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Guest Blogger: Susan Mallery

New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery was asked to speak this summer at the American Library Association national conference in Anaheim, California, on a panel called “Isn’t It Romantic?” Mallery’s latest book, SUMMER NIGHTS (Fool’s Gold book 8) is dedicated to librarians who have done so much to introduce readers to her books. This is the speech she prepared.

The appeal in romance is that our books offer readers a celebration of community. Romances are all about connecting. Sure the boy-meets-girl part is fun and exciting, but often what really brings a reader back again and again are the connections made within the novel.

Most romances happen in a larger context of relationships. Families and friends play an important role. We want to experience falling in love with a hunky guy, but we also want a sense of belonging. The most popular books feature a cast of usually likeable, sometimes annoying, generally realistic characters who are amazingly like people we know. Or people we get on an emotional level.

These other characters, sometimes seemingly unimportant, can be the glue that holds our books together. Our hero and heroine are revealed through their relationships with secondary characters. The gruff solitary man who unexpectedly cares for a wounded puppy wins our heart forever. The exhausted single mother staying up until midnight to frost cupcakes for her son’s first grade class reminds us of ourselves. While the romance is central to the story and the reason we think we read “those kind of books” I believe the real truth is we love the sense of community a romance brings to the table. The sexy guy on the cover draws us in, but the heroine’s relationship with her sarcastic best friend turns out to be just as satisfying and meaningful.

The majority of romance readers are women. Women are usually the keepers of relationships in their lives and the lives of those around them.

We are the ones who maintain the friendships, remember birthdays, make sure each of our children has a moment to feel special. We can spend a weekend with our girlfriends and when we get home, still think of something we could have told them. When I travel to a writers’ conference and hang out with my writer friends for days, then return home and get a call from one of them, my husband can’t believe there’s anything left to say. I’ve tried to explain there’s always more to talk about but he just shakes his head.

In our lives we want friends and family. We want connection. Romances offer that in our fiction. We can meet women we want to have lunch with and men we want to fall in love with. Romance isn’t man against nature or man against himself. It’s man and woman falling in love in a much bigger context. One or both of them have a family, there are friends, coworkers, pets. It’s a real world populated by the funny and the strange and if done well, it’s a world we want to return to again and again.

For years now, romances have been written in groups. Trilogies, sisters, brothers, a band of warriors. Sherrilyn Kenyon gives us her immortal warriors. Debbie Macomber gives us Cedar Cove. In between lie stories only limited by the imaginations of the writers who create them. It is the combination of the familiar and the unknown that draws us back.

I started writing in category romance. I wrote about 80 books for Silhouette. I wrote about sisters and cousins and brothers and even neighboring sheik kingdoms. The longer a series went on, the more readers responded. When I moved into writing single title, I continued with families. One day a very successful writer friend sat me down and said, “Write about a town. It’s limitless.”

From that very intelligent advice, my Fool’s Gold series was born. www.foolsgoldca.com It’s a small town set in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. I started with the idea of a town suffering a man shortage, which gave me the chance to put women in non-traditional jobs. I decided to write the books in trilogies, with the idea each trilogy would stand on its own, allowing readers to join at any point. By the second Fool’s Gold trilogy I’d realized the man shortage wasn’t that interesting, but the non-traditional jobs were, so modifications were made.

Reader response has been terrific. They love the town. Mayor Marsha, California’s longest serving mayor, is a fan favorite. I keep track of previous heroes and heroines using a data base and often feature births in subsequent books. I use social media to increase the level of connection with my readers. We have the usual interactions, but there is another level on my Facebook page(www.facebook.com/susanmallery). Readers help me name characters, pick careers and suggest new businesses for the towns. When a former heroine is due to give birth, readers usually vote on the gender of the baby and offer name suggestions. Next year three new businesses will open in Fool’s Gold and each one of them is the result of something a reader said to me.

A romance can take place nearly anywhere, in any time. We have smart ass heroines who rescue themselves, timid virgins and librarians who dance on bars in our books. Every romance writer has a specific vision for what she wants to write, but what we all have in common is connection. Sisters who are drawn together because of a dying parent. Vampires fighting enemies while protecting the women they love. Handsome dukes who marry the most unlikely of spinsters, drawn to her against all odds, in part because she takes care of her younger siblings.

In romances we find the relationships that matter most to us personally. Those who adore babies in books can be endless entertained by the antics of newborns. If you prefer sexy, sassy heroines, there are dozens of writers to give you exactly that. The appeal of romance is how the stories speak to us so personally. They show us women who are brave, who overcome odds, who always have a snappy comeback and in the end find not just love, but also a place to belong. Romances celebrate the very best of us, and that ideal state is often illustrated in the connections our characters make with each other.

Romances are a reading escape that also touches the heart. Romances affirm what is most important to each of us—the people we love, who love us back.

 

 

12 Responses to Guest Blogger: Susan Mallery

  1. Maria D. July 13, 2012 at 7:45 am #

    I loved this blog post! I so agree about romance being about the relationship and that’s why I love to read romance novels:)

  2. Shannon July 13, 2012 at 12:21 pm #

    Summer Nights is a must read on your summer books list!

  3. Nikki Barrett July 13, 2012 at 3:04 pm #

    What a wonderful post! I love romance and reading about a blossoming relationship. Nothing is more satisfying than a great HEA for couples that have had to overcome so much to be together.

  4. Melissa July 14, 2012 at 6:17 pm #

    I love how Susan Mallery has dedicated Summer Nights to librarians & how she has her readers help her name characters, pick careers, etc. I love this line “Women are usually the keepers of relationships in their lives and the lives of those around them.” So very true! I am the one who runs our household. If I don’t, it does not get done!! Romance books are my favorite & Susan Mallery is my favorite!

    • Melissa August 5, 2012 at 7:41 pm #

      Since July, I have also read Summer Nights. It has became my favorite of all of the Fool’s Gold books. Summer Nights is another great summer read. Annabelle is caring, a great friend, & so sweet! I love that Annabelle wanted to learn how to ride a horse for her fundraiser for her bookmobile. There is 1 thing that I absolutely love a lot & it has to do with Shane, but I am not going to give it away. In Summer Nights, we find out more about Heidi & Rafe’s story!! I am reading All Summer Long right now & I am loving it!!

  5. Michele Rybak July 14, 2012 at 8:33 pm #

    I so agree with Susan about how women are the glue that holds families, both nuclear and extended together. She is so right about that. And I agree with her reasons as to why we all love a great romance. For me, it’s a reminder of the memories of the days when my husband and I first got together and for the first year we were married as newlyweds…with children. Those first two years were the best of my life and when I read a romance and something reminds of that, I get that feel good feeling and keep coming back for more. Um…reading that is!

  6. Kelly July 22, 2012 at 3:49 pm #

    “We want to experience falling in love with a hunky guy, but we also want a sense of belonging.”

    YES! Exactly this! I’m a divorced mom who hasn’t had any romance in real life in over 4 years. My friends think I read romance books to fill this gap. They’re partially right, but mostly it’s to feel the connection, the community. I’ve survived without romance, but I’d never make it without my family and friends.

  7. Beccie Weaver July 23, 2012 at 6:20 pm #

    I love that Susan involves her fans in character developement

  8. Stephanie G. July 28, 2012 at 12:56 am #

    I absolutely love this line “Romances are a reading escape that also touches the heart.” This is so true and it’s definately something that I feel. Susan does a great job of writing the type of books that really touch you in a variety of ways and it’s one of the things that I absolutely love about her. I would definately recommend any of her books, especially the Fools Gold series as it’s amazing!

  9. Tanya July 28, 2012 at 6:23 pm #

    Three sexy cowboys, three bright, intelligent women, three great romance stories – what more can you ask for?
    Summer Days
    Summer Nights
    and the soon to be release All Summer Long. Susan Mallery you have out done yourself yet again!

  10. Shannon July 30, 2012 at 4:29 pm #

    All Summer Long by Susan Mallery sounds like the perfect end to the summer saga of brothers in Fool’s Gold! Can hardly wait for the release tomorrow!

  11. Melissa M August 5, 2012 at 9:49 pm #

    Susan I so agree that the reason we read stories is what surrounds the main people. There is a reason that I want to move to Fools Gold!! The town is the base that creates what can happen in every book. We love that the town comes together for anyone in need. We love that there is motherly advice on every corner if you want it or not. There are so many reasons to love Fools Gold that sometimes I feel (and this is a good thing) that the town is the Main character and everyone else are side stories that fit perfect at that moment……
    Thank you for your amazing books and I can not wait for A Fool’s Gold Christmas!!
    Rah Rah Yee Haw!!

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