Thursday, May 24, 2012

To Write Romance, Must One Be In Love?

I would like to pose a question. To write romance of any genre, must one have romance in their lives or are the only great writers of romance fiction love lorn like most of us? I've talked about it with a few people and even asked some other writers who have been at it for some time. I got a wide variety of answers. Some believe to write a great romance you must have had the experience of a great love. I wonder if Erich Segal had experienced the same love like his characters Oliver and Jenny. Had he and his wife Karen loved each other with such dedication and ferocity? Did Emily Bronte tragically love someone she could never truly have and had to settle for another? My opinion is this-I do not believe that one has to have been in a life altering romance as long as they have loved. Tragedy makes for a good plot, but romance even in Gothic novels isn't all about the tragedy of poverty and being hidden away. To write fiction whether it be romance, science fiction, horror, or any type I believe one has to draw on personal experiences but also has to role play in a way each of their characters. Each one must be visualized much like actors do when they are handed scripts. I little doubt that Kate Winslet grieved the loss of Leo Di Caprio in Titantic. However both of them had to draw upon their skills and talents as actors when neither of them had probably been in a love affair with so many dynamics. When I write about a kiss, I want to use all of my sensory memory into how that kiss felt; how it made me feel and then I go from there embellishing as I go. It's like a painter who looks at a sunflower. A sunflower is easy enough to paint, however to see it the way Van Gogh saw it that is what I strive for when I write romantic and sexy scenes. I want the reader to see and feel exactly what I am writing. Am I making sense here? So let me hear your answers to this question, do you think that an author mus be in love or have had been in love to write romance fiction? If so tell me why and if no then explain.

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