Monday 7 November 2016

Newbie's Corner: A Room of One's Own Part Three: The World the Romance Reader Enters


with Sharon Burke

Hi Everyone,

I would like to share the third interpretation made at the Sydney Writers' Festival of Virginia Woolf's words: "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction",  and my thoughts about the fictional world a romance reader enters.

The "Room" the Romance Reader Enters

Some people attending the Sydney Writers' Festival thought the words “a room of her own” could be applied to readers of fiction because when you read quality fiction you enter a world of the author's imagination.
(image courtesy of Pixabay)

Suspending Disbelief

In order for readers to enter this creative world, they must suspend disbelief. Strong characters and a compelling plot will help, but an integral part of suspending disbelief involves establishing a strong emotional connection between your readers and your major characters. A romance reader must feel the pain, sorrow and joy of the hero and heroine and be invested in their future. In other words, she (or he) must vicariously experience the emotions of the viewpoint character/s.

The five senses and vicarious experience

If you've read romance writing "how to" books or attended talks about the craft of romance writing, you know language incorporating the five senses helps the reader make these emotional connections.

Have you ever wondered why? Psychologists tell us many of our emotions relate to a primitive part of the brain called the limbic system. It is possible to vicariously experience emotions based on past experiences.
(image courtesy of Pixabay)

For example, if you have a wonderful relaxing day in a beautiful garden, the scents, colours, warmth and sounds, together with the feel of the flowers and grass would be associated with your memory of that day and the emotions you experienced. The stronger your feelings about the day, the stronger the associations built in your memory.
(image courtesy of Pixabay)

If you then read a well-written love scene set in a beautiful garden, and the writing appeals to your five senses, you will associate the passage with your prior similar sensory experiences and may vicariously experience the emotions the author is trying to engender.
(image courtesy of Pixabay)


In short, if you want to be an effective fiction writer there are powerful psychological reasons to learn to write with “emotional punch”.

What is the most compelling novel you have ever read? Which scene sticks in your memory? Which characters do you truly care about and why?


I love to love:  

I just spend a month holidaying in Hawaii and cruising back to Sydney with my husband. We had a fabulous time.

I love to laugh

The new television series of “Upper Middle Bogan” has just started. The interactions of the Wheeler and the Bright family members are so much fun to watch.
(www.mediaday.com.au)

I love to learn: 

I studied psychology many years ago. The knowledge I gained is proving invaluable for me as an aspiring romance author.

8 comments:

  1. I love the scene in Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase where he takes off her glove and talks to her in Italian. It's just one of those scenes that just works so well.

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    1. Thanks Cassandra. Specific scenes from much loved books stay in my memory too. I haven't read " Lord of Scoundrels". I'll add it to my to read list.

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  2. Hi Sharon. I love the world I enter as a romance reader. Don't get me wrong - I have a pretty great life, really - but losing myself in a love story between characters I've come to think of as real people is so uplifting. I can't nominate just one book as the most compelling I have read but the Outlander series is definitely right up there. A scene that sticks in my mind is at the beginning of 'Voyager' when Claire comes to the realisation that Jamie may not have died at Culloden and that she might well be able to travel back in time again to reunite with him. I felt all her mixture of hope and angst and possibilities.

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    1. Hi Marilyn, I love the positive energy of romance novels too. Like you, when I truly identify with the heroine it often makes for a great read.

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  3. I am always happy to enter a new reader's 'room'. I love it, suspending disbelief and enjoying a whole new world. I've learnt a lot through reading romance as well, about history and places and things. It always surprises me when I realise that. In my mind every romance writer should also read, read, read. Such an amazing gift is given to us from each author, a whole new 'room' or world - and I for one am so thankful to each and every author who has gifted that to me. Romance in particular, being very emotional, also helps me engage, invest my own emotions in the outcome. Oh, I do love other people's 'rooms'!

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    1. Hi Malvina, what an amazing interpretation of Virginia Woolf's words. Thank you. As romance readers we enter rooms in which we encounter the emotions engendered by the writer and this in turn helps us to engage and commit our emotions.

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  4. Hi Sharon. I love immersing myself in stories, especially romances where we know there's a happy ending. I love all the emotion, whether it be joyful or sad. I laugh out loud, burst into sobbing tears, gasp with awe, as I live story through the characters. Can't name any one story or scene that grabbed me the most. There are too many to mention.

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    1. Thank you, Enisa. You've summed up what makes so many of us avid romance readers. The emotional journey of the romance reader is unique, special and something to be treasured.

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