Rhoda Baxter: When science meets romance
Author and scientist Rhoda Baxter, whose Doctor January is out now, chats with fellow scientists about misconceptions about the fact that they also write (gasp!) romance.
Rhoda: I'm a scientist by training and when I mention that I write romantic comedy I'm greeted with some fairly predictable responses. So predictable, in fact, that I asked a few other scientists who write romance if they'd ever encountered anything similar. Turns out they all have.
Response 1: I thought you'd write something more … serious/ difficult/intelligent than that.
Why do people assume that all romance novels are about airheads, shopping and sex?
In a radio interview about Doctor January, my novel set in a microbiology lab, I was told, "You don't think of labs as places were this sort of thing happens."
But why not? Labs are places where people interact, and where people can interact, they will argue, snipe, bond, laugh and, if they're lucky, fall in love and have sex (though not in the lab, I hope — you might mess up an experiment).
The assumption that everyone who writes or reads romance is an idiot is frankly … well, idiotic. One criticism is that romance is easy to read.
An easy read is not the same as bad writing. Writing a book where the reader is so immersed in the story that they don't notice the words is actually quite difficult. That is what the genre romance writer tries to do — the minute the reader is pulled out of the story to admire the writing, we have failed.
"I think it's largely as a response to those prejudices that I rarely tell people what I do. People are much more understanding of the rural stories than they are with the erotic ones (although I doubt that's only to do with my science training and more society's issues with sex!). — Cate Ellink, an environmental biologist who writes contemporary rural romance as Cate Ellink and erotic romance as Catherine Evans
Response No. 2: Ah, is it sexy? You must be raking in the money.
Fifty Shades of Grey brought the always popular erotic romance genre firmly into the spotlight and turned it into a phenomenon. It also gave rise to the idea that a, writing romance is profitable, and b, all romance novels are about sex. I'll leave the money question for another day — suffice to say that I won't be quitting my day job any time soon.
"I have had some people making assumptions about what I write. A lot of eyebrows raised and nods and winks. A bonk-buster is what people seem to be expecting. And I don't have any problem with those, but they're not the be all and end all of romance. People seem to hear 'romance' and think 'smutty book.' Was Pride and Prejudice not a romance? Wasn't Romeo and Juliet? Love is eternal." — Wendy Lou Jones, a doctor who writes contemporary romance
Response 3: Why romance? You're a scientist, I thought you'd write sci-fi.
Why write romance? Because it's fascinating. That's why.
Do you remember the first time you fell in love — the razor-keen balance between happiness, fear and hope? Writing romance is an attempt to re-create that. Through the eyes of our characters, we can fall in love, again and again and again.
"Sexual attraction, love, romance is something that is basic to all of us. There are also so many interesting social interactions between people of the opposite sex even if there is no sexual intent — we behave very differently when with people we find the slightest bit attractive." — Russ King, a behavioural psychologist and one of the few male writers of romantic comedy
Response 4: Does the science background help? You know, logic and all that ...
Plotting a book is an exercise in logic. Even those who write by the seat of their pants have to think about story structure when they edit that first draft. Each scene must arise logically from the scenes before and lead on to the scenes that follow. Does having a scientific mind help with this? Does the professional training?
"Yes! Especially when I am working on crime novels, which require meticulous planning, story boarding and story structure. Any professional author also needs self-discipline and dedication to carry on going when things are not going so well. As a pharmacist, I could not just decide not to go to work that day because 'the muse' was not playing. And it is amazing how the muse often turns up at your desk at the same time you do." — Nina Harrington, a pharmacist who writes contemporary romance
My favorite piece of feedback ever was from a work colleague: "I don't normally read that sort of book. But your book wasn't as fluffy as I was expecting. I really enjoyed it."
So there you have it. If you're not a natural reader of romance, try it. You might just enjoy it. You just have to check it out and see.
Find out more about Rhoda and her books at www.Rhodabaxter.com.