Elaine White's Life in Books

It wasn’t until recently that I realised I was a romance writer. Before that I had never really classified my writing into one genre or another. It wasn’t until this last year that I realised that no matter what I wrote, it always had a focus on romance.

The most addictive part of the romance genre, I’ve found, has to be MM romance. Or, plainly put, the romance of two males. I can’t put my finger on what is so addictive about it, but trust me, once you write one, you never stop getting ideas for more. I’m sure other MM authors will say the same thing. There is something about the romance between two men that just inspires creativity.

MF romance – the romance between a man and a woman – is just as addictive to me, but I often find myself writing the same stories/characters again with new aspects. I’m never as certain about where a MF romance is going, than I am about a MM story. Somehow, the story always seems clear and logical when I write MM. MF gives me so many options that I find myself tied up in knots, unsure of what to do or where to take it.

The one distraction that joins the romance genre is research. You have to read a lot to write a lot. Then you have to read some more. You have to know your genre before you can write it adequately. This includes research into things you don’t know or understands. For example, I’m a girl who has absolutely no interest in romance for myself, though I give it to all my characters. I’m also straight, so writing a MM romance or any romance for that matter, means that I have to do a lot of research into my stories, my characters. I’m also disabled and don’t go out much, so that requires even more research into jobs and locations and countries I’ve never been to.

But that is the beauty of romance. Anything is possible. You can include crime, a supernatural element, focus on two men, two women, one man and a woman, three in any combination you like. There are limitless possibilities with romance. You can have scarred and broken characters, people who are perfect on the outside and wrecks on the inside. You can have normal, every day people, the rich and famous or a mixture of both.

Romance is the foundation of most books, TV series, films and music you’ll come across. Trying to find out without an element of romance, of any sort, is very difficult. But the possibilities are also endless and there will never be a day when here are no more stories to tell.