What Path Are You On?
How to tell if you've been led astray
Tarot Tuesday
I used to write erotic romance novels. As a writer, I was drawn to the genre because steamy literature sells. And, personally, I like Happy Ever After or—as it’s known in Contemporary Romance—Happy For Now endings. I have a penchant for things working out for the highest and best good of all.
What I didn’t like about the genre was its limitations. It’s ruled by tropes, which are very specific guidelines on how to construct the plot and characters. The category of Romance actually dictates how to write the book.
Even if you don’t read romance novels, you’ve seen these tropes in movies: Friends to Lovers, Frenemies to Lovers, Fake Relationship to Lovers, Second Chance Romance, or the perennial Girl Inherits a bookstore/bakery/cottage/whatever from a long-lost relative in a coastal town across the country from where she lives. The inheritance arrives just as she’s getting…