by Holland Rae | May 29, 2019 | Characters, Industry, Inspiration, Musings, Romance Novels, Statistics, Women's Rights
One of the most common themes that comes up when discussing romance novels is the idea of the ‘unrealistic expectation’ regarding men, relationships and sexual prowess. Romance novels create a utopian relationship, critics often squawk. There aren’t any real men like...
by Holland Rae | May 20, 2019 | Characters, Heroines, Industry, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Romance Novels
I think about writing all the time. It doesn’t matter how many stories or series I’m currently writing, editing, outlining or dreaming up, the simplest detail of a day, a conversation, a house on a hill, the taste of a new type of tea, can set off inspiration that...
by Holland Rae | May 14, 2019 | Industry, Musings, My Books, Romance Novels
No, I Shouldn’t Have to Prove It So, have you, like, written anything? When you move to a brand new city and have to make friends, it’s a little like speed dating. You answer the same handful of questions over and over again and you try to eke out which of...
by Holland Rae | May 9, 2019 | Editing, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Reading, Research
Do you ever get the sense that you’re skimming a character’s surface? Most books are written in third person, and it’s not unusual to find yourself wondering why you feel so disconnected from a hero or heroine’s emotions and thoughts. If it’s close third, which is one...
by Holland Rae | Apr 29, 2019 | Characters, Feminism, Heroes, Heroines, Industry, Intersectional Feminism, My Books, Women, Women's Rights
This post contains SPOILERS for Marvel’s END GAME and other films in the MCU. Not big ones, but ya know. In the more than a decade since Marvel first committed to cracking open an entirely new world and our hearts, they’ve come a long way. The first handful of movies,...
by Holland Rae | Apr 23, 2019 | Art, Beauty, Characters, Heroines, Historical, Inspiration, My Books, Reading, Research, Romance Novels, Series
It’s true. In the great spectrum of history and the universe, my Bachelor’s degree does not hold up to the onslaught of information, facts, figures, and theories that make up all of humanity, nature, and what we do not know. And that’s awesome. I have only recently...
by Holland Rae | Apr 17, 2019 | Audiobooks, Romance Novels
‘I don’t know how you can listen to that stuff,’ my roommate said, as she stepped into the kitchen. That stuff was a paranormal romance novel audiobook that I had sitting on the counter as I stir fried my dinner. Nothing like a little sizzle to go with my sizzle. I...
by Holland Rae | Apr 8, 2019 | Art, Characters, Heroines, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Reading, Research, Writing
I recently finished the novel Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, the story of Achilles’s and Patrocles’s eternal love that ultimately led to the end of the Trojan War. The story is brilliant, beautiful and incredibly told and when I was planning the next creative...
by Holland Rae | Apr 1, 2019 | Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Reading, Research
After free write, I begin the creative writing classes I teach with a question – what is stopping you from writing this week? As poets, novelists, journalist, short story tellers and everything in between, we run across a myriad of unique and ever-evolving challenges...
by Holland Rae | Mar 28, 2019 | Characters, Feminism, Industry, Reading, Romance Novels, RWA, Women's Rights
We’re still here. A year after the RITA awards were acknowledged as problematic and promoting of a biased system, we are once again, as a romance industry, fighting for inclusivity and equal opportunities for all authors. Small victories for authors from historically...
