By Genre-ista: Deanne Wilsted
“Edith
dear, you're a woman with a brain and reasonability. Stop whining and find
something to do." Lady
Violet
Awww, twentieth
Century romance; filled with rapidly changing fashions and matching feminine
confusion. If ever there was a set-up
for tension this would be it. Men were hunkered down, valiantly trying to hold
onto their traditions and roles, while females were pressing against the bounds
of society and culture. And in the midst of this, somehow romance would still flourish.
We have come a
long way since those golden days.
Stay-at-home dads, while not the norm, are certainly observed frequently in my
typical suburban neighborhood. And women juggle work and parenting fluidly…
texting while watching their son or daughter play soccer. But, the tension is
still there, set up by those early days of the 20th C.
Reading this
period can give contemporary authors much more depth for their own writing. The
transitions that took place during that century hold context for what came
before and after. 19th C. romance authors can find the tides that were drawing
their heroines into these future battles.
To write romance
with any tension at all, we must understand the 20th C. So in March,
as the Genre-istas host guest writers of the 20th C, I’d like to use
it as a platform for commenting and discussing the tension that stems from such
a huge transitional period.
Have you read a particularly poignant 20th C
novel, romance or otherwise, that has illuminated this tension? And, where else
did we find it during that century? Racial tension, economic tension… there is
much ground to cover, so pick an idea and let’s see where it takes us…. As long
as you don’t kill off the hero of the show/book;>)
