The Romance Novel

Okay so I am not too proud of what I am about to write but here it goes. Recently I have gotten into reading romance novels. And not just any romance novels but the kind that are historical and raunchy. Not too sure why but I have. And I think it has become a sort of addiction for me. I wonder if anyone else has experieneced this phenomenon? I am sure that I am not alone. I picked one up for a bit of light reading. I typically read deap philisophical novels. You know the kind that make your brain work, but I wanted something I could breeze through and not have to think to hard in the process. Well now three months later and 65 books under my belt and I am addicted. I can't get enough of their storylines. Am I odd? I mean to be honest they are like lady porn. It is crazy really. I have always concidered myself a romantic person by nature but this is ridiculous. I find myself staying up WAY too late reading them, I can't seem to put them down. Maybe it is my own lack of personal romance that is driving me to read them, I don't know but I do know that I find them fascinating.

So here's the deal I want to try my hands at one. I want to write my own romance novel. Here's the thing I don't know where to begin. I don't know how much effort goes into writing one of these books. Do I really need to do some major research or can I just write what I think should happen? I don't know anyone who reads these books that are really deep historians so I can't really ask someone their opinion. So I come to you all with a plea....where should I begin? Should I use a pen name? I have never really thought of what I would call myself if I had chosen my own name. It is an interesting concept changing my identity for the sake of a book. I like it. It makes the writer mysterious. It also ties me to a past. A deep history or women writers changing their names. Granted the women that have gone before had to to be taken seriously but still it is a fascinating thing. I don't expect to write the next great American novel, although that was my senior prediction years ago when I left that sheltered world called High School. I just want something that I can show people and say "See I wrote this." Call me vane I don't care but I want some woman somewhere finding her heart enlightened about my story of love. I have a story line in my head but have not written anything down as of yet. The other thing is the era in which I am going to write spoke a much more complicated version of our language. Do I use that form of English or my own? Not too sure. Also where direction do I take to get this thing published? How do I know where to go once I have it written? Anyone that could help lead me in the right direction I would be eternally in debt to you.