copes and why. But please, please don´t over use it.
That shouldn´t be too hard.

Post Scriptum: What is it about the Navy Seals? Well, Alpha males and Uniforms, do I need to say more?

Oh well, we used to have those SEALS on board though and I must say they filled out those Navy swimsuits very nicely. Hairy legs and buns so tight they were bouncing off the bulk heads.

Anyway, tell me the books and maybe I will catch a few.

Teddy, the gay arc in Brockmann’s books does not involve SEALS. Jules is an FBI agent and Robin’s a movie star. Their story starts in Hot Target, continues through Force of Nature and wraps up in All Through The Night. Both Hot Target and Force of Nature have a hetero lead couple but Jules and Robin are the main focus of ATTN.

There have been hints of Jules’ ex hooking up with one of the newer SEALS though. Character wise, Adam (the ex) needs to suffer some more but once that’s done I’m quite interested to see if Brockmann intends to follow through with the hinting and how she handles it if she does.

I actually qualified for Navy Seal Training in bootcamp in Great Mistakes (that is Great Lakes to all you civies).

Ever take a daytrip up to Milwaukee and cruise the Avenue? Ooo, you sailor boys were everywhere. It’s unfortunate there were no bulkheads from which to bounce those buns. (Then again, it never occurred to me some of you might be gay!)

Best example is, in writing The Power of Two, I didn’t start out with a character who had been abused by a former master. I had no plans on writing anything like that. I was writing a BDSM tale between two vampire doms. Except it did turn out that my character had been abused, and it became a definite part of the story as he struggled to deal with his own pain and what he perceived to be weaknesses. To the point where his sanity came into question a few times. It wasn’t solved by the end of the first novella, nor fully solved by the end of the 2nd. But the character became stronger and more capable of dealing with his own pain and could find a form of happiness with his lover.

An HEA of sorts, but not all sunshine and roses. I think I prefer to write that way to the everything is completely solved happily ever after. It’s always what I prefer to read.

This book was a disservice to victims of date rape, and it trivialized everything about the trauma and shame these people experience. I will not read ANYTHING by this author, ever. I know there are decent Harlequin Intrigues out there, but this book was so abhorrent to me that it put me off reading that whole line, sad to say.

Jane, your adoption example really resonated with me. As a fellow adopted child, I can’t count the times I’ve been offended in the way the subject was handled in fiction. Non-fiction; fine, that’s how someone is *really* handling it. But in fiction, the predominant trend seems to be that the driving force of both the character arc and the action is for the adoptee to find her “real” mother. Why this is romantic or poignant or resonant is the basis of the offense since it relies on the implicit “fact” that this is a truth universally acknowledged–that an adopted child would feel this way.

But I wasn't sure I wanted my “romance” with Mac to be so … well, tainted. I mean, such events are stark enough in real life. Do I really need this harsh of a reality in my romances? I still haven't found the answer . . . So what IS the fine line? Glossing over the flaws is unacceptable. Yet too much detail is not much better -’ at least in a romance IMO.

WandaSue put her finger on the issue for me.

I think all genre fiction is about the feeling the reader is seeking when she picks up the book. If I want gritty realism, I’ll pick up a Carol O’Connell or Andrew Vachss book. If I want an exciting read, I’ll pick up a thriller. If I want families tackling real-life problems, I’ll read Jodi Picoult.

When I pick up a romance, I’m usually looking for escapism. Too much realism knocks me out of that mood.

Having said that, cardboard characters or stereotypes will also knock me out of the book, but for a different reason. I resent a writer who tries to capitalize on a serious issue with a superficial treatment.

I spent ten years as a psychiatric social worker. If you’re going to give a character a psychiatric illness or a disability, you damn well better do it right if you’re going to hold my attention. I can remember picking up that Oprah-recommended “memoir,” A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, by James Frey. In less than fifty pages, I threw it across the room and told my BF it was a crock. Frey was simply too gleeful about his addictions. He came across like a sociopath having a great time spinning a story, not someone who went through the hell of a serious addiction and came out on the other side.

You simply cannot give a heavy, heavy problem to a character and then cure it with a good night of sex.

Just my opinion

Teddypig, have you read Suzanne Brockmann's latest few books? how realistically do you think she's handling gay issues?

I actually qualified for Navy Seal Training in bootcamp in Great Mistakes (that is Great Lakes to all you civies). But I decided to spend my time with several years of training to become a Radioman Submariner. Oh well, we used to have those SEALS on board though and I must say they filled out those Navy swimsuits very nicely. Hairy legs and buns so tight they were bouncing off the bulk heads.

Anyway, tell me the books and maybe I will catch a few.

I bought an ebook from Cerridwen Press oh, months ago, The Write Man for her by Christie Walker Bos that’s STILL haunting me (that very rarely happens) about a paraplegic hero.

I don’t know anything about paraplegia, don’t know what it’s like to live with a disabled person, so I can’t even say if this book was true to life or not, but dangit, the author gave me something DIFFERENT and I LOVE her for it. I can’t even tell you if it was a technically “good” book or not; I got sucked in and I liked it. That’s what I know.

There was no miracle end (well, there was a miracle that I found eye-rollable, but it wasn’t that the hero got up and walked–because he didn’t). Just a woman and man in love dealing with life and disability in what I thought was a matter-of-fact way.

Okay, carry on.

the exact same happened to me. I started again last summer (no idea what prompted it) and in between filling up back lists of old favorites I’ve managed to discover some really good newer authors.

Please email me at GrowlyCub@yahoo.com if you want to exchange recommendations. Sounds like our tastes jive!

I think there are authors who do a great job of balancing the heavy and the light.

Another great exmaple is Lolly Winston’s Good Grief–it’s got a romance but it’s NOT a romance; it’s about what happens to a young widow after her husband dies. It’s a perfect example IMO–it’s NOT a heavy/angsty issues book but still deals with the matter of grief and loss in a way that’s funny and poignant :)