Today I have the pleasure to receive here at Reading Romances the author Brenda Youngerman. She tries to paint a picture of life as it is to give her readers that ability to see situations from a different point of view. Her goal as an author is to have ONE reader pick up a novel and see a similarity in his or her life and see an opportunity to do something to make their life better. Her novel, Restored Hope will be given away as a Small Blogs, Big Giveaways prize! She’ll be talking about her experiences on writing romance novels:
Being an author was not something I grew up wanting to be…it’s not like when I was seven someone would ask “what do you want to be when you grow up?” …and that would be my answer. But at this point in my life it is so natural I can’t imagine doing anything else. If I’m not writing, I’m thinking about writing. I always have at least one book in process and another one brewing.
I think everyone grows up with the notion of ‘true love’ and ‘happily ever after.’ It’s taught to us as children. Fairy Tales and children’s books all have heroes that sweep in and save the damsels in distress. Prince Charming rides in on his white horse and saves the day. I’m just not sure that in the real world any of us are really taught how to attain that ‘happily ever after’. There aren’t classes on what to do after the wedding party is over and all the guests go home and the pretty dress gets boxed up. Or when the pressures of work and bills pile up who do we turn to?
Books allow us to escape into a different world and pretend. For those few moments or hours we get to be that Princess, or damsel in distress. All reality floats away as our favorite authors tell their grand stories. Romance novels date all the way back to the beginning of the printed works – The Scarlett Letter, Lolita, Jane
Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and I could go on and on. Some of the best romance novel don’t have the happy ending that we would like, but isn’t that what life is really? We cry and wish it were a different way. Are we crying for the characters or are we crying for ourselves? I imagine it’s a bit of both.
I have not written one book that I haven’t cried while I was writing it. I feel what each one of my characters feels and what they are going through. Because the truth is that my characters write their own stories. They speak to me and the books are written. Often times I have no idea where the stories are going and then…poof! It is written.
All of my novels have romance in them…because after all…Romance does make the world go around. But the truth is that I throw a lot more than just romance in any book… so sit back, wrap yourself up and enjoy the ride that Fiction With a Purpose will take you on. And when all is read and done, you will ask yourself, “Was that Real?”
I think everyone grows up with the notion of ‘true love’ and ‘happily ever after.’ It’s taught to us as children. Fairy Tales and children’s books all have heroes that sweep in and save the damsels in distress. Prince Charming rides in on his white horse and saves the day. I’m just not sure that in the real world any of us are really taught how to attain that ‘happily ever after’. There aren’t classes on what to do after the wedding party is over and all the guests go home and the pretty dress gets boxed up. Or when the pressures of work and bills pile up who do we turn to?
Thank you so much for the opportunity to participate in this giveaway….Please feel free to stop by and leave me a comment on my blog or my email anytime….
Brenda’s latest release is Disrupted Lives, published this year!
