RomanceEverAfter

Romance Authors Corner

Margaret Watson

Margaret talks about her heroes and heroines and what she feels romance readers are seeking in a good romance story!

Why do I enjoy reading and writing romance?

I love both reading and writing romance for a bunch of reasons. I think the first is that I want what I read (and the movies I see) to have a happy ending. I want everything to work out in the end. I love it when it looks like the hero and heroine are never going to get together, or when it looks like their problems are too big to be resolved. But I want to know, in the back of my mind, that everything is going to be okay.

Another reason I love romance is that they are so empowering for women. They give us a world in which the woman always wins. She may have to work at it, she may have to suffer for it, but in the end she gets what she wants and needs. In a world where this doesn't always happen in real life, it's exciting when it happens on the pages of a book.

And I think another reason I love to read and write romance is that deep-down, visceral fascination with the bonds that form between two people. What makes it happen? And why? And why these two people? Why can you look at one person and not feel a thing, but another person immediately tweaks your interest? In romance novels you can explore all these questions, and the beauty of them is that in every book there's a different reason and different ways they get together.

What characteristics do I like to give my heroes and heroines?

The most important thing about either the hero or the heroine for me is they have to be intelligent. And not necessarily in a bookish, educated kind of way. They have to be smart about life and make smart choices. Of course, they'll always make some bad choices, but it's always for what they think are good reasons. I don't always want my heroines to be breathtakingly beautiful. I like to have the hero discover her inner beauty. Of course, by the end of the book, the hero thinks she's beautiful. But I want to see him go through the process of finding her inner beauty.

For my heroes, I like them to have a touch of the bad boy in them, to be an alpha male. I love to watch the heroine tame the bad boy, wild-man hero. But they have to have a core of inner goodness beneath their tough exterior. I want to know right off the bat that this guy is going to protect this woman with his life.

How does a writer weave emotion into her story and make her characters come alive?

This is the big question, isn't it? I wish I could give you an exact answer, because then I could hit a home run with every idea I had. I think that question is part of the mystery of writing for me, and I've always resisted examining my process too closely. I'm very superstitious and on some level I think if I can explain everything, the gift would vanish.

That said, I think one of the ways of infusing emotion into a story is to know the characters really, really well - so well that you know what makes them tick, know what secrets they're hiding, know the things they won't even admit to themselves that they fear. I always ask a ton of questions of my characters before I begin writing about them. And it's very important to me to have the right name for a character. If I haven't decided on a name, or if the name isn't write, it's really hard to write their story.

What are readers looking for in a romance?

I think they're looking for the same things I'm looking for - a story that will sweep me away. I want to be so involved in the story that I forget where I am, what time it is, and all the chores I have to do. I want a book that I can't put down because I absolutely have to know what happens next. The greatest compliments I've ever received about my books are 'your book kept me up all night. I couldn't stop reading it'.

How do society and current events impact the novels written today?

Certainly the changing role of women in the workplace and society in general has influenced the books I want to write and the books women want to read. But on a deeper level, I think the uncertainty in the world today, the fear a lot of people have about the future, makes me crave romance novels even more. In many ways we have less control over our lives than we ever did.

When I pick up a romance novel, the world is just the way I want it to be - a happy ending where everyone gets what they deserve. Romance novels let readers forget about their own problems and worries and lose themselves in another world. I can't think of a better antidote to the uncertainties of life today.

Return to
Author Booksignings

Return to
Romance Authors Corner

Return to The Writing Craft