I want to give a little bit of advice to anybody trying to cover the increasingly wild story of the leadership collapse at the Romance Writers Association. I offer it as a journalist, novelist, reader, and casual acquaintance of quite a few romance writers.
Please don't mention bodices, throbbing, pirates, maidens, or anything else you think sounds cute. It signals disdain and, more important, unfamiliarity, since that's the tourist's view of romance.
Please understand how long the history is of efforts to deal with marginalization and inclusion in romance. The RWA was co-founded by Vivian Stephens, a black romance editor who specifically aspired to advance the careers of writers of color.
Please respect how varied the lives and careers of romance writers are. Some are what people instinctively envision; many -- maybe most -- are not. Courtney Milan, for instance, is a trained attorney and clerked at the Supreme Court.
Please understand how varied romance writing is. Some is historical, much is contemporary, some is futuristic. Some is blended with sci-fi, with mystery, with fantasy, with real history.
There are tons of people writing LGBTQ romance. One odd the most successful romances of 2019 was RED WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE -- you can look it up if you don't know it.
There are also tons of POC writers and POC-centered books; the issue is not their existence, but how they're treated and handled.
Romance writers are leaders in self- publishing. Romance readers were among the earliest adopters of e-books. Romance helps keep bookstores and publishers in the black.
Please, please: bring gravity to your treatment of this story, which is about an uprising of creative people pressing for a humane and fair path forward for their industry. Don't bring your distant, wacky-subculture eye to it.
If nothing else, consider this a dispute over a HONK-TON of money, currently roiling a very powerful organization.
Thank you thank you. /fin
Thank you thank you. /fin
